Checked as of September 29, 2026.
Sioux Falls is built for people with cars, and the bus schedule knows it. Most of what is here is free or close to it. The catch is almost never the money, it is the hours.
Jump to what you need:
What the bus can and cannot do
No Sunday service. Not the bus, not On Demand, not paratransit.
- On Demand runs 5:45am to 9:15pm weekdays, 7:45am to 6:15pm Saturday
- Fixed routes stop earlier, so check your route, they do not all run as late
- Nothing goes to Brandon, Harrisburg or Tea
- On Demand rides cap at six miles, which is shorter than the city is wide
Riding today
$1.50 a ride, $3.00 a day pass, $30 a month. SAM fares
At 65 and over, with a disability, or with a Medicare card, every one of those is half price. Half fare
Buuut, buy the day pass for anything round trip. Two single rides cost the same $3.00, and transfers are only free on a day or month pass. On singles you pay every leg. The day pass is never the worse deal, and nothing at the bus stop tells you that.
Cash on board, exact change, no change given. 605-460-6256
Who rides free without asking anyone
Always:
- Veterans, showing photo ID with veteran status. A VA card or a veteran-designated driver’s license both count.
- Kids 10 and under, with an adult.
- Buuut, On Demand is different. SAM does not carry car seats, and their words: “Driver partners may decline to provide transportation services to a parent or guardian if they do not bring a required carseat.” State law requires one under 5 and under 40 pounds, and SAM recommends a seat or booster under 80 pounds. A folding booster is easier to carry than a full car seat.
- Anyone 11 to 18, with a school ID. Unaccompanied.
- No school ID? The SAM office gives out a Freedom Pass, which costs nothing.
- Buuut, On Demand sets its own floor. You have to be 13 to ride it alone.
Occasionally:
- Early voters, during local elections.
- Everyone, when the cold turns dangerous. SAM has waived fares on the buses, On Demand and paratransit during wind chills around 30 to 50 below. It is called per storm, not a standing rule, so check their page when the forecast turns.
Half fare
75 cents at 65 and over, with a disability, or with a Medicare card. The passes are half price too, $1.50 for a day and $15 for a month. SAM fares
Buuut, you need an eligibility card from SAM first. If you get SSI, SSDI or Medicare, fill in the reduced fare application and walk into the SAM office at 500 E Sixth St. They take your photo and make the card while you wait, so you leave with it the same day. If you would rather not go in, you can email the application with proof of eligibility and a headshot and they will mail the card out. Call 605-460-6256 to get the application. Office hours are weekdays 5:30am to 9pm and Saturday 7:45am to 6:15pm.
And there is no low income category. Being broke does not get you half fare. It gets you the next thing instead.
Free bus passes
Pass-It-On gives free passes to people in economic hardship. Job training, employment until your first paycheck, education, groceries, housing searches, medical appointments, support meetings, finding childcare, social service appointments. Their list, not ours. Pass-It-On
Through an agency you already work with, or Minnehaha County Human Services, 605-367-4217, 521 N Main Ave Suite 201, weekdays 7:30am to 5pm.
And if you are already going to the county about rent or utilities, ask in the same visit. Same number, same counter.
Buuut, they are no good on paratransit. How many passes you get, and how long you keep getting them, is up to the agency issuing them. There is no set number. And once you start with one agency you are meant to keep going back to that one, so the first door you walk through matters more than it looks.
A car to your door, free
211 runs free Lyft rides for a doctor’s appointment, DSS, groceries or work. Six one-way trips, and that is a lifetime total, not six a year. Three round trips and then they are gone, so save them for the appointment you cannot miss. 211 or 605-339-4357, at least 24 hours ahead not counting weekends. A person approves each one. 211 Transportation
Buuut, court is not on their approved list. Worth asking, but do not build your day around it.
If the ride is medical
Medicaid pays for rides to appointments, and almost nobody knows, because South Dakota has no booking line. You call a transportation company yourself and say it is a Medicaid trip. SD Medicaid community transportation
In Sioux Falls that is River Cities Public Transit, 605-945-2360.
- In-town medical trips run 9:30am to 12:30pm
- Book at least 24 hours ahead
- An attendant rides free
- The driver has 30 minutes either way, so a 10am appointment means they come for you some time before 10. Be ready early.
- You do not book the ride home. When you are done, call and they send someone to where you are.
- Without Medicaid it is $21 plus 25 cents a mile
Buuut,
the ride home stops when the window does. Book a 12:30 appointment and they will take you there and not bring you back. Keep it early enough that you are done before 12:30.
The state lists every enrolled company on its SD Medicaid community transportation page, but as an embedded map rather than a list, so it is awkward on a phone and rough with a screen reader. For questions about your own coverage, the DSS constituent liaison is 800-597-1603.
Buuut, a ride from jail is not covered. The state’s words: home “does not include a hospital, jail/prison, detention center, campus setting, nursing facility.”
Paratransit
Door to door if a disability keeps you off the fixed-route bus. $2.50 each way, free at 18 and under, one attendant free. Recurring trips can be set as a standing booking, which is how people get to dialysis. 605-460-6256 SAM paratransit
Certification takes up to 21 days and lasts three years. Start it before you need it, not the week you do.
Buuut, you book by 5pm the day before and there is no same-day ride.
And, both ends of the trip have to be within three quarters of a mile of a bus route.
And, missed rides have teeth. No-shows and late cancellations add points, and points become a suspension, up to six weeks. The Paratransit Rider’s Guide has the exact ladder.
If you are 60 or over
Active Generations runs Workers on Wheels, door to door, for medical appointments and groceries.
You must be living independently, inside city limits, and able to get in and out of a vehicle yourself. There is no income test. Instead, they post suggested donations:
- $5 one way
- $10 round trip
Suggested, not charged. Weekdays 8am to 4pm. 605-333-3317 Active Generations
If you are a veteran
Free DAV vans to the VA hospital at 2501 W 22nd St. You have to board and get off without the driver’s help. Schedule through the Hospital Service Coordinator, 605-336-3230 ext. 6551. DAV vans at the Sioux Falls VA
Buuut, their words: “Veterans who use the DAV Transportation Network will not be eligible to receive reimbursement for travel expenses.” If you were going to drive and claim mileage, do the math first.
For wheelchair or stretcher rides, Veterans Transportation Service, 605-977-4400. And the city bus is free for you, along with a few other situations.
Coming in from a small town
ROCS Transit runs from the towns around Sioux Falls. Medicaid accepted, book 24 hours ahead, weekdays 7:30am to 4:30pm. 605-384-3883 ROCS Transit
Every town ROCS lists
- Alcester
- Aurora County
- Beresford
- Brandon
- Brule
- Canton
- Centerville
- Charles Mix County
- Gregory County
- Hartford
- Kingsbury
- Miner County
- Moody County
- Parker
- Parkston
- Union County
- Viborg
- Wessington Springs
- Winner
The only fare they publish is in-town rides for ages 60 and over, a $3 standard contribution. Ask about everything else when you book.
The Brookings shuttle is the one scheduled service built to bring you here. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, three times each way.
- Brookings to Sioux Falls: 7:00am, 11:00am, 2:30pm
- Sioux Falls to Brookings: 9:00am, 1:00pm, 4:00pm
$40 booked ahead, $80 same day. Book through dispatch, 605-692-2222, not the office line. Sioux Falls Shuttle
Buuut, their own two pages disagree on whether $40 is per person or per round trip. Ask when you call.
These run around their own towns, not to Sioux Falls. Useful where you live, no good for getting here.
- Palace Transit, Mitchell. Serves Ethan, Mitchell and Mt. Vernon. $2 a one-way trip weekdays 7am to 5pm, $3 early, late and at weekends. Anything past the city limits adds $1 a mile. 605-995-8440
- East Dakota Transit, the Madison area. Run by ROCS. 605-256-5810
- Brookings Area Transit also runs locally around Brookings County. Office 605-692-5416
- Peoples Transit, Huron. 605-353-0100. We could not confirm their service area or fares from their own site.
Leaving town
Jefferson Lines is the only intercity bus, at 4110 W Maple St Suite 108. Greyhound and FlixBus tickets are the same buses. Minneapolis, Omaha, Fargo, Kansas City, Billings, plus Brookings, Mitchell and Kadoka in state. Tickets online. Jefferson Lines, Sioux Falls
If you are leaving because it is not safe to stay, the housing page covers breaking a lease early and who to call. If you are leaving an abusive situation
Buuut, nobody here has a program that buys you a ticket. We looked. The county lists transportation under emergency assistance and the Salvation Army might help, but neither publishes what they actually cover, so ask rather than count on it.