ATI fares: train and bus

It is the fare table ATI publishes for its bus network — 32 routes connecting Bayamón, Carolina, Cataño, Guaynabo, Levittown in Toa Baja, Loíza via Piñones, San Juan, Trujillo Alto and Caguas — and for the Tren Urbano, with the discount programmes and the unlimited cards.

The regular fare is paid by the general public aged 3 and over. There are three discount programmes — Student, Half Fare and the Golden Programme — plus the Call and Ride paratransit service, which has its own guide and its own requirements. The page publishes what each programme pays, but not who qualifies or what evidence is required: that must be asked of ATI.

• Exact change or an ATI card: payment is made on boarding the bus with one of the two.Verified against the official source
• For programme fares — Student, Half Fare, Golden — whatever evidence ATI requires; the page publishes the amounts but not the requirements.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The regular fare and the routes 20 and 30 fare

   ATI says it in prose and repeats it in the table: the regular fare is $0.75 for most of its routes, and routes 20 and 30 carry a $2.00 fare. In the table those routes appear as E20/E30 (MU). The general public, aged 3 and over, pays those two amounts depending on the route.

2. 2

   Step 2: The discounts, one by one

   Children 0 to 2: free on regular service and on the E20/E30. Student Discount Programme: $0.60 on regular and $1.00 on the E20/E30. Half Fare Programme: $0.35 on regular and $1.00 on the E20/E30. Golden Programme: free on both, per this table. And Call and Ride, the paratransit service for passengers with functional diversity: $1.50 per trip.

3. 3

   Step 3: The unlimited card

   For regular service, ATI publishes four unlimited passes: one day of trips, $5.00; seven days, $15.00; thirty days, $50.00; and ninety days, $90.00. The card is obtained or topped up at the machines in the Tren Urbano stations.

4. 4

   Step 4: How you pay, and why the card is worth it

   The fare is paid on boarding the bus with exact change or with a fare card of the sort sold at Tren Urbano stations. The card’s advantage is not only not carrying coins: it allows free transfers from the train to the buses within a two-hour window. ATI itself clarifies that this transfer applies only to the regular fare.

5. 5

   Step 5: Two official figures that do not match

   Worth knowing before arguing at the bus door. DTOP’s AMA page publishes $1.50 as the Golden Programme fare. This ATI table shows the Golden Programme as free and uses that $1.50 for Call and Ride. Both pages are official and neither carries a date, so this guide does not declare which is current: it tells you both exist and to confirm with ATI or at the window before relying on one.

6. 6

   Step 6: What the source does not say about the programmes

   The table carries the amounts, not the conditions. It does not publish from what age or with what condition one enters the Golden Programme, what evidence the student discount requires, or who qualifies for Half Fare. This guide does not fill those gaps: ask ATI when you get the card. For Call and Ride there are published requirements, and they are in its own guide.

The fare is paid on boarding. Cards are bought and topped up at the machines in the 16 Tren Urbano stations, and pass transactions — new, unlimited or replacement — are booked at www.tutrenpr.com or by calling (939) 227-2838, (939) 227-2829 or (939) 227-2844.

• Counting on $0.75 on routes 20 and 30, which carry a $2.00 fare.
• Paying cash when you will transfer from train to bus: the free transfer goes with the card.
• Boarding without exact change, which is what ATI requires for cash payment.
• Taking one of the two official Golden Programme figures as settled without confirming it.
• Assuming the 30-day unlimited card costs the same as thirty single trips, without doing the sum for your real usage.
• Expecting the page to say who qualifies for each programme: it publishes the amounts, not the requirements.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

  www.ati.pr.gov

• DTOP — AMA page, where the other Golden Programme figure appears

  dtop

  www.dtop.pr.gov