{"id":64697,"date":"2026-04-13T19:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=64697"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:01:12","slug":"citrus-connection-launches-bus-pass-program-to-help-residents-get-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/04\/13\/citrus-connection-launches-bus-pass-program-to-help-residents-get-to-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Citrus Connection Launches Bus Pass Program to Help Residents Get to Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Citrus Connection just officially announced this partnership on April 13, 2026<\/strong>, with the pilot program set to begin this week (specifically the week of April 14<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The program is designed to address the “hidden barrier” of transportation in the justice system, particularly for the many clients in Polk County who qualify as indigent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Program Highlights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • The Goal:<\/strong> To reduce the number of missed court dates (failures to appear) that often lead to bench warrants, re-incarceration, and additional taxpayer costs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How it Works:<\/strong> Public defenders will identify clients who lack reliable transportation and provide them with a custom flyer. This flyer includes two one-way bus passes<\/strong>, route information, and a QR code for schedules.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Scope:<\/strong> Public Defender Blair Allen noted that her office serves roughly 20,000\u201327,000 clients annually. Citrus Connection CEO Tom Phillips estimates that if 10% of clients participate, the program could see about 2,000 uses per month<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Duration:<\/strong> The pilot is projected to run for at least one year<\/strong>, with monthly data tracking to evaluate its impact on court attendance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Logistics and Funding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Cost:<\/strong> While each pass technically costs $1.50, the program operates largely as a “sunk cost”<\/strong> because it utilizes existing transit capacity on buses that are already running.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Expansion:<\/strong> If a participant needs more than just a one-day fix, they can be connected to Citrus Connection\u2019s longer-term “transportation disadvantage” program for continued support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      This initiative builds on a similar successful pilot with the Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/strong>, which provides bus passes to individuals being released from jail to help them get home safely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Citrus Connection just officially announced this partnership on April 13, 2026, with the pilot program set to begin this week (specifically the week of April 14). The program is designed… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDRcL2ltYWdlcy03LndlYnA_Zml0PTI3NSUyQzE4MyZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkNpdHJ1cyBDb25uZWN0aW9uIExhdW5jaGVzIEJ1cyBQYXNzIFByb2dyYW0gdG8gSGVscCBSZXNpZGVudHMgR2V0IHRvIENvdXJ0IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.pC_vbOtcS1oJPwH4ztpNC7phS0TTafZo3mZ_ssa98soMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA0XC9pbWFnZXMtNy53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiQ2l0cnVzIENvbm5lY3Rpb24gTGF1bmNoZXMgQnVzIFBhc3MgUHJvZ3JhbSB0byBIZWxwIFJlc2lkZW50cyBHZXQgdG8gQ291cnQiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.DrtDOXTjWqRXnSktyq42wK5LLRtbExttdEf08scApA0MQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14371],"class_list":["post-64697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-citrus-connection-launches-bus-pass-program-to-help-residents-get-to-court"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64699,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64697\/revisions\/64699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}