Bus fare hike OK’d

Stephen Curran

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 11:15 a.m.

Saying it will help pay for future expansions to its bus service, the Regional Transportation Commission on Thursday approved the valley mass transit system's first bus fare increase in six years.

Effective Dec. 1, it will cost each bus rider $40 for the Citizens Area Transit system's 30-day pass, $10 more than the current price. Passes for the elderly and disable will also go up, by $5 each, to $20.

A single-ride ticket on the system's residential routes and full-fare day passes remain unchanged, at $1.25 and $5, respectively.

The final plan was developed after more than 200 responses from riders and area residents gathered during six public meetings, which began in July, Terry Cordell, the RTC's chief financial officer, told the board.

The proposed replacement of old-fashioned tokens with a more high-tech system was tabled until a later meeting.

Cordell said residents were willing to pay a little more -- if they received better service in return.

"The general gist of the comment was, if you're going to raise fares, you've got to improve service," he said. "Folks really understood the need for a fare adjustment."

The approved plan also does away with transfers between routes, meaning riders starting in December will have to buy separate passes for each. Riders who use day passes can use that pass to transfer between routes without paying for the extra fare. The old system, RTC officials had said, was ripe for fraud.

Transcripts of the RTC's six public meetings discussing the increase indicate a mostly positive response from riders who said the fare hike will help pay for improved service and potentially expanded routes.

"In the long run it will help out the system and make it even better," rider John Meeters said during a July 30 meeting.

The RTC last raised fares in 1999 and was one of few transit agencies nationwide to not increase in response to lagging ridership after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. An increase, Cordell has said, will help the RTC keep pace with the valley's rapid growth.

High on the RTC's list of improvements is a decrease in "dwell times", the sometimes long waits for those boarding buses, Cordell said.

Earlier proposals called for a more gradual increase, bumping reduced-fare passes from $15 to $17 instead of the $20 approved Thursday. The more dramatic increase allows the RTC to stave off future fare increases, agency spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said.

The RTC is also expected to launch a media campaign to announce the changes to riders, she said.

According to statistics provided by the RTC in July, 37.6 percent of the estimated 52.4 million CAT riders a year relied on full- or reduced-price monthly passes.

The system's popular Strip routes, long considered a cash cow that subsidizes less profitable destinations, did not see any increase. Almost 8.9 million people rode buses on that route alone between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, statistics show.