Today, during her State of the City Address, Mayor Jenny Durkan plans to announce that all Seattle public high school students, as well as college students who are part of the Seattle Promise scholarship, will now receive free ORCA card passes.

Two years ago, Rainier Beach High School students launched a campaign to receive free ORCA cards, and the City of Seattle set up a pilot program to distribute passes to students who lived more than two miles away from their school. Seattle's ORCA Youth program also offers discounted cards to a limited number of high school and middle school students who are income-eligible. But while ORCA's Youth program served 3,000 kids, Durkan's announcement will affect an estimated 15,000.

“At a time that our City is becoming increasingly unaffordable for families, we need to make transit more safe, accessible and affordable, especially for our young people,” Durkan said in a statement. “Expanding free ORCA to high school students and Seattle Promise scholars will save families money and help students get to school and their jobs safely. With this partnership, students can worry less about how they get places and more about their grades."

In addition to working on Metro buses and Sound Transit, the new ORCA passes will be valid on the water taxi, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit, and Everett Transit.