Students who pay registration fees are entitled to a bus pass available at Hayden Memorial Library.
The Citrus College Class Pass permits rides without charge on Foothill Transit buses that stop at Citrus during the semester. The pass also allows transfers to the Metro Gold Line for 50 cents.
As long as students are enrolled in at least one unit, and pay for their classes 24 hours in advance, they may obtain a sticker to ride Foothill Transit without charge.
Library media technician Terri Worthington said some students reported passes were rejected by bus drivers.
“We were having this problem a lot,” Worthington said. “A lot of students were being denied or have to pay.”
Worthington said that Class Pass program began before the semester.
“We can start issuing new bus passes for new students and reloading students’ bus passes on August 20, which is one week prior to the start of school,” Worthington said.
The Clarion ran a story covering issues with Class Pass in November, 2017. Problems associated with the passes may be due to confusion about whether the stickers on Citrus ID’s have been activated.
Worthington said Citrus Tech Services activates Class Pass stickers remotely, so students may need to confirm with Tech Services that their passes work. If a pass does not work Worthington said to revisit librarians who may reload the sticker for the semester.
Students who do not pay their enrollment fees before boarding public transit risk losing their Class Pass credit. Registering for classes or placing onto a waitlist is not enough to activate Class Pass.
“If you paid your fees, it includes what you pay for the bus pass,” Worthington said.
Once a student pays registration fees, a librarian may place the Class Pass sticker on the Citrus student ID.
After enrolling in a course the card should work. If the sticker is damaged, students can have it replaced for free. But, If the card works and does not read, then the bus reader then the bus reader may not work.
Worthington advises writing down the bus number and contacting Foothill Transit so they can replace the card scanner.
“We need to know the exact bus number so we can let Foothill Transit know, Worthington said. “Bus number such-and-such is giving students a problem with their bus passes.”
Bus drivers are not supposed to force a students off buses when presented with a valid Class Pass sticker.
“If they get on, and their sticker is not working, you just keep walking,” Worthington said. “That was part of our agreement with Foothill. They cannot make a student get off the bus if their sticker is not properly loaded or it’s malfunctioning.”
ASCC senator Philippe Schicker said his Class Pass sticker has always worked.
“I’ve not had an issue with a single bus driver, and I’ve been taking the bus for a while,” Schicker said. “They’ve been more than nice, really. Whenever it wouldn’t, they’d look at it, and be like, ‘Oh no, you’re good,’ and they’d let me go usually.”
Business major Rocky Koh also said that the problem could be caused by bus drivers ringing up the Class Pass as cash instead of the sticker.
“I think it was more of the person, because he has to press a button for when it’s money, and he has to press a button when it’s the card. And sometimes I think it’s the machine error more than it is the card, so that’s probably like the only time, but other than that, it’s always tapping.”
When asked how this problem was resolved, he said “The guy, he usually just says ‘wait,’ and you’ll hear a little beep, and then he’ll be like, ‘okay, try it,’ and then it’ll tap and go.”
Students who repeatedly use expired or malfunctioning Class Passes may be excluded from the program.
