Detroit students can ride city buses for free, thanks to new pilot program

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Detroit students are now able to ride city buses for free, thanks to a new program called Ride and Rise. It was approved by the Detroit City Council on Tuesday and launched Wednesday, April 1.
Robert Cramer is the director of the Detroit Department of Transportation. During Tuesday’s city council meeting, he said the 180-day pilot program requires students to show their ID to ride.
“This is an opportunity for us under Mayor Sheffield's leadership to learn more about how transit and DDOT in particular can work more effectively for students and their families, not only when it comes to attendance at school, but also thinking about afterschool programs,” Cramer said.
During her first state of the city address Tuesday night, Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield said the goal of the program is to reduce chronic absenteeism in schools and improve transportation for students.
“We've also reached an agreement in principle with the board and the superintendent so that the money currently spent on bus fare for students would now go towards much needed after school programs,” Sheffield said.
According to a report from the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research (PEER), about 30% of Detroit families don’t have a fixed way to get their children to school everyday, and about one-third of families do not own a car.
Cramer said the Department of Transportation will partner with schools, including the Detroit Public Schools Community District, to track absences to see if there’s been a change since the program’s launch.
He said to ensure student safety, adults could ride the buses for some routes that have many student riders or issues where students are feeling unsafe.
Cramer added that while it’s not practical to say there’s going to be an adult on every bus route, the department’s been receiving data from DPSCD and other schools about common travel patterns of students going to school.
The Detroit Police Department also provides security at transit centers and out on the street, Cramer said.
He said if the pilot program were to move forward after the initial six months, it would require an ordinance amendment and a fair equity analysis with the Federal Transit Administration.