Is going to court for a ticket a one-time thing?

I got a ticket for driving on Carpool and Im just wondering how many days I'll need to ask off cause I have two jobs.

Let's just say the court date is on September 23, 2013.

Is that the only day id have to ask off or will it lead to other days as well? Is it just a single day thing?
I've never been to court over this, I paid off my other past ticket, but this one is over $500, which is a lot, so I'm hopin they'll reduce it or something. I don't want to do Traffic School, I was just told that if I go to court that they might reduce my ticket which is what I want or correct me if I heard wrong on that.

Thanks.