Fare, Zone Changes Coming In January To Sonoma County

Sonoma County Transit is proposing changes to bus fares and policies in January.

The agency will replace the “student” fare category with a “youth” fare. The current student fare applies to students in grades K-12. The new youth fare will apply to passengers 18 and younger, according to transit officials.

Currently “senior” passengers are those 60 years and older. In January, senior passengers will be those 65 and older, a change in line with many other Bay Area transit systems, Golden Gate Transit and those in Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

Veterans and Sonoma County college students currently ride Sonoma County Transit for free through Dec. 31 under a pilot program.

The youth and senior changes also will comply with the Clipper Regional Transit Card program that will become an alternative payment method to cash and pass programs on Sonoma County Transit in January.

Sonoma County Transit also is reducing the number of fare zones in its system from 13 to eight and increasing adult fares between Santa Rosa and the seven other zones between 5 and 65 cents, transit officials said.

Youth fares between Santa Rosa and the seven other zones will increase between 5 and 50 cents, and senior and disabled passenger fares will increase by either 15 or 30 cents. Sonoma County Transit’s last fare change was in 2012.

The proposed changes take effect Jan. 17.

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--Bay City News/Image via Sonoma County Transit