Poughkeepsie city school district students are now able to ride public transportation for free.

The district partnered with Dutchess County to offer free rides to middle and high school students with school ID's.

The program is costing the school district $54,000 this school year. Prior to this program, the district did not provide students with any form of transportation.

The initiative is stemming from a pilot program last school year where students took public transportation for more than 45,000 rides.

Now students have a free ride to and from school, to extracurricular activities and jobs if needed.

Dutchess County Public Transportation has also modified routes M and P, which serve the middle and high school to align with each schools bell schedule. They have also added extra buses on those routes during the morning and afternoon.