In April 2025, the Youth Ride Free (YRF) summer pilot program was just a glint in eye of County Connection–and we were hoping to launch something that would get area youth (18 and under) to ride transit during the summer months, when transit numbers typically drop amongst younger passengers. Now, with the program at its halfway point, early data is showing that this simple, barrier-free approach is already delivering promising results.
Launched June 1, 2025, and going on through the end of July, YRF allows passengers ages 18 and under to ride any County Connection bus for free, with no application, ID, or special pass required. This approach removes obstacles that have traditionally discouraged young riders from using transit, helping to stimulate spontaneous, independent travel. As well, there’s some secondary “transit literacy” our riders are getting, like learning how to plan trips, read a timetables, or check out bus times on Transit–all helpful skills in building a lifelong relationship with public transit.
“In addition to providing free rides to our younger riders, we’re learning how to better serve youth by paying attention to their behavior and feedback,” said Andrew Smith, Director of Marketing & Communications at County Connection. “That’s data we can use to improve future programs, whether or not we’re able to offer free transit long-term.”
The campaign kicked off its outreach in late April with a three-pronged strategy: paid advertising, messaging via community partners, and word-of-mouth from riders and supporters. Engagement has been strong across the board surpassing 1 million views of online ads in English and Spanish. Notably, TikTok ads have led the way, generating more than double the impressions of other platforms.
Meanwhile offline and prior to summer break, County Connection staff visited 27 middle and high schools to distribute flyers and stickers, and partnered with local movie theaters to run YRF pre-preview ads across 34 movie screens. Additionally, over 160 media packets were sent to libraries, small businesses, and community partners to help spread the word.
But the real test of success? Ridership!
Just four weeks into the program, youth boardings has already surpassed all of June and July 2024’s total Summer Youth Pass (now discontinued) usage, reaching 714% of last summer’s two-month total. With one month still to go, staff now expect a 50-60% increase in all youth ridership (Summer Youth Pass + Clipper Youth) by the end of July. Our ridership data reveals significant youth activity at locations including Hurricane Harbor Waterpark, schools offering summer programs, and popular hubs like Sunvalley Mall, City Center, and BART stations. Most popular routes include the 6, 10, 15, 20 and 35 on weekdays and the 310, 320, 321 and 335 on weekends.
To measure impact and gather insights, County Connection is tracking results through:
- Passenger boardings (logged by our bus drivers)
- YRF leaderboard, where riders ages 13-18 can log trips, earn digital badges, and win prizes like movie tickets, gift cards, and limited-edition County Connection merch (see image above). Note: While primarily an engagement tool, the leaderboard is also providing valuable insights into ridership trends by route and day of week. Join the leaderboard at youthridefree.com
- (Coming soon) An opt-in survey (open to youth and parents through August)
Also exciting is that our neighboring agencies have joined in! Tri Delta Transit and WestCAT launched their own Youth Ride Free programs, sharing messaging to ensure a consistent experience for riders throughout the region. While WestCAT’s version requires an ID, the programs are otherwise aligned, giving youth a seamless travel experience across east, central, and western Contra Costa.
The YRF program is scheduled to end on July 31, at which point County Connection will share all data and lessons learned with partnering agencies. County Connection is currently exploring opportunities to sustain or build on the program after the pilot wraps up, and we will share more information just as soon as it’s available.