There’s been a lot of excitement brewing with introduction of Metro light rail, and to top it off — it’s free. To ASU students at least.

The ASU U-Pass, which grants students free, unlimited access to Valley Metro buses and light rail, is offered through Parking and Transit Service (PTS), a subsidiary of the university.

PTS is able to offer the U-pass for free through profits made on parking permit sales, parking fees and citation payments.

The U-Pass was introduced in fall 2005 as an annual bus card for unlimited rides on Valley Metro bus routes, but has recently been expanded to include light rail access.

Kim Carpenter, a receptionist at the Permit Sales Office where the U-Passes are issued, says typically there is an influx of students coming to receive the passes at the beginning of each semester. However, Carpenter says this semester many came early to get their passes in anticipation for the light rail.

“If it’s free, people start using them,” Carpenter says.

To obtain a U-Pass, students must present their Sun Card to the PTS office, which is located at 525 S. Forest Avenue Suite 101. The process (depending on how long the line is) only takes a few minutes to gain access to free, valley-wide transportation.

Justice studies junior Amanda Reber, who recently received her U-Pass, says she was unaware that students could ride the light rail for free, until a friend of hers told her about the program. “It’s not very well published information,” Reber says.

Furthermore, “it’s more efficient cost-wise, and more convenient,” for her to use the U-Pass to ride the light rail from her home in Phoenix to class at the Tempe campus, Reber says.

Also available free to ASU students and Tempe residents is the Orbit, Tempe’s free neighborhood circulator. The name implies what the buses do — orbit around the ASU/Tempe area, covering several square miles. Likewise, the five routes are named after different planets.

These smaller, blue buses have shorter routes than the Metro buses and go through neighborhoods surrounding the Tempe campus.

No identification, pass or card is necessary to board. Commuters simply can wait at a designated Orbit bus stop or they can wave down the driver anywhere along the route to board.

The Orbit travels in both directions along the same route unless otherwise indicated, and the buses come every 10 to 15 minutes. The hours of operation vary by route, but they typically run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday thru Sunday.

For even shorter distances within the ASU area, students may use the Flash, Tempe’s free local shuttle covering ASU and downtown Tempe. The Flash buses essentially run along the perimeter of ASU and through Mill Avenue. Again, the times vary depending on the routes, but the buses generally come every 10 to 15 minutes.

Both the Flash and the Orbit are sponsored by Tempe in Motion (TIM), the city’s transportation commission.

Lastly, for transportation between campuses students can use the intercampus shuttles. The intercampus shuttles come less frequently than the Metro buses and the light rail. These are free to students and are a good option for commuting to campuses other than Downtown. Shuttles between Tempe and the Polytechnic and West campus run Monday thru Friday approximately every half hour. The Tempe to Downtown shuttle only runs Friday and Saturday nights from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., to encourage students to use the light rail.

Reach the reporter at nicole.ethier@asu.edu.