{"id":111057,"date":"2026-09-30T19:38:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T19:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=111057"},"modified":"2026-09-30T19:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T19:38:55","slug":"new-ripta-u-pass-benefit-provides-free-bus-access-for-students-faculty-and-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/new-ripta-u-pass-benefit-provides-free-bus-access-for-students-faculty-and-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"New RIPTA U-Pass benefit provides free bus access\u00a0for students, faculty, and staff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sept. 30, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The University of Rhode Island is pleased to announce a new partnership between the University and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) that provides URI students, faculty, and staff with expanded access to public transportation throughout Rhode Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the University Pass Program (U-Pass), <strong>beginning October 1<\/strong>, all enrolled URI students and all faculty and staff can use their URI ID cards to ride RIPTA buses for free, at any time\u2014including nights, weekends, and University holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program provides a convenient transportation option for getting to and from campus, as well as for everyday travel and other needs beyond the University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reliable transportation is an important resource for many members of the URI community, with students, faculty, and staff expressing the need for convenient and accessible transportation options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By providing unlimited access to RIPTA service, the U-Pass program makes public transportation a more accessible option while also helping reduce the number of vehicles traveling to and from campus, increasing the availability of parking, and easing traffic congestion on and around campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U-Pass program can help members of the URI community:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Travel to destinations throughout Rhode Island.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Access employment, educational, and other opportunities off campus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Connect with train and commuter rail services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meet everyday transportation needs without relying solely on a personal vehicle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gain experience and confidence using public transit as an accessible transportation option.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For students, the program can also provide greater flexibility for getting to jobs, internships, appointments and other activities off campus.For additional information about the U-Pass program and RIPTA services, please visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ripta.com\/Students\">RIPTA&#8217;s dedicated U-Pass page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sept. 30, 2026 The University of Rhode Island is pleased to announce a new partnership between the University and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) that provides URI students, faculty, and staff with expanded access to public transportation throughout Rhode Island. Under the University Pass Program (U-Pass), beginning October 1, all enrolled URI students [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[1857,1858,1856],"class_list":["post-111057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-message","tag-audience-faculty","tag-audience-staff","tag-audience-students"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111058,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111057\/revisions\/111058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}