YOUTH TRANSIT RIDES HOLD STEADY
IN APRIL
More than 3,000 passenger trips
recorded in six of eight months this school year
RAPID CITY, SD—For the sixth month during the 2020-21 school year, more than 3,000 youth passenger trips were recorded on RapidRide.
Rapid Transit System (RTS) officials report 3,134 youth passengers boarding the transit service last month, an 85 percent increase over the 477 youth passenger trips recorded in April 2020, when schools locally and nationwide closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 24,446 youth boardings have been recorded since September 1. More than 3,000 youth have boarded RapidRide in six of the eight months this academic calendar year.
“We traditionally see a decrease in ridership as the weather begins to warm up in April and May,” said Megan Gould, Rapid Transit System manager. “We are still considerably lower than before the pandemic but continue to average more than 3,000 youth trips per month.”
Since the beginning of the ‘Youth Ride Free’ program initiated by the City at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year and prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City recorded more than 13,000 youth passenger trips per month.