Students get ‘gift’ of free subway, bus rides

The MTA is giving New York City’s students a full ride.

The agency’s board voted last week to provide schoolage children with MetroCards loaded with three free subway or bus rides. Many students were previously given cards that granted them half-priced rides only on buses, which required them to carry $1.35 in change.

The cards will be valid from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, and from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays, giving students enough time to get home following their afterschool activities.

The updated program, which is now in effect and is expected to cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority around $200,000 a year, was welcome news to students and parents alike. A full-price subway or bus ride costs commuters $2.75.

Franceska Lau, whose daughter Lila is a sixth-grader at the Clinton School in Chelsea, said the half-price MetroCards caused her family headaches.

“Some days we have the change and some days we don’t have the change so [my daughter] would have to walk the seven blocks to school,” said Lau. “Sometimes the bus drivers are OK with her getting on the bus without paying the fare, but other days they tell her to get off,” she added.

“It’s really annoying because I can’t really go anywhere without having to bring around change,” Lila said.

The program is especially helpful for kids who do not live walking distance from school. Jennifer Cusack, whose 10-year-old daughter Emily is a fifth-grader at P.S. 372 in Brooklyn’s Gowanus section, said her kid would sometimes have trouble getting to basketball practice.

“I think it’s a good start,” Cusack said of the free rides. “I don’t believe in too little, too late.” The free rides also keep kids from skipping the farebox on buses — a habit MTA officials say costs the agency more than $200 million a year.

“I don’t pay, I just get on the bus,” said a junior at New York Harbor School who identified herself as N.D. “It’s not a big difference, but there’s gonna be less crimes. So that’s really good. And we wouldn’t have to jump.”

NYC Transit President Andy Byford said last week that the free rides were “a gift” from the MTA, and he expects students to have their preloaded MetroCards on them when they commute.

“Don’t turn up and expect just to be let through the service gate,” said Byford. “The quid pro quo is, here’s a free pass, you must swipe … you must use the turnstiles.”