Getting a ticket to explore the Los Angeles region is going to be a whole lot easier for Lynwood Unified School District students starting in the 2024-25 school year. All K-12 Lynwood scholars will now be able to ride public transportation - completely free - thanks to a renewed partnership with the LA County Metro.
Lynwood Unified is rejoining the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (Metro) Fareless System Initiative and GoPass program, which will provide students with a pre-loaded Metro TAP card that can be used on its transit vehicles for an entire year. The program will come at no cost to the District as Warehouse Shoe Sale will cover the full cost of the program, or about $7 per student.
The Lynwood Unified Board of Education approved the partnership during its August 22 meeting. The District is awaiting additional information from LA Metro. The target rollout date is the week of September 23, 2024, when students will be able to activate their TAP cards at the Metro GoPass website.
“We encourage our students to take full advantage of the GoPass program and its benefits, which include being able to access more than a dozen transit agencies and having a reliable form of transportation to get to school, jobs, medical appointments and leisure activities,” Superintendent Gudiel R. Crosthwaite Ph.D. said. “Providing free transportation to our students will help inspire them to make positive changes in our community and beyond.”
First implemented in October 2021, the Metro program is designed to create a new generation of transit riders. Using their GoPass, students will have free access to all Metro Bus, Metro Rapid, Metro Liner, and Metro Rail vehicles without paying a fare. Other transit systems include:
- City of Commerce Transit
- Lynwood Trolley Breeze
- Culver City Bus
- Norwalk Transit
- Foothill Transit
- Montebello Bus
- Gardena Transit (GTrans)
- Pasadena Transit
- LA County Shuttles
- Santa Monica Big Blue Bus
- LADOT Dash
- Torrance Transit
- Long Beach Transit
The GoPass is a flexible tool that empowers students to explore more communities and benefit from exposure to new ideas and opportunities for success. Students ages 13 and older can register themselves, and those under age 13 must have their cards activated by a parent or guardian.