OCTA program offering unlimited rides and better access to education
ORANGE – The Orange County Transportation Authority is introducing more students to the convenience and affordability of public transit by expanding its student bus pass program to Coastline College – a shared-cost program that allows enrolled students to travel free on any OC Bus.
The program began this week at the start of Coastline’s spring semester, allowing more than 10,000 full-time and part-time students from the school access to unlimited rides on all OC Bus local routes.
Students can now enjoy a free, comfortable ride while avoiding parking costs and hassles and doing their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’re happy to welcome Coastline on board with OCTA to help more students achieve their goals through easier access to higher education,” said OCTA Chairman Mark A. Murphy, also the Mayor of Orange.
OCTA is expanding on the success of the program, which began in fall 2017. The program has helped increase ridership, introduced new riders to public transit and remove barriers to higher education for students, some who say they wouldn’t be able to attend college without it.
The college program allows full-time and part-time students enrolled at the colleges to use the pass via the mobile OC Bus app, helping them to get to school, to work, or wherever the bus travels across Orange County.
Based on the student pass program’s initial success, beginning with the pilot project at Santa Ana College and the School of Continuing Education, OCTA looked for opportunities to expand the program to other Orange County campuses, including Santiago Canyon College in Orange, and then to Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Fullerton College, Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Cypress College and Irvine Valley College. OCTA is working with Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa next.
In the last six months, OCTA has recorded more than 250,000 boardings through its college pass and university pass programs.
Although bus ridership fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, OC Bus continues to provide a high level of service and ridership has begun to increase again, helping riders reach essential jobs, health appointments and other important destinations.
For more information, visit octa.net/coastline.
