“I use the T particularly when I need to go to downtown Boston, and even with the increase it still makes it a bargain when faced with the likeliness of congestion and costs of parking,” he said.

Although the fare increase was approved in November and has been advertised since then—one student even purchased numerous T tokens at the $1 price in anticipation—many students said they were caught off guard when they arrived back at school following winter vacation.

“I found out about it on the way back from the airport,” said Jennifer C. Hsieh ’07.

“I was surprised, and I didn’t have a quarter with me, but luckily the guy behind me helped out.”

Hsieh said she might look into taking the bus more often because of the raised T fare.

Many T riders, such as Michael M. Mathai ’06, found the $1.25 fee inconvenient compared to the previous dollar fee.

“The dollar was a round figure,” he said.

Although many grumbled about the higher cost for public transportation, they did not anticipate changing their habits.

“It’s still the best public transportation ever,” said Brenden S. Millstein ’06, who said he paid $5 to use the BART subway system in San Francisco earlier in the morning to get to the airport to return to Boston.

According to the MBTA, Boston’s public transportation fees are still the lowest compared to other metropolitan areas, according to the MBTA spokesperson—even with the recent price hike.

The last time T fares were raised was in January 2001, when public transportation users decried the end of the 85-cent T ride.