diff --git a/onebusaway-gtfs/src/main/java/org/onebusaway/gtfs/serialization/mappings/FareAmountFieldMappingFactory.java b/onebusaway-gtfs/src/main/java/org/onebusaway/gtfs/serialization/mappings/FareAmountFieldMappingFactory.java
index 011099ab..0f499787 100644
--- a/onebusaway-gtfs/src/main/java/org/onebusaway/gtfs/serialization/mappings/FareAmountFieldMappingFactory.java
+++ b/onebusaway-gtfs/src/main/java/org/onebusaway/gtfs/serialization/mappings/FareAmountFieldMappingFactory.java
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ public void translateFromCSVToObject(CsvEntityContext context, Map<String, Objec
   
         Object value = csvValues.get(_csvFieldName);
 
-        Float amount = (float) value;
+        Float amount = Float.parseFloat(value.toString());
         object.setPropertyValue(_objFieldName, amount);
     }
   }