(Aug. 3, 2021) — IndyGo welcomes approximately 200 high school students from Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) to the system as their daily mode of transportation to and from school with the start of the 2021-22 school year Aug. 2.
Students in Grades 10–12 will now be part of the Year 1 cohort of IndyGo riders through the Student Sponsored Ride Program. The goal is to provide IPS high school students with the benefit of greater mobility to navigate throughout the city while gaining new skills and independence. IPS is also looking to reduce its transportation budget in order to increase resources in the classroom.
Students in the cohort and additional district high school students who opt-in to IndyGo for the 2021-22 school year can use their ID cards to commute to and from school, work, extracurricular activities and more at no charge to them or their families, through summer 2022. This will afford IPS the opportunity to discontinue yellow school bus service for these students. It will allow IndyGo to educate future transit riders giving them increased independence, confidence and the ability to access more mobility options.
IPS and IndyGo launched the partnership with a pilot program in May 2018 offering students at select IPS high schools bus passes. The pilot was eventually expanded to include all four high schools – Arsenal Tech, Crispus Attucks, George Washington and Shortridge, providing access to more than 5,000 students. Overall, the long-term goal is to increase the number of district high school students assigned to IndyGo each year.
IndyGo is committed to supporting IPS students and families with information and resources on how to ride public transit. Travel trainings, both virtually and in person, were offered to walk families through the process. To watch a video recording of one of those trainings or access other resources, go to https://www.indygo.net/student-program/.
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