(Washington, DC) – On Friday, August 18, at 11 am, Mayor Muriel Bowser will highlight Kids Ride Free, a program that provides students enrolled in public and public charter schools free school-related travel on Metrobus, Metrorail, and the DC Circulator across the District. The program uses an electronic Kids Ride Free pass that must be loaded to students’ DC One Cards to be eligible for free transportation. This year, for the first time, the 2017-2018 school year Kids Ride Free passes could be loaded before the end of the 2016-2017 school year. The enhancement has resulted in more than 16,000 previous pass holders already loading the program on their DC One Card – a number five times the amount who had done so in August 2016. About 70,000 students enrolled at public or public charter schools are eligible for the Kids Ride Free program.
The Back to School Safety Campaign is a city-wide initiative to educate students on how to use DC One Cards, increase adult supervision at 10 Metrorail stations, and deploy more than 200 DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) safety techs and crossing guards throughout the city. The campaign includes the Kids Ride Free Program, the Safe Passage Program, and additional efforts to ensure all students have the means to safely access educational resources. The Safe Passage Program will increase adult supervision at the following metro locations: Georgia Avenue, L’Enfant Plaza, Brookland-CUA, Rhode Island Avenue, Anacostia, Minnesota Avenue, Gallery Place-Chinatown, Columbia Heights, NoMa-Gallaudet, and Good Hope Road SE Corridor.
In 2015, in order to reduce barriers to getting to school and increase attendance rates, Mayor Bowser expanded the Kids Ride Free program to include free Metrorail trips. As part of the Bowser Administration’s Every Day Counts! tour, the Mayor will continue to spread the word about the importance of attending school every day. School attendance is a key predictor of student achievement, and in DC, approximately one out of every four students is chronically absent (missing 10 percent or more of the school year). In Fiscal Year 2017, Mayor Bowser invested more than $12 million in programs that address truancy and absenteeism and more than $18 million in the Kids Ride Free program. In her Fiscal Year 2018 budget, Mayor Bowser increased investments in programs that work to reduce absenteeism, including a $3.3 million increase in funding for Parent and Adolescent Support Services (PASS) , Alternatives to the Court Experience (ACE) Diversion Program, and additional investments in the expansion of Show Up, Stand Out, a free program to help students and families get to school every day.
WHEN:
Friday, August 18, at 11 am
WHO:
Mayor Muriel Bowser
Jennifer Niles, Deputy Mayor, Education
Jeff Marootian, Interim Director, DDOT
Kevin Gaddis, Deputy Chief, Metro Transit Police
Kimberly Chisley-Missouri, Assistant Chief, Metropolitan Police Department
WHERE:
Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro Station
7th and F Street, NW, Entrance
*Closest Metro: Gallery Place – Chinatown Metro Station*
Press interested in attending the event are asked to RSVP to [email protected]. To view the event online, visit mayor.dc.gov/live or tune in on Channel 16 (DCN).