“As of Monday, some kids won’t be able to get to school”

“Dear PoPville,

The District replaced the old DC One Cards that DC children used to take public transit to school with a new SmarTrip card, called Kids Ride Free, or KRF. But they haven’t provided enough KRF cards for all the kids that take transit to school, and now we’re coming up on the expiration date for the DC One Card program.

Families and schools are simply trying to get the deadline for killing the current DC One Cards extended to October 30. And in the meantime, trying to ensure that DC provides the new cards the kids need to get to school.

Can PoPville readers support the #KidsNeedCards campaign to help us get a resolution from the city? Thanks a million!

Via Twitter
@MayorBowser
@DDOTDCDirector
@wmata

Via Facebook
@MayorMurielBowser
@DDOTDC
#WMATA”

From DC Public Schools:

“We are pleased that Mayor Bowser’s Kids Ride Free program continues to be used by thousands of students from across Washington, DC. The Kids Ride Free program was established by Mayor Bowser when she served on the Council to create a more equitable system by allowing eligible students to get to and from school for free.

This year, WMATA requested that students participating in the Kids Ride Free program receive and use traditional SmarTrip cards in place of DC One Cards to ride Metrobus, Metrorail, and the DC Circulator. Over the summer, we held distribution events in all eight wards to distribute Kids Ride Free SmarTrip cards before the school year started. Then, cards were distributed to each school before and during the first week of school.

With the cutoff date for the DC One Cards to be used on Metrobus, Metrorail, and the DC Circulator being September 30, we are hearing from families that their schools do not have enough Kids Ride Free SmarTrip cards. If you have found that your child’s school does not have enough cards based on eligible student need, we would like to hear about it. Please let us know by emailing [email protected] with your name, address, school your child attends and a good number to reach you, and we will follow up with the school and make sure you are provided a new Kids Ride Free SmarTrip card.

We continue emphasizing to card administrators that the Kids Ride Free SmarTrip cards are only for eligible students who need to use public transportation to get to and from school activities.

Families can continue to request the new Kids Ride Free SmarTrip cards from their school administrators after September 30, 2018 when DC One Cards will no longer be active for Metro transit use. We will continue to work with all schools to ensure that they receive the appropriate number of cards based on student need.

We appreciate the opportunity to support this program to get our students to school for free.

Sincerely,

Rashad M. Young
City Administrator”