Portage bus service free for month starting Monday as PARTA transitions to new fare system
Starting Monday, riders can catch a PARTA bus for free on the fixed route big buses.
No fare will be charged through July 8 as the public transportation system prepares to launch a new fare collection system on July 10.
“We’re offering a month of free rides to give our customers time to transition to our new fare media,” said PARTA General Manager Claudia Amrhein. “Our old trip cards will no longer work with new equipment being installed on our buses. We’re also eliminating the use of paper tickets, paper transfers and tokens.”
Beginning July 10, PARTA riders will need to use the EZfare mobile app, a new smart card, or exact change to pay for bus fare. The improved EZfare app and smart cards allow PARTA to introduce fare capping. With fare capping, passengers never pay more per day or per month than the amount of an all-day fare in a single day or 31-day fare over a month.
The free EZfare app is available to download now in the Google Play or Apple App stores.
PARTA expects to begin selling its new fare cards in the coming weeks. Riders should check PARTA’s social media outlets or its website for more information.
Anyone with questions about the new fare system can call PARTA’s customer service line at 330-676-6701
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: PARTA bus service free for a month starting Monday
