Spokane Youth Card will be available for District 81 students again this summer

January 27, 2020 3:01 PM

Erin Robinson,

Posted: January 27, 2020 3:01 PM

by Erin Robinson

#happylife: The Spokane Youth Card is now available! — Copyright 2019 KXLY.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without prior permission.

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Spokane Youth Card will once again be available for Spokane students this summer.

The card allows all District 81 students to ride the STA bus system at no cost, connecting them to free city services – including public swimming pools, libraries and skate parks — during the summer months.

The pilot program was initially launched in June 2019 and proved to be wildly successful. In the first month the cards were offered, more than 4,000 were passed out to local students, who took more than 13,000 rides in the first few weeks.

In December, the Spokane City Council voted to bring back the youth card as they passed their 2020 budget.

The passes will be available from June to August and students will be able to pick them up their local library.

Councilwoman Kate Burke, who serves as the Spokane Public Library’s council liaison, said she intends to continue advocating for the program in coming years. She said she hopes to ultimately extend it to year-round bus passes for local youth.

“Giving youth the ability to travel around our city this past summer gave them access to educational and fun activities, it removed a transportation burden for them and their parents, and helped plant the seeds to grow life-long bus users. I know this had a big impact on our students this past summer and it will continue to grow as we expand access to our youth,” said Burke. “I am proud to support this program and hope that we can expand this in the future.”