The City of Rockford and the Rockford Mass Transit District announced that beginning February 1, 2025, any individual in the community enrolled in a local post-secondary education program or in a local adult General Educational Development (GED)/High School Equivalency (HSE) program will now be able to ride RMTD’s fixed route service for free.
Individuals who have a valid student photo I.D. for the spring 2025 semester from any of the following local institutions: Rock Valley College (RVC), Rockford Career College (RCC), Rockford University, NIU Rockford, Judson, Rasmussen, U of I College of Medicine, OSF Nursing - can access the free ride program by simply showing their valid student photo I.D. when boarding a RMTD bus.
For those individuals currently enrolled in adult GED/HSE programs offered by RVC, Rockford Public Schools (RPS) & Goodwill, as well as the Rockford Public Library Adult Online High School, RMTD will be coordinating with those providers to distribute free passes to their program participants.
The new free ride programs are being implemented in an effort to help reduce barriers to accessing educational and training opportunities in the community.
In 2022, we implement Veteran and K-12 student free ride programs on the fixed route system.