Student transit pass program rules

(a) Establishment. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the department is authorized to establish a program to provide transit passes for students enrolled at participating schools to attend school and off-campus educational and non-educational activities. For the purposes of this section, “participating school” means any State department of education school; provided that the appropriate State administrators at the State department of education agree with the director to participate in the program. Under the program, the department must issue student transit passes entitling the student pass holder to bus and rail rides, valid during the academic school year for which the transit pass is issued. (b) Program eligibility. A student enrolled at a participating school may participate in the program; provided that the State department of education approves the student’s completed application and submits the student’s information to the department in accordance with criteria established by the department in conjunction with the State department of education. (c) Student transit passes; restrictions on usage. Based on the student information provided by the State department of education, the department must provide the student transit passes for the academic program year. The department may restrict the use of a student transit pass as may be needed and appropriate to ensure student safety and accountability. (d) Program. The student transit pass program will provide the number of transit passes as may be required by the participating schools by academic program year, commencing on August 1 and ending on May 31 of each academic program year. The terms for the student transit passes for each academic year must be negotiated and agreed upon between the department and the State department of education. The fare for students to whom the transit passes are issued must be paid by the State department of education at the fare negotiated rather than a fare established under § 15B-2.1 (b); provided that the fare for the student transit pass program must be established so that the total revenue collected for the student transit pass program is not less than the total revenue that would be collected pursuant to § 15B-2.1 (b), based upon projected participating student usage. Projections must be evaluated annually, based upon actual ridership data for participating students. (e) Annual Report. For each year of the program, the department must submit a report on the program to the council no later than 60 days following the scheduled end of the academic program year. The report must include, at a minimum: (1) A discussion of the benefits, if any, gained from the program, including a voluntary survey of the participating students and schools for the purpose of collecting and analyzing data necessary to identify and determine riding trends and monitor student usage; (2) An analysis of the method of implementation of the student transit pass program, the cost of the program, and the number of student transit passes issued and used during the academic program year; (3) An assessment and evaluation of the overall status or success of the program, and identification of the criteria used to measure success, including but not limited to increased participation by students in off-campus and after-school academic and non-academic activities; and (4) Recommendations on whether to continue, modify, or discontinue the student transit pass program, including an assessment of the availability of alternative private transit services for the participating schools for the following academic program year. Editor’s note: In accordance with Ord. 24-6 , any program for student fares established pursuant to this section may be retroactively applied to encompass the entire 2023 - 2024 academic program year.