Seattle Ready to Give Free Transit Passes to All High School Students

The Seattle City Council approved a plan to fund free transit passes for students attending Seattle high schools and colleges, according to an article by David Gutman.

"The City Council voted unanimously to spend up to $7 million a year on the ORCA Opportunity program, shifting money that voters had approved in 2014 to expand bus service," reports Gutman.

If approved by the Seattle School Board, Seattle will be the largest city in the United States to "give free, year-round transit service to all high-school students," according to the mayor's office.

Previously, the city's ORCA Opportunity program offered free transit passes to about "7,000 high-school students get school-year-only ORCA cards if they live more than two miles from school, and an additional 2,600 students in certain low-income households also get free passes."