Income-eligible residents and students in Arlington, Virginia, can catch the bus for free or at a reduced price for the next 18 months.
The Low-Income Fare Assistance and the APS Student Fare-Less pilot programs began earlier this month and will use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to help residents affected by the pandemic.
Some 7,200 Arlington residents who are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs will be eligible for free rides distributed in prepaid SmarTrip cards worth $150 or about 75 rides.
The student program will automatically reload $10 a week over the course of 18 months into the iRide SmarTrip cards of some 2,400 middle and high school students not served by school buses. The cards will give free access to ART Bus to help the kids get to school. The first 800 cards will be distributed in six Arlington public schools, with more to be distributed as needed.
The Low-Income Fair Assistance program will collect data on residents who are in most need or have greatest interest in a no-fare plan, while the student program will study ridership behavior and patterns of students.
Riders in the no-fare and reduced-fare programs can use their SmarTrip cards on ART bus, as well as Metrorail, Metrobus and other local transit services. However, the subsidy will only be applied on ART Bus trips and will not apply to other transit services.
