By Mark Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 3, 2007

A new Arlington initiative aims to do something revolutionary: make public transportation cool. Well, maybe not "cool," but at least attractive to county teenagers.

The goal of the program, iRide, is to encourage Arlington teens to use public transportation such as the Arlington Transit bus system. Teens are offered reduced fares and pocket-size maps; the program is promoted at kiosks in the county's middle and high schools.

Instead of the normal $1.25 ART fare, middle and high school students who show their school IDs will pay a reduced fare of 60 cents (50 cents if they buy tokens at Commuter Stores.) The reduced fares do not apply to Metrobus or Metrorail.

The initiative stems from a spring 2006 survey of middle and high school students, which revealed a number of barriers to teens' use of transit, including a lack of information, expensive fares and a perceived lack of coolness. Arlington County Board member Chris Zimmerman (D)had made teen transit a priority, having met with county teenagers as early as November 2005.

"It was really something to listen to them," Zimmerman said. "They were a great source of ideas." The program, he said, has "been designed by the kids to a large degree."

Members of the Teen Transit Advisory Board, made up of middle and high school students, met throughout the school year, even during summer vacation, to help develop iRide.

"We picked a lot of the design and colors," said board member Marisa Beckley, 17, a junior at Washington-Lee High School.

The board worked with marketing staff to make the program's logo appealing, while simplifying the maps that would be given out. The initial map was scrapped after the teens said it was too cluttered with irrelevant information, such as side streets they didn't need labeled. The new maps focus on main streets, landmarks and bus routes.

"They have a lot of great ideas," said teen board coordinator Judy Hadden, who has worked on the program since its inception. "IRide would not have been the same without the youth input."

County employees and community volunteers hit the road last week to kick off the program at three county high schools. They traveled on an ART bus from school to school during lunch periods, giving out maps, tokens and information about iRide.

Kiosks featuring maps of each school and its surrounding community will remain in the cafeterias at Wakefield, Yorktown and Washington-Lee. Kiosks will soon appear in other schools, officials said.

During their visits last week, volunteers went from table to table in the cafeterias, chatting with students. Students who at first looked askance seemed more interested by the end of the brief conversations.

One big selling point was the free tokens, which advertised the reduced fares.

"I think it's great that they're giving us free tokens, because now I might actually take the ART bus," said Adam Katzman, a sophomore at Yorktown High School. He said the visit had definitely made an impression on him.

After the volunteers left, students spread the maps out on the lunch tables, checking to see how many routes and options were available to them.

"It's so nice to see that so many kids here have the maps and seem interested in it," Beckley said. "It's nice to know I helped."

The program's ultimate goal is to create a new generation of public transit riders, starting at an early age, Zimmerman said. Part of that effort is trying to shake the concept that public transit isn't cool.

"What we're trying to do is change the culture," said Mary Hynes, a community activist and former Arlington School Board member. "What we're trying to do is say, 'Here's this other option for getting around. It doesn't involve your parents driving you around or you having a car; it's economical, and it's fairly reliable.' "

The program also benefits students who already use public transit.

"That's all I take, the bus," said Imani Tate, a junior at Washington-Lee. "Usually if you want to catch a bus somewhere, you have to do all this extra research. Me, I'm 15. I don't have my license yet, and I'm in a single-parent home, so I may not always have a ride. This is a really good idea."