Chicago Public School students will have more time this school year to use reduced fare transit cards to match their new longer school day.

The Chicago Transit Authority says students can now use their discount from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. — a half an hour longer than last year.

“There’s quite a few students who rely on public transportation to get to and from school and to all those extra curricular activities, and that’s why we’ve extended it to match CPS hours,” said CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis.

Lukidis says around 25 million rides on the CTA per year are from the reduced fare program. Students between 12 and 20 years old can apply for the card, which charges 85 cents per ride, and a dollar per transfer.

The new longer school day started in some schools earlier this month, after much wrangling between the Chicago Teachers Union and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.