Free transit rides for youth to continue in Sacramento following budget deal
Sacramento (June 12, 2024) Young people in the City of Sacramento will continue to receive free rides on public transit for the coming year under a financing partnership between the City of Sacramento, Sacramento school districts and Sacramento Regional Transit.
The City Council voted to contribute $250,000 to the RydeFreeRT program for fiscal 2024-2025 as part of the $1.5-billion annual City budget adopted Tuesday. That amount was matched by contributions from the Sacramento City Unified School District, Sacramento RT, and a consortium of Twin Rivers Unified School District, Elk Grove Unified School District, and Natomas Unified School District.
Young people in the unincorporated county can also ride free due to $350,000 from the county and a total of $205,000 combined from the cities of Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, and Folsom.
RydeFreeRT started in 2019 with a $1 million annual contribution from the City of Sacramento. With the city facing a substantial budget deficit for the coming year, City Manager Howard Chan had proposed eliminating the city’s contribution for fiscal 2024-2025. Mayor Steinberg put together the partnership plan to spread the financial burden among all the entities whose young people benefit from free ridership.
Mayor Steinberg said Tuesday that a shared funding strategy also offers the best chance for the program to survive long-term.
Student ridership on SacRT had declined following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but has rebounded sharply due to RydeFreeRT. SacRT projects that it will carry more than 4 million students in fiscal year 2024, 2.5 times what it was pre-pandemic.
