UPDATE: Riders will see shiny new fare boxes on all buses late summer, early fall 2023. Students with existing FreeRyde cards should simply continue to swipe either from right or left (magstripe facing) on clearly marked card readers located directly on top of the new fare modules. If you are 14 and older (up to 17 or older if still enrolled in high school) please email TCAT at tcat@tcatmail.com or call us at (607) 277-RIDE (7433). FreeRyde cards work on any buses any time in TCAT’s service area. FreeRyde cards distributed fall of 2023 will be good through Sept. 6, 2024. Next year, FreeRyde privileges will be loaded onto smartcards!
FreeRyde
Fare-free for youth aimed at reducing transportation barriers
Teens 14 and older need a FreeRyde pass (free of charge) from schools or youth organizations
FreeRyde card designed by TCAT Artist Jenn Jennings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible?
Everyone aged 13 and younger can ride for free. Simply walk on the bus!
Those aged 14-17 are also eligible, but starting in mid-September 2022, a Free Ryde pass issued by your school, youth organizations, or TCAT are required for free access.
Those aged 17+ may ride for free only if they are attending high school (Public, private, charter, homeschool). Eligibility is only possible with a pass.
College students aged 17 and younger do not qualify for a Free Ryde pass. Please see the College Students or the Fare & Pass Options pages for your pass options.
If you live outside the county, meet the age requirements, but attend school in Tompkins County, you also qualify for a pass.
Notes:
- Students enrolled in college are not eligible regardless of age.
- Residency in Tompkins County is not required for eligibility.
I need to get a FreeRyde card. Who do I go to?
Public and charter school students should get their card through their school.
Participants in TST BOCES programs (including out-of-county participants) and homeschooled students should get their card through BOCES. Contact is Nicole Eschler at (607) 257-1551 newschler@tstboces.org
School districts participating include Ithaca City Schools; Dryden; Trumansburg; Newfield and *potentially Groton and Lansing schools.
Ithaca City School District
- Ithaca City High School: Martha Hardesty at (607)274-2257 or email: martha.hardesty@icsd.k12.ny
- Boynton Middle School: Angela Knight at (607) 882-5342 or email: angela.knight@icsdk12.ny.us
- Dewitt Middle School: Susan Danskin at (607) 375-7078 or email: sdanskin@icsd.k12.ny.us
- Lehman Alternative School Lisa Gervais at (607) 274-2183 or email: lisa.gervais@icsd.k12.ny.us
Trumansburg School District
- Trumansburg High School: Jennie Mayo at (607) 387-7551 or email: JMayo@tburg.k12.ny.us
- Trumansburg Middle School: Claire Valletta at (607) 387-7551 or email: cvalletta@tburg.k12.ny.us
Newfield Schools
- Eric Hartz at (607) 564-9955 or email: ehartz@newfieldschools.org
Dryden Schools
- Michelle Wendel at (607) 844-5361 or email: mwendel1@dryden.k12.ny.us
New Roots
- Caroline Licitra at (607) 882-5342 ext. 207 or email: clicitra@newrootsschool.org
Lansing School District
- Stacey Hern, Administrative Assistant for Student Services at (607) 533-3020 ext. 3104 or email: shern@lcsd.k12.ny.us
*Groton School District
To be determined. Please contact Patty Poist at TCAT at (607) 277-9388, ext. 560 or email: pp1@tcatmail.com
Participants in the Youth Employment Service at the Ithaca Youth Bureau and the Tompkins County Youth Services department’s programs, who did not or cannot get their FreeRyde passes through their schools, should get their card through those agencies.
General out-of-county youths who would like a pass should contact us.
Anyone with special circumstances that are not outlined above should contact us so we can determine your eligibility and if applicable, work with you to get you a card.
Why Free Ryde?
We have many amazing and energized local youth advocates and educators who want to make sure teens, adolescents and children can enjoy our many local offerings without being deterred by a lack of transportaton.
These advocates approached TCAT to see how we can reduce transportation barriers for youth and extended a request for help from area school officials. TCAT had hoped to implement some type of fare-free program for some time now, but the support and enthusiasm from our community and school officials has allowed us to kick off what is now known as “FreeRyde” sooner rather than later.
“We are very thankful to our local youth advocates and school officials for their support in helping us launch this program,” said TCAT General Manager Scot Vanderpool. “Their creativity and advocacy has been and continues to be a big boost to TCAT by helping us promote the many benefits of public transportation.”
Another plus, said Vanderpool, is that the FreeRyde program will provide the opportunity for more young people to ride the bus and gain confidence with using public transit. Hopefully, when they are older, they will become paying customers whose transit use will help curb carbon emissions and reduce traffic, while saving them money!
Why will only older teens need to show a pass?
Lots of older teens may be confused with adults or college students and bus operators need some way to tell the difference. We still need revenue from adult fares and college/university fare programs so it is important that these riders are counted properly.
Please note: we extended this pass requirement for older teens from Sept. 6 to Sept. 19, to make sure all those 17 and older or high schoolers have a chance to obtain a pass from their school or participating youth organization.
How does FreeRyde work?
From Sun., May 29 through September 5, 2022, anyone younger than 17 and those attending high school can simply board a TCAT bus anywhere or anytime TCAT is in operation. No cash or pass is required!
Beginning on September 6, 2022 those aged 14 and up who qualify will need to obtain and present a FreeRyde mag-stripe bus pass upon boarding. Information on how to get this pass is detailed in this FAQ section as well as on our FreeRyde pamphlet-handout.
These passes will be distributed at local schools and via youth organizations in short order 2022. You can also contact TCAT at tcat@tcatmail.com (write “youth pass” in the subject line.)
Those who are 5 years and younger will still be able to ride free so long as they are accompanied by a parent..
I am homeschooled, go to a charter school, or have some other arrangement. Can I get a pass?
Absolutely! Charter school students will be able to get a FreeRyde pass through their school and homeschooled students can acquire a pass through BOCES. For any other special arrangements, please contact us and we will work with you to accommodate your situation. Age and schooling eligibility requirements for both the program and FreeRyde card remain the same.
I live outside county lines but go to school in Tompkins County. Can I get a pass?
Yes, anyone visiting Tompkins County for any reason and for period of time who meets the aforementioned age and schooling eligibility requirements qualifies for the FreeRyde program. For those 14 and older, TCAT will work with you to make sure you get a FreeRyde card to ride the bus.
I am 17 or younger but I am not homeschooled or in high school. Do I get to ride free?
Yes you do. Please call or email TCAT and we will work to get you a pass (if you are in the 14 to 17-year-old age category. Email us at tcat@tcatmail.com or call us at (607)277-9388 ext. 560.
I am older than 17 and in high school or homeschooled working toward my HS diploma? Do I get to ride free?
Yes, you do.
Is the bus safe?
Yes, our buses are very safe. TCAT has professional, fully licensed drivers who go through rigorous training. All bus operators stay in constant touch with our dispatchers via radio and GPS locators on all of our buses. Parents and guardians will of course need to make their own decisions about letting their child ride the bus.
How do I ride the bus?
We will make every effort to give you the confidence to ride the bus like a pro! TCAT and our partners hope to visit to schools and youth centers to provide some tips on riding the bus, reading schedules, using apps for trip-planning, and accessing real-time arrival information.
To start, though, we have some resources online that can help:
- Browse through our Learn section for basic information. College students have their own specific page and we also provide how-to videos.
- Check out our apps page to see how to download the Transit, MyStop, or other apps that make riding the bus a breeze.
- We also encourage you to check out TCAT to Trails, a community-led, collaborative project with the Cayuga Trails Club and others, that shows you all the wonderful places you can go in the county with TCAT. Click on the TCAT to Trails map on the right for more information, or visit our TCAT to Trails page.
Do you have the capacity on your buses to handle more ridership?
Yes we do. While TCAT has been forced to reduce service recently due to nationwide transit worker shortages, most of these reductions have been implemented during the morning and evening peak periods when driver staffing requirements are at their highest. The less-affected midday trips have plenty of room for more ridership, and we are hoping to fill those seats with young people.
It’s about inspiration and community partnership
On March 24, 2022, the TCAT Board of Directors approved “FreeRyde,” a program allowing anyone 17 or under to ride the bus free effective Sun., May 29, the start of TCAT’s summer service period. Historically, youths would pay half fare.
So how did this all come about?
TCAT board members and staff hear from our community time and again about many people who are unable to enjoy Tompkins County’s wealth of opportunities and recreational venues due to a lack of transportation options. Young people are among those who have even fewer options.
That’s been a weight on the shoulders of several local youth advocates, including: Ever Stokes, Program Coordinator – Youth Employment Service at the Ithaca Youth Bureau; Kate Shanks-Booth, Tompkins County’s Director of Youth Services; Meghan Guerra Lyons, Coordinator of Community Youth Services, Tompkins County; and Shannon Alvord, Public Health Communications Coordinator for the Tompkins County Health Department.
Eager to find solutions, the group last year reached out to former TCAT Asst. General Manager Matt Yarrow, the agency’s chief planner. Yarrow had been hoping for some time to implement some sort of a fare free program for youth, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some ideas had to be placed on the back burner as operational complications took precedence.
Inspired by the enthusiasm of our local advocates and their willingness to engage key stakeholders, Yarrow got to work crunching numbers and creating heat maps to see where young people currently travel on the bus. He found that youth ridership is relatively low and thus the revenue from youth fares is minimal; if TCAT went fare free for youth, the financial impact would be low.
Oh those wonderful local educators!
The project got even closer to reality when Stokes, Shanks-Booth, and TCAT staff met up with local school officials to include Dr. Jeffrey Matteson, TST BOCES District Superintendent and CEO, Dr. Luvelle Brown, Superintendent of the Ithaca City School District, and Dr. Nicole Eschler, BOCES Executive Director of Regional School Success. They heartily embraced the idea and agreed to solve a key obstacle: they took on the responsibility of tracking and distributing the mag-stripe fare cards to their older students, those 14 and older. This is especially important, as TCAT doesn’t have the capacity to do the backend part of this process. While the issuing of fare cards may seem excessive, TCAT bus operators need a way to discern eligible youth from adults or college students whose fares TCAT is reliant upon.
And a supportive Board of Directors
Another big factor was that TCAT board members were unanimously. insupport of the program from day one, only needing some assurances that the program would be sustainable and that it had serious buy-in and cohesiveness from those involved.
After the board’s March 24 vote, TCAT 2022 Board Chair Laura Lewis, left, recalled that when she first joined the board a few years ago, Stokes talked to her about this idea and she was immediately intrigued.
“It is important to express gratitude to the youth advocates for their initiative in helping get the program off the ground,” Lewis told the board. “I think we are building a next generation of riders with this resolution.”
TCAT will work with youth advocates, schools, and organizations to coordinate or attend events to provide travel training programs geared toward young people. In fact, one of the most beloved jobs for most everyone working at TCAT is getting out in the community to show how easy it is to use the bus.
More freedom for you to get to where you need to go…
….but there are responsibilites involved!
Please see riders’ rights and responsibilities.
Transportation has long been one the largest barriers in preventing youth, especially those who live in rural areas, from accessing local services or getting back and forth between school and work.
The FreeRyde program is a huge win for our youth, and I could not be happier that the Tompkins County Youth Services Department was able to work with TCAT and our other community partners to bring this to fruition.
The needs and barriers youth face to employment and community engagement are diverse. But all youth experience transportation as an additional barrier because most youth lack the autonomy to fully transport themselves. This additional barrier compounds inequities that already exist.
If you live in a family system where there is access to reliable transportation, where there is parental flexibility and support, you are more mobile in your community and you are more able to take advantage of all that it offers. The impact that transportation has on youth engagement is insidious, because the opportunity cost of missing out is difficult to calculate.
The cost of not doing the camp, playing the instrument or the sport, getting the job, or even hanging out with the friend group all aggregates and compounds over time and impacts youth in huge ways.
When approached by Ever and Kate last year, we asked ourselves: what would be the consequences of thinking big?
If all youth rode for free, what would be the impact on our budget, on the capacity or our routes, and the costs of project administration? Essentially, we found that the impacts were relatively minimal while the upside (better mobility options for all local youth) was very compelling.
Luckily, our Board of Directors agreed and has been supportive of this effort. I want to thank our interorganizational project team for their energy and vision! We hope to see more youth on our buses this summer and into the future!”