By Lauren Garcia / Asst. News Editor
( RTA)
By Lauren Garcia / Asst. News Editor
Who wants to be the millionth rider?
On the morning of Oct. 26, the Riverside Transit Agency awarded Viridiana Jimenez with a free iPod Touch, a hat, a coffee mug along with additional promotional items in honor of its one-millionth ride by students in the Riverside Community College District.
Eighteen-year-old Jimenez is majoring in criminal justice and rides the bus to school five days a week.
Jimenez has truly benefitted from this program because both of her parents work full time and would not otherwise have a ride to school if it weren’t for RTA.
Attendees of the event included RTA Chairman of the Board Karen Spiegel, Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, Riverside City Councilman Andy Melendrez, RTA CEO Larry Rubio, Mayor Loveridge, Moreno Valley Councilwoman Robin Hastings and Edward Bush, vice president of Student Services at Riverside City College.
The Go-Pass program enables students at the Riverside, Norco and Moreno Valley campuses to ride the RTA buses for free by swiping their student identification cards.
Janet Zavala, a first time college student at the Riverside campus, also relies on the bus to get to and from school Monday through Friday.
“I can’t even imagine how expensive it would be to pay to ride the bus to school every day,” Zavala said. “I save tons of money that can be used for tuition and textbooks.”
The Go-Pass program is funded by different areas where RCCD students live such as Corona, the County of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Norco, Perris and Riverside.
During 2009’s fiscal year, about 850,000 students from the Riverside, Moreno Valley, and Norco campuses boarded.
Bradley Weaver, the RTA marketing coordinator, commented on the system.
“We are very pleased with the programs success,” Weaver said.
“Not only are students able to get free rides to school but they are also reducing the amount of cars on the road as well as the amount of emissions,” Weaver said.
With the normal bus fare being $1.50 a day, students will be saving a ton of money a semester taking the bus for free.
RTA has been serving the public since March 16, 1977 and has been serving students for free in the RCCD for more than a year.
They have 30 fixed routes, 8 commuter routes as well as the Dial-A-Ride Service.
The College has a variety of projects on hand that will definitely provide new resources for students to recieve an even better education.
With the undergoing construction in the lower parking lots, and the basic termination of parking lots A and B, having a parking space is not always a luxury students can easily attain. RTA is a smart option to beat the traffic.
Getting to classes on time and assisting in’going green,’ RTA presents an overall affordable option for commuting students.
