BATON ROUGE - The Capital Area Transit System will begin collecting fares for the first time in over a year.

CATS announced Thursday that the free rides around the area will come to an end starting May 16. The usual fare for most trips is $1.75.

The service dropped its bus fares in April 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. CATS says it will continue using barriers, among other precautions, in its buses.

“We take the health and safety of both our operators and the community seriously,” CATS CEO Bill Deville said in a statement. “We have waited to resume fare collection until we felt we could safely do so."