With school just around the corner, Clipper is encouraging Santa Clara County students to get their free Clipper Youth card in order to continue taking advantage of discount fares.

By obtaining a Clipper Youth card students, ages 5 to 17, can purchase a Youth Monthly Pass from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) for $45. A single-ride cash fare is $1.75, so the pass offers a considerable discount for those who ride VTA daily to get to and from school.

VTA eliminated paper monthly passes on July 1. Now the only way VTA student customers can secure a monthly pass is to load it on the reloadable, all-in-one Clipper card.

“Only 10% of youth pass holders in Santa Clara County have made the transition to Clipper so far,” said Carol Kuester, Clipper program manager for MTC. “We’re really making a push in August to sign up the rest, so they can take full advantage of the discount available to them.”

Applications can be downloaded from clippercard.com or obtained at the two VTA customer service locations. Clipper outreach staff can also come to school sites to accept Clipper Youth card applications.