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Students at 148 Bay Area high schools — including 47 in San Francisco — can buy half-price BART tickets from school administrators.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Half-price BART tickets for high school students may soon be just a click away.
The tickets, which are sold at 148 public and private schools — including 47 in San Francisco — in the Bay Area, could soon be sold on the Internet under a pilot program by the transit agency.
BART officials are hoping to increase the number of discounted student tickets sold from the current 24,000 users and at the same time take the burden off school administrators, according to transit agency spokeswoman Luna Salaver.
Lorraine Andersen, a bookkeeper at San Francisco’s School of the Arts, said her school sells about 30 to 40 BART tickets each month. The school doesn’t make any profits from the transactions, and its ticket purchases are dictated by the previous month’s sales, Andersen said. She said students from SOTA can purchase two BART tickets at a time under the current program.
“This is done as a courtesy to the students,” Andersen said. “But we’re school administrators, not a box office, so it can be a bit of a hassle. I think everyone here would support an online program.”
Under the pilot program, students would be able to buy tickets online using a parent or guardian’s credit cards, with the tickets sent to their home in two days, according to BART documents. One student could purchase as many as four tickets a month.
The pilot program, which will go for approval before BART’s board of directors Thursday, would cost the agency $10,000 in upfront fees, and an additional $1.75 per transaction, which is paid to the software developer.
If approved, the program would likely take effect by the upcoming school year, with all interested Bay Area schools eligible to enroll, Salaver said. Schools have the option of keeping their existing student-ticket programs as well, Salaver said.
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12:52 PM MST on Tue., May. 6, 2008 re: "BART may soon sell student-discount tickets online"
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5:58 PM MST on Thu., Apr. 10, 2008 re: "BART nearing deal for Wi-Fi in trains"
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5:19 PM MST on Thu., Apr. 10, 2008 re: "BART nearing deal for Wi-Fi in trains"
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4:39 PM MST on Thu., Apr. 10, 2008 re: "BART nearing deal for Wi-Fi in trains"
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3:09 AM MST on Fri., Feb. 29, 2008 re: "EZ Rider a breeze for BART commuters"
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1:02 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 28, 2008 re: "EZ Rider a breeze for BART commuters"
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11:50 AM MST on Thu., Feb. 28, 2008 re: "EZ Rider a breeze for BART commuters"
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8:41 AM MST on Sat., Feb. 16, 2008 re: "Daly City BART to see retail revolution"
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8:26 AM MST on Sat., Feb. 16, 2008 re: "Daly City BART to see retail revolution"
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5:28 PM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008 re: "Shift in BART schedule causes brief hiccup"
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5:25 PM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008 re: "Shift in BART schedule causes brief hiccup"
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8:27 PM MST on Thu., Jan. 3, 2008 re: "Shift in BART schedule causes brief hiccup"
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Lynn Osborn said:
Not sure if you are aware, but our agency (now called 511 Contra Costa), in partnership with BART and funded by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, developed the original BART Pilot Student Discount Program in 1996, with participating schools in Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco. That first year about 2,000+ students participated and the results were such that BART continued the program of offering discounts to students to this day. BART was worried originally about lost revenue in offering discounts to students. I guess that is no longer a concern. This online option for students will be a welcome improvement for school administrators, I'm sure!
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Examiner Reader said:
The train is a filthy mess with homeless riders who urinate on the seats and floor.. come on.. WiFi??? Get the trashy people and beggars off the train first,then I will be impressed.
2 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
as a regular BART rider, i could care less whether the BART trains have wi-fi. more importantly, please keep them running, running on time and relatively clean.
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Examiner Reader said:
SF bus commuters can't even count on a bus coming reasonably on schedule and having room to let us on, forget getting a seat. And BART riders are getting WiFi???
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Examiner Reader said:
Bart is not so cooperative to support Translink, it created quite a few obstacles to dealying the Translink.
43 agree | 36 disagree
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Mike C said:
Unfortunately, BART has thumbed its nose at its most dedicated riders ... those who ride every day and use Commute Checks to purchase their BART tickets are unable to use EZ Rider, because BART has been unwilling to develop a process for crediting Commute Checks towards EZ Rider card value.
39 agree | 38 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
can't find "page" to sign up for seniors with EZ riders
37 agree | 37 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Gee. BART learns that people like to have facilities in their stations. Big news. Next they'll "discover" that their riders like trains that come frequently and go fast! Duh!
43 agree | 40 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
before they put in retail at daly city bart, they need to clean up the bird crap that's all over the place. daly city is probably the dirtiest bart station down the peninsula, with colma a very close 2nd.
46 agree | 39 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Keep writing informative stuff Mike..
87 agree | 77 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Good writing Mike...
83 agree | 90 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
There are NO timed transfers from Millbrae to SF Airport on Sundays. The BART train departs Millbrae at :07, :22, :37 and :52 past the hour. Travel time to San Bruno is four minutes. When the train arrives in San Bruno, the SF Airport train departed ONE minute ago, at: :10, :25, :40 and :55 past the hour. Who is BART fooling ?
84 agree | 88 disagree
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