You’ll be paying more to ride the bus in Durham and Waterloo Regions to travel to various Canada Day events or fireworks displays. Fares increase in the two regional municipalities, starting tomorrow, Monday, July 1.

Back in January, Durham Region Transit’s Transit Executive Committee approved raising DRT fares by an average of 3 per cent in all fare categories.

The Region of Durham says the higher fares help it support the higher costs to operate DRT buses, while avoiding increasing property taxes. It says the new fares provide passengers with a larger discount if they buy tickets or monthly passes, instead of paying with cash.

You’ll have to throw in an extra dime into the farebox, starting tomorrow as cash fares will be $3.10, instead of just $3. The cost of a monthly pass goes up $3 to $103, while buying a strip of 10 adult tickets will set you back $27.80, instead of $27.

You’ll need another nickel to pay seniors cash fares tomorrow, as they jump five cents to $2. Seniors monthly passes cost $41.50, instead of $40.25.

Starting in September, DRT will no longer offer Student Restricted Monthly Passes. Instead, it will offer students monthly passes which are valid seven days a week, including holidays and school breaks. The changes were approved January 30, 2013.

DRT’s also reworking its long-standing “One Fare Anywhere” agreement with GO Transit, starting June 29. Since 2006, DRT has integrated GO Bus services as part of the DRT system, making travel in Durham Region simple and affordable. Passengers with a DRT ticket, pass or transfer could travel within Durham Region on GO bus without extra cost. DRT compensated GO for all DRT passengers travelling on GO buses in Durham Region.

You can view a list of DRT fares, starting tomorrow, Monday, July 1, here.

As part of Waterloo Region’s 2103 budget, its regional council approved raising Grand River Transit fares overall by seven per cent for 2013. In this way, the Region says, “passenger revenues can keep pace with increasing costs, [GRT can] sustain service improvements and [the Region can] balance its contribution to transit operating costs with transit fare revenues.

Although cash fares remain the same as in 2012 at $3, GRT is upping the cost of many of its other fare categories. For example, the cost to adult passengers for buying a monthly pass goes up by 6 percent from $68 to $72. Adults who buy strips of five tickets will see the price rise by 10 percent from $10.50 to $11.50.

The higher fares will hit hardest those seniors, elementary and high school students who buy strips of five lower-cost tickets. Their rates jump 11 percent from $9 to $10. However, only 4.6 percent of GRT passengers use this fare.

University students who use U-Passes make up 27.5 per cent of Grand River Transit riders. The price of the passes increases seven per cent from $67.50 to $72.23 each month.

Although the 2013 Waterloo Region budget required GRT to cut service this summer, GRT also plans to use the extra funds that result from raising the fares to improve its service. Later this year expect GRT to revise its services in several ways including:

• Reorganizing service along the 5 Erb West, 6 Bridgeport, 12 Conestoga Mall, 13 Laurelwood, 29 Keats Way, 31 Lexington and 35 Eastbridge in Waterloo to provide more direct service and create connections to additional locations within the Region;
• Increasing the hours of service;
• Extending the path of buses operating along the 201 Fischer-Hallman iXpress route to Conestoga Mall; and
• Establishing a new University iXpress route along Erb Street West and University Avenues West and East between The Boardwalk at Ira Needles Boulevard, the University Avenue / Northfield Drive East employment area and Conestoga Mall.

GRT says improving its service is key to:

• Reducing transit travel times by creating more direct routes;
• Reducing customer wait times by increasing frequency;
• Increasing the number of potential destinations available to transit users;
• Making sure buses arrive on schedule; and
• Making transit more convenient to use for traveling later in the evening, weekends and during rush hours.

You can view a list of the GRT fares, starting tomorrow, Monday, July 1, here.