In a move to support teen mental health, Palo Alto Link has started offering free rides for 13 to 18 year olds to Palo Alto destinations including libraries, community centers, parks and other recreation facilities. For teens, fares for all other locations remain at $1.

Kristen O’Kane, the City of Palo Alto’s Community Services Director, said offering these free rides will make mental health resources more accessible to teens.

“We have heard from our mental health partners and youth that transportation can be a barrier for teens to access programs and services that can support their mental health,” O’Kane said.

Sophomore Elsa Lagerblad, who uses Palo Alto Link weekly, said offering free rides helps students travel without a car.

“If they want to support mental health, this is a great move,” Lagerblad said. “It enables teenagers to get around so much easier without a driver’s license or a car.”

To promote community engagement, O’Kane said the city has made efforts to publicize the change and encourage teens to utilize free rides to locations to improve mental health.

“The city has really done (a lot of publicizing) through the website, through social media and through (the) Uplift Local newsletter that goes out to residents who subscribe to it,” O’Kane said.

However, sophomore Michael Lee, who occasionally uses Palo Alto Link, said many teens are still unaware of the service.

“Nobody really knows about it,” Lee said. “If it could be advertised more, it can be used a lot more by students.”

Lagerblad also said she was unaware of the city’s decision to promote teen mental health with free rides until recently.

“I have definitely noticed that the rides are free sometimes,” Lagerblad said. “But I didn’t know that it was for mental health. That’s new for the city.”

Even though offering free rides can increase access to mental health support, Lee said the main cause of poor student mental health is Palo Alto Unified School District’s competitive culture, not a lack of wellness resources from school sources.

“From my perspective, it’s a school’s problem,” Lee said. “Some schools offer such rigorous programs that (the students develop) mental health issues.”

On April 29, the Palo Alto Link expanded working hours to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to support commute times for residents working within Palo Alto.

Although expanding hours increases the accessibility of rides, Lagerblad said Palo Alto Link should further expand their hours to the weekend to better serve residents.

“If the city wants to improve mental health by offering this free transportation service, then they should make it available on the weekends or make extended hours,” Lagerblad said. “Most teens aren’t using Link at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. Most teens want to use Link at 10 p.m. on a Saturday. If they really want to have the maximum impact, they need to have it when teams are going to use it, which is on the weekends.”

However, O’Kane said that the Palo Alto Link service does not have enough funding to expand hours.

“It’s really a matter of funding at this point,” O’Kane said. “The original Link program was funded through a grant. We tapped into the city budget to offer free rides for teens.”