Just about anything that brings more riders to the T is a good idea — including the sale of stickers that allow Kansas University students to utilize the city’s transit system.

Lawrence city commissioners Tuesday authorized the extension of the program, which accounted for more than 15,000 rides on the T between August and March. Starting last fall, any KU student who purchased a KU on Wheels pass was allowed to purchase a $20 sticker that allowed him or her to also ride the T. The city sold more than 300 stickers last year.

Starting next fall, the stickers will cost $25 for the year or $15 per semester. The revenue obviously is small compared to the total T budget, but every little bit helps.

Attracting more KU students to ride the T also may move the city and KU on Wheels a step closer to merging the two systems. A single bus system that could serve the needs of KU students, as well as other current riders of the T, would be far more efficient than maintaining two separate systems. Merging the systems would bring more ridership to the T and probably reduce the portion of student fees that go to support KU on Wheels.

KU students probably provide the greatest single rider base for buses in Lawrence. Attracting them to the city’s T and working toward a merger of the two current bus systems only makes sense and may be the only way the T can deal with its ever-growing deficits and survive.