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Transit pass for college students makes the grade

Go-To College Pass now permanent part of Metro Transit fare programs

By all accounts, the past year’s demonstration project designed to promote transit use by college and trade school students has been a rousing success.

The Go-To College Pass, first launched in August 2006, offers local colleges and trade schools a chance to sell students a discounted semester-long transit pass. Eleven schools participated during the fall semester, with an additional two schools joining that group in spring semester. In spring, 1,016 students were in the program, up from 620 in fall semester.

The pass provides unlimited rides at one price and uses Go-To Card technology, allowing users to touch the card to a reader so their ride is recorded instantly. That technology means faster boarding for users and allows Metro Transit to track where and when cards are being used most frequently. Schools have the option of subsidizing a portion of the pass to lower costs for students.

Metro Transit has made the Go-To College Pass a permanent part of the agency’s fare programs. With more than 70 institutions of higher learning in the Twin Cities, the program has a lot more room to grow.

Pass benefits students, colleges

Metro Transit surveyed students to gauge program effectiveness about midway through the demonstration project. Students said that cost of the pass, limited access to personal transportation and a belief in the benefits of public transportation were the top reasons they bought a pass.

Schools also saw benefits from the program, said John Siqveland, market development specialist at Metro Transit.

“Schools that have limited parking capacity have used the Go-To College Pass as a way to encourage students to leave their cars at home,” Siqveland said.

The Go-To College Pass is one of two fare programs targeted to college students in the Twin Cities. Another program – called the U-Pass – is offered to University of Minnesota students. Metro Transit has partnered with the U of M on this program since 2000.

“If we get college students on buses and trains regularly today, we have a good opportunity to make them riders as they leave school and enter the work force,” Siqveland said. “This is another tool Metro Transit can use to help reduce congestion in the Twin Cities in the long term.”

For more information

Local colleges and trade schools interested in the Go-To College Pass program can contact their local transportation management organization or call Metro Transit’s Employer Programs Hotline at 612-349-7427.