Bus fares for kids go on summer vacation

Kids in Austin will ride the bus for free this summer under a new pilot program announced Wednesday morning by Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority President and CEO Randy Clarke. The program is one of three the agency is branding together as its Summer Sun, Late Nights and Family Fun initiative set to run from June 8 to Sept. 1. Under current agency rules, kids younger than 5 years old already ride sans fare. The new program will extend that exemption to include all kids through high school seniors. Additionally, the agency is expanding weekend MetroRail service to include runs to Leander until 1:45 a.m. on Fridays and to Lakeline until 2:30 a.m. on Saturdays. MetroRail will also provide all-day Saturday service starting at 10 a.m. rather than 4 p.m. on June 9, July 7 and Aug. 4. “These pilot initiatives respond directly to what I have been hearing from customers and partners during our customer engagement events,” Clarke said. “They enable us to use our existing services and investments to increase ridership and provide community-focused mobility solutions.”