Detroit gives 150 students at 4 high schools free Lyft rides ahead of Oct. 7 Count Day

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield launched a $500,000 rideshare pilot Wednesday that gives 150 students at four high schools free Lyft rides to and from class, pairing the announcement with a push for full attendance on Michigan's Oct. 7 Count Day.

Sheffield made the announcement at the Coleman A. Young Recreation Center with Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and charter school leader Ralph Bland. The event fell one week before the statewide enrollment count that determines most school funding for the district and charter schools.

The program targets students with the highest rates of absenteeism at Denby High School, East English Village Preparatory Academy, Osborn High School and Pershing High School. City officials said students were chosen after Director of Youth and Education Chanel Hampton reviewed absence data and worked with school leadership teams to identify students facing transit barriers, including those who must transfer buses multiple times.

"This program is allowing for about 150 students that have barriers to transportation to get free rideshare services to and from school at four of our high schools here in Detroit," Sheffield said. "And this is a way for us, again, to not talk about absenteeism and transportation, but to actually take action to ensure that our young people are in the classroom."

The city is using $500,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act money for the pilot. Hampton said she identified students based on data showing where the highest absenteeism is in high schools, then worked with school leadership teams to identify those in need.

Count Day matters because 90% of overall school funding is tied to attendance on that single day. Vitti said every student counted brings in $10,300 this year. The district currently has more than 49,000 students enrolled.

"Every day matters as far as attendance is concerned," Vitti said. "Count Day is especially important because 90% of our overall funding is directly connected to attendance that day."

Vitti said the district usually has about 98% attendance of enrolled students on Count Day, but even that 2% gap can account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. Afterward, the district spends weeks tracking down the last students to confirm they are enrolled and attending. He said officials are usually able to get within 0.2% of total enrollment to be counted, but the effort requires significant resources.

Schools in Detroit will try to make Count Day fun with raffles, pep rallies and other entertainment to encourage attendance, Vitti said.

The rideshare pilot is separate from Rides to Rise, a program that allows all K-12 students to ride city buses for free. Hampton said in the first month of that program, 80% of participating students "are no longer chronically absent in their first month of school."

DDOT had 3,900 student riders every week when that program launched. By the end of the school year in June, weekly student ridership had grown to 29,000. In the first month of the current school year, Hampton said DDOT reported student ridership reached 44,000.

Denby junior Jamilah Evans has already used the Lyft pilot. Her mother, Shantinique Evans, said she used to struggle getting both her daughters to two different schools in the morning and then getting to work, all within 30 minutes.

"One of them is going to be late every day," Evans said.

She hesitated to put one of her daughters alone on a city bus but said she felt comfortable using the rideshare program.

"I feel safe with the LIFT program, with this pilot program," Evans said. "I really hope that it continues because this is safer and I don't have to worry so much."

Jamilah Evans said the flexible transportation has let her join afterschool activities, including the volleyball team and cheerleading. She is also arriving early enough to eat breakfast and be in her seat before the bell.

"I get to class on time," she said.

Michigan's statewide attendance for the 2025-26 school year increased by 0.2 of a percentage point to 91.5%, according to the Michigan Department of Education. Attendance has continued to climb slightly since a low in the 2021-22 school year.

Vitti said the district is trending above where it was after the pandemic and close to pre-pandemic attendance levels. But he urged students to show up on Oct. 7 so the district can secure the funding it needs.

"Get the funding to serve our students," Vitti said.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year. The city and school leaders said transportation remains one of the biggest barriers for Detroit students.