WASHINGTON — D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that new Kids Ride Free Cards for the 2019-20 school year will be ready for pickup from D.C. schools starting Aug. 26.
Bowser also said last year’s card will still be valid for use until Sept. 30.
"No child should miss a minute or a day of school because of transportation challenges, and no family should be in a position where money is a barrier to getting their children to school on time," Bowser said.
Bowser established the Kids Ride Free to program to ensure kids can get to school and school-related activities for free on Metrobus, Metrorail and the D.C. Circulator. This program distributed over 60,000 SmarTrip cards to District students for over eight-million rides in the 2018-19 school year, a press release said.
RELATED: Mayor Bowser pushes for private security camera incentive to help police investigations in DC
That's up from around 48,000 distributed in the 2017-18 school year.
But instead of distributing the cards over the course of the summer, the new cards will be sent directly to all D.C. public school sand public charter schools for distribution.
"The new approach should make receiving the new card more convenient for families, allowing them to pick it up directly from their child’s school," the press release said.
"As a councilmember, I created the Kids Ride Free program to build not only a more equitable transportation system, but also a more equitable school system," Bowser said. "As Mayor, I was proud to expand the program to include trains. Now, we need to ensure that every young person in our city gets their new card so that they can make every day of this upcoming school year count."
