District provides free transit passes for high schoolers
Portland (Ore.) Public Schools students in grades 9 through 12 will continue to receive TriMet passes through June 14, 2012, under an agreement that was announced on Monday. Passes had been set to expire in December due to lack of funds, but TriMet, the city of Portland and the district contributed money to close the funding gap.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Public Schools (PPS) students in grades 9 through 12 will continue receiving free TriMet service through June 14, 2012, under a new YouthPass program agreement.
TriMet provides public transportation for the Portland metro area, and the YouthPass program provides TriMet service to about 13,000 PPS high school students. YouthPass began in 2008 under leadership from the Multnomah Youth Commission. A year later, the program expanded to cover all PPS students in grades 9 through 12.
Passes had been set to expire in December due to a lack of funds, but with a new agreement that was announced on Monday, YouthPass organizers, TriMet, the city of Portland and PPS extended the passes through the 2011-12 academic year.
The funding gap will be closed through a $375,000 YouthPass discount from TriMet and retroactively applied to the passes provided to students since September.
PPS and the city of Portland will contribute an additional $75,000 and $225,000, respectively.
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