City officials have decided to help pay bus fares for about 190 students who live in Pico Rivera and ride public buses to get home from La Merced Intermediate School in Montebello. The City Council will spend $3,000 to subsidize monthly bus passes, reducing the cost from $8 to $3.
The Montebello Unified School District, which operates the middle school, provides bus service for students to the school in the morning. But because of budget cuts, the school board last year eliminated bus service in the afternoon, forcing many students to use Montebello Bus Lines to get home. It particularly affects children living in the neighborhood of Montebello Gardens Elementary School in Pico Rivera, across the Rio Hondo from the La Merced campus at 215 E. Avenida de la Merced.
