Metro Offers Local Students Discounted Fares

Full and part-time college students in the Los Angeles area — including those who attend Caltech and Pasadena City College — can now apply for discounted Metro rates, transportation officials said Monday.

A new program launched by Metro this year will allow students to obtain reduced fare stickers on their student identification cards that will replace the use of TAP boarding passes.

The sticker — known as the Universal College Student Fare pass — was approved by Metro in May and is available to students who are enrolled in at least eight class credits. According to Patch, these types of passes were only previously available to full-time students.

“The reforms Metro has made to this program this year benefit both the agency and students,” said John Fasana, Metro Board’s Chair to Patch. “As students strive for a higher education, they now can have access to efficient and affordable public transportation while giving Metro a great opportunity to increase ridership and encourage the use of public transit.”

A Metro monthly pass at regular price is $100, but students who obtain the discount sticker would only pay $43, according to The Source. Furthermore, some schools like Cal State Northridge, are allowed students to purchase the student fare pass on their registration web portals.

“This bypasses some of the processes that turned out to be barriers to students receiving discounts in a timely manner,” said Metro Chief Communications Officer Pauletta Tonilas to The Source about buying the passes online.

According to Patch, buying discounted fare passes online is typically not a part of a university’s registration process.

School eligible to participate include the Los Angeles Community College District, California State Universities, University of California, private universities and vocational colleges, according to Metro.

For more information on the program, please visit metro.net/riding/colleges.