The OCTA has announced that it is making its free bus pass program for youths permanent, The Youth Ride Free program started last September as a way to get young people on the buses with the plan of hopefully creating a new generation of bus riders.
Under the newly approved permanent program young people 6 to 18 years old can now use the bus for free at anytime. Since the Youth Ride Free program started the OCTA has said that ridership has been increasing.
This plan is to get Youth bus riders to use the bus system and, hopefully make them permanent customers in the future. Over the last several years the OCTA has cut back service in non core passenger areas such as South Orange County as it concentrates service in cities such as Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove and Westminster. Hopefully the new youth ride free program will get more future bus riders and be able to stem the decline of the public bus service in Orange County which has happened over many years.
