MTA To Give Student Bus Riders Free MetroCards

NEW YORK — No need for a yellow bus for these kids. The MTA plans to give free MetroCards to New York City students who take public buses to school.

The transit agency said it plans to end the use of the half-fare MetroCard, which requires kids who live within walking distance of their school to pay $1.35 for each bus trip. The plan, which the MTA Board is set to vote on Wednesday, will help kids to get to school and allow buses to run more smoothly by cutting out coin payments, officials say.

"This is a common-sense policy that makes it easier for kids to get to school and does away with needless complexities that have existed for too long," New York City Transit President Andy Byford said in a statement Sunday. "Replacing half-fare cards with full-fare ones saves money for students and saves time for everyone on a bus since the need for coins is eliminated."

Students who use half-price passes have to pay their share of the fare in coins, which the MTA says can increase the amount of time buses spend at stops. The discounted MetroCards account for about 27,000 bus trips each day, the MTA said.

Those students will now get full-fare MetroCards good for three trips a day like those already used by hundreds of thousands of students across the city, the MTA said. The shift will cost the MTA about $200,000, the agency said.

Schools hand out student MetroCards each year to kids who are eligible for them, according to the city's Department of Education. Students can only use them to go to and from school and related activities from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on days when their school is open for classes.

The shift in MTA policy comes as Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration rolls out its Fair Fares program offering half-price MetroCards to New Yorkers living below the federal poverty line.