For Immediate Release: National Charity Launches Free Youth Transit Movement

For Immediate Release: National Charity Launches Free Youth Transit Movement

JUNE 8, 2023 – Small Change Fund, Canada’s first charitable crowdfunding and awareness platform, is pleased to announce the launch of their national youth transit initiative, Get on the Bus, next Monday, June 12th from 1:00 to 2:00pm EST.

Held virtually via Zoom, the event brings together voices from across Canada to explore how innovative approaches to empowering youth through public transit benefit youth, the environment and the community.

Since 2012, the city of Kingston, Ontario has implemented a simple but powerful model for youth transit participation: give high school students a free transit pass and teach them how to use it. In doing so, high school ridership increased from 28,000 rides in 2012 to close to 600,000 (pre-Covid) rides annually in Kingston. The city has also seen long term growth and utilization by youth: between January 2017 and April 2023, sales of young adult monthly transit passes increased by 140%.

Inspired by wide interest from communities nationwide, Small Change Fund has evolved the Kingston program into Get on the Bus, with Kingston initiator Dan Hendry as Project Director.

For Hendry, the launch is a decade-long dream realized: “I’m very excited to start seeing the incredible benefits experienced by Kingston replicated across Canada,” he says.

Burkhard Mausberg, President of Small Change Fund, will speak to guests about how to get their community involved and help start a youth transit revolution.

“Through Get on the Bus we will help communities develop policies, partnerships and resources to enable them to make free youth transit a reality,” says Mausberg.

To register for the webinar, visit: https://bit.ly/getonthebus-zoom.

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For more information and media requests, please contact:

Burkhard Mausberg, Small Change Fund, burkhard@smallchangefund.ca