Bus Riders Union of Austin, Texas | El Sindicato de Pasajeros

PUBLIC TRANSIT
Cap Metro ponders larger, earlier fare hikes
Agency, looking to restore lost reserves, says fare plan would bring in $3.1 million more next year.

By Ben Wear
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/08/11/0811...
More Capital Metro bus and train fares would have steeper increases than previously approved, and the hikes would occur several months sooner, under a proposal outlined to the agency board Monday.

Increasing the fares and enacting them by January would boost agency revenue $3.1 million in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, agency officials said, aiding in efforts to begin restoring Capital Metro's depleted reserves.

The transit board, after hearing the details of the fare increases and some comments from members of the public, did not discuss them and took no vote on the subject. But Capital Metro staff members took the board's silence as permission to move forward with the proposal and hold public meetings on it starting in late August, agency chief counsel Kerri Butcher said.

The board will take a vote on the fare increase sometime in September, Capital Metro spokesman Adam Shaivitz said.

"Do not raise fares; do not even consider the notion," Glenn Gaven, who drives University of Texas shuttle buses for a Capital Metro subcontractor, told the board Monday. "Stop this nonsense. Don't start this fight."

Capital Metro board Chairwoman Margaret Gómez, asked after the meeting if she supports the fare increase proposal, said approval "is not a given to me."

"I understand that people are hurting very much," said Gómez, who is also a Travis County commissioner. "But we have to balance budgets and do it with the least amount of hurt."

A year ago, the Capital Metro board and a committee of local elected officials approved a two-step fare increase for the agency that was to double base fares and would have increased some discounted fares more than 100 percent. The first of those two steps occurred in October, increasing fares 50 percent or more.

The second step was to take place in "fall 2010," which the agency now interprets to mean August 2010. But under the newproposal, the second step would occur sooner, in January. And 17 of the 27 fares in a list released Mondaywould be higher than what was approved last summer.

An express bus single-ride ticket, for instance, was scheduled to increase to $2 from $1.50. Under the new plan, it would increase to $2.50. A 31-day pass for regular buses, which was only $10 a year ago and is $18 now, would go to $28 rather than $25. And a 10-ride pass for the agency's door-to-door service for people with qualifying disabilities, which was $3 before all the increases began, would go from $7 to $12 in January, a 300 percent hike in just over a year.

Previously, Capital Metro fare increases had to go before a "local government advisory committee" for final approval after the agency board gave its OK.

Under a new state law, however, only a change in a "single-ride base fare" is subject to oversight from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board.

Capital Metro's interpretation of that statute is that CAMPO's oversight applies only to one fare:what an adult younger than 65 would pay for a single ride on a regular bus. That fare is now 75 cents, and an increase to $1 was approved last year.

Under the new proposal, that fare would still be $1. However, given that it would go into effect sooner, that single fare might be submitted to the CAMPO board, which would have 60 days to either reject the change or leave it in place.

In any case, Shaivitz said, "we'll keep the CAMPO board informed of the entire proposal."

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who carried the legislation, said he wanted to "achieve a balanced level of oversight, without micromanaging and turning the CAMPO board into the Cap Metro board."

Capital Metro, faced with declining sales tax revenue and about $7 million a year in operating costs for a passenger rail system not yet open, is taking a number of measures to decrease costs and increase revenue next year. The staff has recommended indefinitely suspending the downtown trolley-styleDillo busservice, as well as leaving unfilled staff positions that come up and giving no raises next year to administrative workers. On Monday, the agency announcedthat 13 bus drivers will be laid off and offered them jobs with lower pay scales in the agency's door-to-door service for people with disabilities.

According to figures released Monday by agency chief financial officer Randy Hume, absent the recommended fare increases, Capital Metro would have $5.3 million left over at the end of the next fiscalyear after operating and capital costs. But if the agency were to set aside $10 million to begin rebuilding a reserve fund that has sunk to less than $4 million, it would run a $4.7 million deficit.

The proposed fare increases would close much of that gap.

Proposed increases

Capital Metro in January would raise:

31-day regular bus passes from $18 to $28.

31-day express bus passes from $36 to $63.

31-day MetroRail passes from $36 to $75. (Not operating yet.)

10-ticket MetroAccess books from $7 to $12.

Rising fares at Capital Metro

Fare type Aug. 2008 fare Current fare Approved 2010 fare Proposed 2010 fare

Base single-ride 50 cents 75 cents $1 $1

Express single-ride $1 $1.50 $2 $2.50

31-day regular pass $10 $18 $25 $28

31-day express pass $17 $36 $48 $63

31-day MetroRail pass — $36 $48 $75

MetroRail day pass — $3 $4 $6

MetroAccess month pass — $22.50 $30 $35

MetroAccess 10-ride book $3 $7 $9 $12

Note: MetroAccess is the agency's door-to-door service for people with certain disabilities.

Source: Capital Metro