You’ll pay more to ride Barrie Transit buses, starting Wednesday, May 1.

The cash fare for all passengers younger than 65 — adults, students and children — will be $3, up from $2.60, starting that day. Seniors with a valid identification card will pay $2.65, instead of $2.50.

The cost to buy passes is increasing, too. You’ll pay an extra $2.40, or a total of $82.40, for an adult pass. Passes for seniors and children go up $1.50, costing you $54 each month. Students pay another $1.85 for passes that will cost $63.85 in May. Power passes, which high school students can use school days after 4 p.m. jumps to $27.55 from $26.55. Georgian College students should expect to pay $7 more for each semester passes — $247.

The cost to buy other passes and fare cards is also increasing. You can view a list of all fares starting May 1 here. (.pdf). New fares also apply to BACTS, the Barrie Accessible and Community Transportation System.

Barrie Transit passengers can expect fares to increase about 3 percent annually over the next several years. Higher fares will help offset the cost to buy more buses and to build a new facility to store and maintain them.

More important, Barrie Transit will completely revamp its network of routes in August. The City of Barrie says that the “new Barrie Transit” will dramatically improve transit service in Barrie, with buses operating more frequently on major roads on more direct routes during longer service hours.

The new system no longer focuses on a single downtown terminal. Instead, multiple buses operate to and from multiple transit hubs at major destinations in different parts of the city.

Many routes double up on major roads, so passengers can expect 15-minute service on many of the busiest streets, instead of the current 30-minute service. Eight of the 10 new routes will directly serve Barrie’s two GO Transit train stations.