The fare for a single trip on a Butler Transit Authority bus will cost $1.50 instead of $1.25 starting in July.

The transit authority board of directors voted Tuesday, June 11, to increase the fare by 25 cents, after the board approved the proposal in April.

John Paul, executive director of the Butler Transit Authority, said during the meeting the authority had several in-person and virtual sessions for public comment on the issue, but no one attended any of the sessions. The authority also did not receive any written feedback, despite the proposal being advertised on buses and in terminals.

The rates for multi-ride passes are staying the same, as are the rates for the authority’s commuter service, which has a route from Pittsburgh to Butler and back.

The fare increase — the first rate hike since 2012 — was proposed to offset costs relating to inflation. Paul also said the transit authority has been mulling a fare increase since at least last year, but administrators waited because of the lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Paul, the authority has a policy in place to only increase the fare by increments of 25 cents, so riders don’t have to carry any smaller change.

The transit authority administrators took the fare increase into account when drafting its 2024-25 budget proposal, which the board approved in April.

Paul also said the number of trips provided by buses in May was up by more than 1,000 trips compared to May 2023. Paul said there were 15,086 trips in May, an increase of 1,691 trips from last May.

“As things become more expensive and people are trying to save money, normally in these times, ridership goes up,” he said. “We’ve had a steady increase.”