Students, want to keep your MBTA semester pass? Act now

With all in-person classes canceled, travel patterns drastically changed, and an overwhelming number of requests to cancel MBTA passes, Boston University has arranged to cancel all MBTA student semester passes. If you want to keep your pass, you need to act before noon EDT on Thursday, March 26.

Many students purchased four-month MBTA semester passes for $320 (more for commuter rail). If you want to cancel your pass and receive a refund, do nothing. Your pass will cease to function on April 1, and you will receive a refund for April and May (50 percent of the cost of the semester pass). Exact refund dates have yet to be determined.

If you want to keep your pass, you must complete and submit a Transportation Request Form, asking to “keep my MBTA Semester Pass through May,” before noon, Thursday, March 26. Your pass will continue to function through May 31, and you will receive your next two months’ passes via US mail.

MBTA student semester passes are a good value for those who use MBTA buses and trains for daily round trips. Those who take fewer than four round trips each week would save money by letting their semester pass be canceled and loading value onto a Charlie Card.

It is important to remember that MBTA officials say that residents should travel by train and bus only for essential trips. According to the Statehouse News Service, the T says customers should “avoid any and all unnecessary service,” to offer safe travel and social distancing for those who rely on public transit to get to jobs fighting the coronavirus outbreak. The T has added new morning commuter rail trips beginning Wednesday, aimed at hospital employees who need to make 7 am shifts.