As of Jan. 2, the Golden Empire Transit District bus services have changed. The district has implemented new routes and new fare prices.

According to the GET district, “This increase marks the first in fixed route fares in 10 years and the first in GET-A-LIFT fares in 23 years.”

“We have made some minor changes to our bus routes, and bus fares like route 5 will operate every 20 minutes on Saturday,” said Jill Smith, interim manager of marketing & service developing.

As of Jan. 2, these are the new fares: Base, 90 cents; Senior/Special, 40 cents; Regular Day Pass, $2.25; Senior/Special Day Pass, $1; Monthly Pass, $30; Senior/Special Monthly Pass, $15; Get-A-Lift, $1.50; and Summer Youth Pass, $45.

Before Jan. 2, the base fare was 75 cents.

John Bautista, 22, purchased a monthly pass because the bus fares can be expensive. Bautista said he would only ride the bus once in awhile and therefore only purchased base fares, but as the base fare increased he thought it would be cheaper to buy a monthly pass instead.

Smith said the monthly pass, after the increase, has unlimited rides. “On weekdays, approximately 23,000 people ride the GET bus. And on the weekends, probably about 10 to15,000 people ride the bus,” Smith said.