You may have heard Mayor Sam Adams talk about extending the free TriMet student bus pass program. The free bus pass program is an idea coming out of the Multnomah Youth Commission, which believed that it would be good to take school buses off the streets and have students ride mass transit. The idea began to grow and several agencies came together to make the dream a reality, financed through Portland Public Schools and a state energy tax credit system

Last year, a couple of schools were involved in a pilot project. This year, more Portland Public Schools were included. Students from area high schools have a special decal on their student body identification card which allows them to ride without charge on mass transit in the greater Portland area. Reese Lord, who is responsible for the Transit Program Department of Transportation in the mayor’s office, said that their plan is to extend the program to include all public and private middle and high schools. More planning, financing, and human resources will need to be in place to do so. St. Mary’s Academy has two students on the Multnomah Youth Commission, and we will have an adult representative on the committee which will be formed with the mayor’s office. Hopefully, SMA students will be involved in this program once this important work is completed.