The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District Board of Directors voted Tuesday to continue the transfer program between Amtrak trains and MTD buses called the Transit Transfer Pass.

The program began in January 2006 and now will continue for another three years.

The Transit Transfer Pass was created for visitors traveling to the Santa Barbara area aboard Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner. Passengers may ask a train conductor for a Transit Transfer Pass before exiting the train. The conductor will issue two paper tickets per person, each punched with the month and day. The passes then may be used as bus fare on the day marked on the ticket.

At the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District, the Transit Transfer Pass may be used as regular bus fare on any local MTD route, including the electric shuttles. The Transit Transfer Pass is not valid on regional service such as MTD’s Valley Express.

The pass has proven popular with visitors and is promoted through the Air Pollution Control District’s Santa Barbara Car Free program.

“Amtrak is pleased to offer this convenient multimodel opportunity to our passengers. We look forward to continuing to work with Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District to reduce the impact on the environment by offering this unique service,” said Marilee Bankert, field marketing officer for Amtrak.

Sarah Herbold is assistant marketing manager for the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District.