Wake Tech Community College and GoTriangle have signed an agreement to offer GoPass to all Wake Tech students and employees to allow them to ride free on any public transit route in the Triangle, helping remove transportation as a barrier to education.
Wake Tech already has an agreement with GoRaleigh, which provides an express service between GoRaleigh Station and the Wake Tech Southern Campus weekdays from 6:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. Wake Tech serves more than 74,000 adults annually online and at its six campuses, three training centers and multiple community sites across the county.
“Providing equitable access to education is central to our mission,” said Wake Tech President Dr. Scott Ralls. “Our students commute from all across Wake County to pursue degrees and credentials that can change their lives, and we want to do all we can to ensure that transportation issues don’t stand in their way.”
Wake Tech, North Carolina’s largest community college, offers more than 240 associate’s degrees, diplomas and certificates that prepare students for university transfer or immediate employment. The college also offers noncredit continuing education programs that include customized workforce training, small business support, public safety officer training, basic skills courses such as English as a Second Language and high school equivalency preparation.
GoTriangle is the region’s transit provider, connecting points across municipal and county lines. Helping students take advantage of educational opportunities is an important part of the agency’s mission, according to GoTriangle. In August, GoTriangle started Route 310, which provides direct access every 30 minutes each weekday from the Regional Transit Center to Wake Tech’s new RTP campus and other Perimeter Park stops.
GoTriangle’s GoPass program helps businesses, schools and other organizations offer free or deeply discounted transit as a benefit to employees and students. The organizations pay for the trips that GoTriangle and other transit agencies provide at discounted rates determined in the GoPass contract. More than 20 organizations including businesses and colleges have invested in the GoPass program.
“We could not be more excited about how this GoPass partnership with Wake Tech will help more of our neighbors access higher education opportunities that can make their lives better,” said Shelley Blake Curran, GoTriangle’s interim president and CEO. “Mobility so often is the key to opening up entirely new worlds of possibilities for people, and GoTriangle is happy to provide that mobility in safe, reliable and comfortable ways.”
To get their GoPasses, Wake Tech students and employees should stop by the ID offices on Southern Wake, Scott Northern Wake, Perry Health Sciences or RTP campuses. GoPasses are also available at the Beltline Education Center on an as-needed basis.
Students are eligible for a GoPass only if they are currently enrolled in at least one seated class and have a valid Wake Tech student ID. Wake Tech GoPasses are nontransferable and must be paired with a Wake Tech ID for verification. GoPasses will be deactivated if lost or stolen or if a student is no longer enrolled in any classes at Wake Tech.
Wake Tech GoPasses are valid on all GoRaleigh, GoTriangle, GoDurham and GoCary bus routes seven days a week.
The transit network across Wake County will continue growing each year as part of the Wake Transit Plan, which voters approved along with a half-cent sales tax to pay for it in 2016. Find the details of what’s proposed for fiscal year 2021 on GoTriangle's website.
