A partnership between Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will provide CPS students with free transit rides on the first day of school on Tuesday.
Contributions from the business community will help subsidize the cost of students riding the CTA for free on the first day of school.
"We all recognize how critical it is that every student be in school on the first day. We also know that CPS students depend heavily on CTA to get them to school and having public transit that is conveniently located near a school can make the difference between being able to get an afterschool job, join a team or participate in a club," said Board Chairman Terry Peterson.
On a daily basis, CTA provides roughly 150,000 rides for students using student reduced fare permits and two-thirds of those students attend Chicago Public Schools.
The Chicago Public Schools serves approximately 405,000 students in more than 675 schools. It is the nation's third-largest school system.