The Metro Board voted their unanimous support for a proposed new student transit pass program Thursday after students from community colleges, state universities and UCLA lined up to explain why student passes are so important, especially for part-time students who are not eligible for Metro's current student transit pass program. "Part-time students are not part-time because they choose to be," Romel Lopez, student body president of East LA College, told Metro boardmembers. "It's because they are single parents, or students who have to go home and take care of their parents, or students that have to work 40 hours a week and go to school."

Afterward LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti came out of the board meeting for photo opps and selfies with students, and Mayor Garcetti wrote personal notes for students who feared they'd be in trouble for leaving school to testify at Metro.

Friends in Sacramento say the Metro board meeting was watched by some legislative staff members who took note of the enthusiasm for student passes and the bipartisan support on the Metro Board — which showed that transit agencies as well as students are interested in student transit pass programs! Go Metro!

Metro’s new student pass program—which is for now a pilot with 10 schools (we don’t know which will be chosen yet)—will go into effect later this year.

Here is coverage of the victory on NPR, in the LA Times, and on Streetsblog!