MTA Streamlines Application Process for Student Transit Pass

When Brenda DeLeon showed up at an MTA customer center Wednesday to renew her 12-year-old daughter’s bus pass, she was surprised to learn that the lengthy application and photo she had brought were no longer needed.

DeLeon’s daughter, also named Brenda, was among the first students in the Los Angeles area to receive the new fare cards.

“I am very thankful,” said the elder DeLeon, who took her sixth-grader out of class Wednesday to get the pass. Previously, she said, getting a new card took a month.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority began a new streamlined process March 21, dispensing with a cumbersome application process and subsequent three-week wait for the cards to be issued.

Now students can get a card, which is free, validate it with a $20 monthly stamp and use it the same day.

Officials hope the new pass will spur student ridership. About 25,000 students purchase the monthly stamp, said Vanessa Smith, an MTA communications manager who designed the program.

The goal of the new system, Smith said, is to make public transportation more convenient and more accessible.

Getting the new passes will be especially easy for K-8 students, who will no longer be required to show identification, she said.

Students in grades nine through 12, however, may be asked to show a photo ID or current school ID.

The Bus Riders Union four years ago challenged the MTA to simplify the process and make the passes more accessible.

At a news conference Wednesday in the Miracle Mile area, union representatives said the application process discouraged many students from applying.

“MTA’s elimination of the student bus application process ... is an affordable and accessible way to education for inner-city youth and their families who otherwise would pay full fare, scrounge up for rides, walk miles to school or miss classes,” said Francisca Porchas of the Bus Riders Union.

The regular $52 monthly fare is burdensome to low-income families, Porchas said.

Jose Huizar, president of the Los Angeles Board of Education, said the new system is a result of collaboration among the MTA, the school district and the Bus Riders Union. He said their goal was to make it easier for students to use public transportation.