Families with young children will soon be getting a break on their bus fare.

Beginning next week, all children ages 12 and under will ride for free with an accompanying adult on Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority buses.

Craig Ross, president and CEO of the authority, asked board members to consider the proposal late last year and they approved the new policy at their monthly meeting Tuesday evening.

“It’s not much to us, but it could mean a lot to the families with children with them,” Ross told the board before the vote.

Karen Jones regularly rides transit buses through Macon and often brings her grandchildren on board.

“I thought they always do that,” Jones said Wednesday as she waited for her bus at Terminal Station.

Under current policy, the authority allows preschool children to ride for free as long as they are shorter than the fare box. Students enrolled in kindergarten through high school have been charged 75 cents to ride.

As of March 1, young people under the age of 13, who are with an adult at least 18 years old, will now be able to get a free ride no matter how tall they are.

The board also is getting ready to celebrate national “Get on Board Day” on Thursday, April 16.

“We’re going to have a huge event,” Ross said during the meeting.

The nationwide observance began last year as a way to generate awareness and support for public transportation.

In Macon on the third Thursday in April, riders will be treated to free hot dogs during a health fair from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Terminal Station at Fifth and Cherry streets.

Contact Civic Reporting Senior Fellow Liz Fabian at 478-301-2976 or [email protected].

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