Free Bus Program Gets Accolades

News Articles
08/29/2002

Oakland High senior Paloma Salazar and Berkeley High freshman Julian Okiwelu headlined the list of dignitaries who launched AC Transit’s first-ever free annual bus pass for youth. In a news conference held in front of Oakland Technical High School this week, local lawmakers, educators, philanthropic organizations and TV cameras joined AC Transit to announce the bus pass program – covering an estimated 30,000 secondary school students throughout the East Bay.

“Something good for youth in bad economic times,” was Oakland Unified School District superintendent Dennis Chaconas’ description of the subsidized youth passes. Kaiser-Permanente senior vice president Bettie Coles was on hand to present a $50,000 check – one of the contributions from sponsors helping to underwrite the free pass program.

First inspired by teenagers, the pass program was made a reality through the cooperative efforts of many institutions and individuals – spearheaded by three East Bay lawmakers: Assembly member Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley) and Supervisors Keith Carson (Alameda County) and John Gioia (Contra Costa County), who also participated in the announcement ceremony.

Young people obtain the new annual bus pass, actually a sticker that must be affixed to a valid school photo ID card in one of two ways:

• The free pass is available only at schools and only for middle and high school students who qualify in the educational systems as low-income. (There’s a list of school contacts on the District’s Web site at www.actransit.org; click the 31-Day Youth Pass.)
• The annual pass may be purchased directly from the District for $150 – available only over-the-counter (or by mail) from the Customer Services office at 1600 Franklin Street in downtown Oakland.

In addition to Kaiser-Permanante, the circle of sponsors helping to cover the program’s projected $2 million annual cost now includes the social service agencies of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the U.S. Treasury’s Marketing Office, Wells Fargo, and financial services firm State Street California, Inc.