CPS and Metro outline new student pass features, open houses and safety steps for 2025-26 school year

Cincinnati Public Schools and Metro officials announced changes to student Metro passes and expanded outreach as the 2025–26 school year approaches, saying the district expects roughly 12,000 students to use Metro each weekday and offering free parent rides the first week of school.

Chris Burkhart, chief operating officer for Cincinnati Public Schools, told the joint session that the district and Metro will issue RFID smart-card passes tied to individual student IDs and that most regular passes will stop working at 5 p.m. this year to “get students quickly to their final destination.” He said roughly 7,000 passes are direct trips, about 3,000 require a single transfer, and about 2,000 are for students with extracurricular activities.

The change matters because it aims to reduce crowding at downtown Government Square and other transit centers and make routes more predictable for families. Metro and CPS officials said they will color-code passes to indicate whether a student needs to transfer; school leaders will use that information to reduce unnecessary transfers through transit centers.

Metro CEO Andy Aiello said the agencies have broadened communications and will run open houses at junior high, middle and high schools from Aug. 4–15 so parents and students can confirm routes and meet transportation staff and Metro employees. Burkhart said parents may ride Metro free with their child from Aug. 20 through Aug. 27; parents can tell drivers they are “here to ride to school with my son or daughter” and need not present a printed card.

Officials described tools and safety protocols they expect parents and students to use during the first week and beyond. Metro and CPS urged families to use the Transit app (or Google Maps transit feature) to plan trips on the network that will be in operation Aug. 20. Andy Aiello said Metro maintains a supervisor presence at Government Square, contracts coverage with the Cincinnati Police Department at key transit centers, and coordinates with the city’s 311 community responders.

On safety and lost-student procedures, Burkhart and a Metro representative said bus drivers should call Metro’s RCC dispatch center when a student is “lost in the system”; Metro dispatchers send supervisors to the vehicle and coordinate with CPS. CPS said parents can also call its transportation line at (513) 363-6510 (noted in the meeting as the district contact) to reach a live dispatcher 6 a.m.–6 p.m. on weekdays, and that CPS can track a student’s RFID card to see where a child boarded or exited.

CPS and Metro officials said they have been working together more frequently than monthly — in some cases every other week — to fine-tune routes using ridership data, and that Metro staff will be visible at transit centers and bus stops the first week of school to help students find the correct routes. Burkhart also said Metro and CPS will continue to produce short how-to videos (including a TikTok video) to show students and parents how to use the system.

Board members and council representatives asked about ongoing feedback and parent access to passes; Burkhart said open-house meetings during the year and surveys provide continuing feedback and that printable parent-pass templates will be posted on the CPS transportation web page by the end of the workweek before school starts.

Ending: Officials said they will monitor the first week closely and adjust routes based on real-time data. Parents and guardians were urged to plan trips on the Transit app for Aug. 20 and to contact CPS transportation or Metro if problems arise.