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Lathrop ‘School Tripper’ transit van service runs in mornings, afternoons
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The City of Lathrop launched the microtransit system not too long ago.

Included is a fleet of transit vans operating on a flexible, on-demand transportation service aimed at improving mobility throughout the city.

Part of that fixed route component is the new “School Tripper,” which runs in the morning and afternoon to ensure that students, parents, and school employees are able to get to their respective school sites.

“This is not a school bus and is available to the public as well as the funding for this program can not be restricted to school use only,” said the Lathrop City Council staff report from the Aug. 11 meeting.

This recently approved fixed route fare free pilot program that will run through to the end of calendar year 2025 in an effort to build ridership.

The city noted that the fare-free fixed routes for “School Tripper” is accessible to all transit riders in the community.

“This pilot program will allow the (City of Lathrop) to provide transit equitably, eliminating the fixed route fare that can make a tangible difference for many riders – eliminating fixed route fares injects money back into the local economy.

“Riders and families spending $30 to $60 per month on fares today can instead invest those dollars back into their family, their homes, food, health care, and retail in Lathrop,” said the staff report.

Microtransit van drivers for this program, without the time to collect fares, can expect to speed up services without pausing to verify fare eligibility or manage the collection coupled with questions that can often result at the time of fare payment.

The current fares collected on the existing fixed route microtransit vans are minimal to the overall funding of the system, according to the Council report, adding, “the fare free pilot program meets the funding criteria for all revenue sources that the City currently uses to fund Lathrop transit.”

Impacts on this pilot program will be re-evaluated later on to determine if it is operational and financially feasible to extend beyond the end of December 2025.