Rate hike proposed for riders

Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

Get on the bus -- but be prepared to pay a little more.

Visitors and locals on the Strip are likely to pay more next month to ride the CAT-system bus, and riders throughout the system could ante up more by the end of this year or early next year.

The Regional Transportation Commission staff has recommended an increase from $1.50 to $2 for riders on the buses on the Strip. The commission will hold a public hearing and vote on the increase Oct. 14. The increase could go into effect three days later.

Terry Cordell, RTC fiscal services manager, said the proposed hike for riders systemwide would bring the fare from $1 to $1.25, or from $20 to $30 for a month of unlimited use.

The increases would be the first since 1993, the first full year that the CAT system operated. The increase for Strip bus service would add $3 million to the $78 million in RTC revenue, and the systemwide increase would boost revenue another $6 million, Cordell said.

The higher fares would pay for increased services -- more routes and more frequent service, said Lee Gibson, RTC planning manager. He said since service would increase, the RTC does not foresee a decline in ridership.

"We don't think there will be much of a drop-off. Quite the contrary: We expect the growth curve to continue," Gibson said. "The more service you put out, the faster your ridership grows."

He said the system has seen a ridership increase of 34 percent per year since service started in 1993, far outstripping the population growth rate of 6 percent per year.

A 10 percent increase in service -- in frequency of stops or additional routes -- brings a 16 percent increase in ridership, he said.

Additional routes are planned for Craig and Buffalo roads. Some of the system's 45 existing routes would see buses more frequently.

The goal for the entire system is to have buses at every stop every 30 minutes, Ingrid Yocum, RTC public information officer, said. About half the bus routes now are hourly stops, she said.

Not everyone is convinced that a fare increase is necessary or desirable.

Linda Lueck, a member of the RTC's citizens' advisory council, said she is concerned that paratransit services for people with disabilities will also go up. The paratransit fare is $1.

A person who depends on the CAT system to get to a hospital for dialysis now could pay $6 or more a week for transportation, she said.

"So that's a lot of money for people who have four, five, $600 a month to live on," Lueck said. "I am sure that the disabled community will be heard from very loudly."

Cordell and other RTC staff members argue that improvements can't come without increasing the fares, and noted that buses are now so crowded that potential customers sometimes are bypassed because there is no room aboard. They also argue that the current CAT fares are among the lowest in the country.