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Bus and train fare increases may be right around the bend
Passengers prepare to board a Long Beach-bound Metro Rail Blue Line train at Washington and Grand near downtown Los Angeles.
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Bus and train fare increases may be right around the bend
The cost of a ticket to ride the bus or train in Los Angeles may be going up soon. The board for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to vote on proposed fare increases Thursday.
Basic fares would go up 25 cents by September under one proposal. A single ride would cost $1.75.
And that’s just the first step. More increases would be coming down the road. Fares would go up to $2.00 by 2017 and to $2.25 by 2020.
MTA officials say they need the funds to close a growing budget gap. They expect an operating deficit of more than $36 million in the next couple of years. And they say that could balloon to more than $225 million over the next decade.
Critics say any fare increase would disproportionately hit low income people who depend on mass transit the hardest. MTA officials say riders board the buses and trains 1.5 million times each weekday. Members of the advocacy group Bus Riders Union have said no increase is necessary.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. County Supervisors Marc Ridley Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky are MTA board members. They've put forth an additional proposal to put the brakes on the increases in 2017 and 2020 until further study. They also want to make more people eligible for fare subsidies. And they want to create a rider advocate position at the MTA to monitor customer service and evaluate future fare structures. Another proposal calls for the creation of a Transit Ridership Best Practices Task Force to look at alternate ways to raise funds and boost ridership.
MTA staff this week recommended the board abandon a second fare increase option. It would boost ticket prices only during rush hour, but MTA staffers say riders found that system too confusing.
Right now a quarter of MTA's operating budget is covered by ridership. MTA officials want to push that up so that a third of the operating budget would be covered by riders.
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Two-thirds of the 13-member MTA board has to approve the fare hike for it to pass. Protesters say they will demonstrate against the increase outside the board meeting.
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