New College Pass Program, which offers free unlimited rides on OCTA buses to students, gets off to a strong start in its fall debut
GWC’s new College Pass Program, which allows all students — full-time, part-time, even those taking non-credit classes — to ride OCTA bus routes for free, is off to a roaring start.
Of the four O.C. community colleges that now participate in the program, GWC has seen the largest increase in participating students, said Frank Cirioni, director of Campus Life.
In its debut in fall 2019, the College Pass Program had racked thousands of unique student riders, most of whom use the bus to travel between home and school and work, but who also can take it to the beach or wherever they want.
“We’ve been pushing anytime we get a chance to tell the students. Please, please, please sign up, get your bus pass, start riding,’” Cirioni said. “So I anticipate we’ll have even more riders as we move forward.”
A successful kick-off event to promote the College Pass Program was held at GWC on Aug. 28, 2019, with speakers from the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the Coast Community College District’s Board of Trustees, Golden West College, the Associated Students of Golden West College, and OCTA.
Students have two ways to sign up for the program: through a mobile app, or by
getting their student ID card equipped with a special chip.
Kien Nguyen, 18, a freshman majoring in computer science, is a grateful participant in the College Pass Program.
The Anaheim resident spends about three hours a day riding the bus to GWC and to his job. He works as an assistant instructor at Parker Anderson, which offers after-school enrichment programs for students.
“It’s really helpful,” Nguyen says of the College Pass Program. “It’s allowed me to save a lot of money.” Not only that, Nguyen says, but riding OCTA buses for free — because he has no car, he rides six days a week — has an additional benefit. “I get to socialize with the bus driver and the other people on the bus,” Nguyen says.
STUDENTS REQUESTED SERVICE
In early 2019, Cirioni reached out to OCTA officials to inquire about a partnership after hearing requests from students for a free or discounted bus ridership program. At the time, both Santiago Canyon College and Santa Ana College were participants in the College Pass Program.
The student bodies at those colleges opted to pass a fee-based system to get the programs started. All students, regardless of whether they rode the bus or not, agreed to a small fee — $5 per semester — to launch the program.
“GWC took a different approach that didn’t require a student fee,” Cirioni said.
Thanks to the OCTA and the Associated Students of Golden West College (ASGWC), GWC’s College Pass Program is funded for three years.
The OCTA was able to secure a grant that pays for the program the first year. “Last year’s ASGWC Executive Student Council voted to allocate funds from their Designated Fund Balance to fund the following two years,” Cirioni said.
“It’s a revenue-neutral model,” he explained. “The OCTA makes no profit off of it. Their goal is to increase ridership, awareness, sustainability, and the huge one: take cars off the road and reduce traffic.” “For us, our students have better access to the college.”
Students who participate in the College Pass Program get free unlimited rides on 53 fixed lines operated by the OCTA. The only exceptions are the OCTA’s Bravo! service, which skips some stops, and OC Flex, the OCTA’s version of Uber that is an on-demand, curb-to-curb shuttle service serving two zones in Orange County, seven days a week, as part of a pilot program.
“I encourage more students to ride the bus for free,” Nguyen says.
