DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – GoTriangle bus users will have to start paying to ride for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020.

But CBS 17 has learned that won’t be the case in Durham, where the city is keeping buses free for at least another year.

Thousands of Durham residents rely on those buses to get around the city. One man at a downtown Durham bus station said he uses them to get to school during the week.

“It made me feel good,” he said. “I can get my head in the game for what’s coming or how much it will be later on.”

Durham officials said money left over from a grant will allow the city to continue its fare-free option until July of next year.

City Council Member Chelsea Cook said 87% of GoDurham’s ridership lives in a household with an income of less than $35,000.

“A lot of the folks who are riding the bus are riding the bus because that is their only source of transportation and their only method of getting around town,” Cook said.

The budget isn’t approved yet. But the mayor and other officials said there’s unanimous support to keep the buses free.

“We do have to acknowledge that it’s going to take a little bit more work next year when we run out of that emergency money,” Cook said.

Many riders are relying on that work.

“To see Durham putting the money into the community by giving free rides to everybody… it made me feel our community is trying to be as active as possible,” a GoDurham rider said.