Photo by plattypus1 via Flickr.

Despite the heat wave, summer is just about over for many Los Angeles students. Major bummer, I know.

As students begrudgingly prep for the early morning wake-up calls and the endless homework, there’s one school supply that should be on every student’s list: a Student TAP Card.

A Student TAP Card gives K-12 students access to reduced fares: $24 for a 30-day pass or – for those who don’t ride every school day – a $1 one-way fare. College students and vocational school students are eligible for reduced fares too – a College/Vocational TAP Card slashes the price of a 30-day pass to $36.

It’s important to know that students (or their parents) need to apply for these special TAP Cards. They’re not available for purchase on buses or at rail stations. Links to the applications are available on the Reduced Fares page of Metro.net.

Parents who are intimidated by the prospect of sending their kids off to school on a bus or train should definitely take a look at our three-part series (originally posted last year) entitled Back to school on transit.

Written by Metro Communications Manager and experienced transit oriented mom Jody Litvak, it’s more than just a how-to guide – it also proposes a convincing argument why your kid should take transit (hint: some of the best lessons are learned outside of the classroom).

A few updates before reading the year-old series: as mentioned above, TAP cards are now the only way to get a student pass and, if you’ve equipped your kid with a cell phone, it’s worth teaching them how to use Nextrip… no more confusing timetables!

Here are the links to Jody’s Back to school series:

• Back to school – on public transit Part 1 (Why should your kid ride transit?)
• Back to school – on public transit Part 2 (Is transit right for your kid?)
• Back to school – on public transit  Part 3 (Introducing your kid to riding transit.)