Back in February 2015, I published an article about fare rises on various public transport services around the
world.
As London Transport fares are frozen for four years, with the exception of
Travelcards, Pay-as-You-Go caps and National Rail fares; I have reproduced some
articles below covering transport fare rises from around the world - mostly
from the United States.
First off, the transport system in Chicago approved fare rises and a pay
increase for the CEO.
From NBC5 Chicago
The Metra Board voted to approve a pay raise for their CEO
Donald Orseno Wednesday, a month after the rail agency’s third fare hike in the last three years.
In the unanimous vote, board
members said the 32-year Metra veteran was underpaid compared to other rail
industry executives.
Orseno’s $28,000 raise will bump his salary from $289,000 to $317,500 annually.
Metra board chairman Norman
Carlson told the Chicago Tribune Orseno often works more than 60 hours a week
and is “earning less than his counterparts on the east and west coasts,"
despite having higher qualifications and more experience.
New York's suburban Metro-North
railway president earns $338,692 per
year, the Chicago Tribune reports, while the highest-ranking executive at
California's Metrolink rail system makes $330,000
annually.
In November, the board voted in
favor of its third fare increase for commuters in as many years. The hike,
approved with a 9-1 vote, was part of a $1.06 billion 2017 budget proposal
introduced last month, which included a nearly 6 percent increase for riders.
It’s also part of a larger plan put in place last year that would increase
fares every year 10 years.
“No one likes to pay higher
fares, but unfortunately we can’t ignore our need for more money to invest on
our system,” Orseno said in a statement at the time. “We hope our customers
understand that we are trying to address a serious capital funding shortfall as
best we can.”
The latest hike will raise the cost of a monthly pass by $11.75, a 10-ride
by $2.75 and a one-way ticket by .25 cents. The price change is expected to
take effect early next year.
Metra says the higher fares will
allow for modernization and upgrades that will ultimately reduce delays on its
lines. It will also help pay for a federally mandated system used to avoid and
prevent trains from colliding, Metra officials said.
The Rhode Island Public Transit
Authority has postponed their fare rises until February.
From WPRI
Following public outcry from
riders, RIPTA will be delaying fare
increases until February, the agency announced Monday night.
Earlier this year, the agency
said that senior, disabled, and
low-income residents would no longer receive free fares.
The increase was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 1,
but RIPTA issued a one-month delay to
give riders more time to adjust.
“RIPTA claims that it has budget
issues, but I don’t think they should balance their budget problems on the
backs of poor seniors and disabled adults,” said Ray Gagne of the RI Organizing
Project.
RIPTA will then start charging
$0.50 per trip and $0.25 for transfers under the reduced fare program, which
Gagne says some won’t be able to afford.
“I met with a man the other day.
He lives in a group home. He has $5 a week in spending money. How is he going
to afford the bus?” he asked.
In a statement, RIPTA said:
“There are about 13,000
low-income seniors and low-income persons with disabilities in our program.
Those passengers took about 5.7 million trips on RIPTA in Fiscal (Year) 2016.
That means that we received no fare for one in every four passengers. This is
not sustainable.”
“Everybody ought to be able
afford to ride the RIPTA bus. In some cases, it’s the only way people can get
to the doctor,” said Gov. Gina Raimondo. “We’re doing everything we can. We’d
love for it to be 0, but we have budgetary constraints.”
“The governor and RIPTA needs to
find a permanent funding stream for the program,” added Gagne. “I think it will
cost the state more in the end because if elders get isolated, they get
depressed. If they get depressed, it can lead to dementia. That can lead to
nursing home care. So, it’s at odds with the broader healthcare policies of the
state.”
State law required RIPTA to give
free rides to low-income seniors and disabled passengers, but in the spring of
2015, lawmakers allowed the agency to start charging a fare, as long as it was
no more than half the price of a full fare.
Looking at New York City, the MTA
system will be raising their fares which come into effect on March 19th
2017.
From MTA Press release
The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) has unveiled two options for needed increase to fares and tolls
over the next two years by less than 4 percent – or an average of 2 percent
annually, consistent with the financial forecast made in July. The MTA’s
continued discipline in keeping costs down has resulted in the lowest increase since 2009, when the
MTA committed to a biennial schedule to keep adjustments as small and
predictable as possible.
Just over half of the MTA’s $15.6 billion annual operating budget comes from fares and tolls. Yet the MTA
has achieved nearly $1.8 billion in 2016
annual savings, with more cost cutting planned every year to hold increases
to a minimum.
“The MTA continues to keep its
promise to make sure that fare and toll increases, while necessary to keep our
system running, remain as low and possible and that they are done in as
equitable a way as possible,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast.
“Fare and toll revenue cover just 51 percent the operating budget, which is why
this modest increase is needed to ensure that subway, rail, bus and paratransit
services continue operate safely and reliably and to fuel the region’s economic
and financial growth.”
The proposals will be the
subject of eight public hearings across the MTA region in December. The MTA
Board will review public input before a final proposal is selected and voted on
by the full Board in January. The new
fares and tolls will take effect on March
19, 2017.
The following are details of the
fare and toll options for each MTA service. Both options generate approximately
the same revenue for the MTA.
New York City Subway and Buses
The MTA offers several ways to
pay for rides on subways, buses and the Staten Island Railway. Two fare
structures are being considered that treat the base fare and bonus rides differently,
however changes to 7-day and 30-day
unlimited ride MetroCards are the same in both proposals.
Proposed changes are as follows:
Fare Type
|
Current
|
Plan A
|
Plan B
|
Base MetroCard Fare/
Local Bus Cash Fare
|
$2.75
|
$2.75
|
$3.00
|
Bonus
|
11% with $5.50 purchase
|
5% with $5.50 purchase
|
16% with $6.00 purchase
|
Effective Fare with
Bonus
|
$2.48
|
$2.62
|
$2.59
|
Single Ride Ticket (base
MetroCard/Cash Fare plus 25 cents)
|
$3.00
|
$3.00
|
$3.25
|
Express Bus Fare
Cash
MetroCard
with Bonus
|
$6.50
$5.86
|
$6.50
$6.19
|
$7.00
$6.03
|
30-Day MetroCard
|
$116.50
|
$121.00
|
$121.00
|
7-Day MetroCard
|
$31.00
|
$32.00
|
$32.00
|
7-Day Express Bus Plus
MetroCard
|
$57.25
|
$59.50
|
$59.50
|
Access-a-Ride Fare
|
$2.75
|
$2.75
|
$3.00
|
Also, there’s a proposal for the ‘Freedom
Ticket’ which is a similar scheme to London Transport’s Travelcard.
From AM New York
Freedom Ticket proposal revived
amid looming MTA fare hikes
The looming MTA fare hike has
reignited the push from officials for the Freedom Ticket, a proposal that would bridge bus, subway and commuter rail service
within New York City under one fare-payment option.
By allowing riders to transfer
seamlessly between Metro-North or the Long Island Railroad and the city’s bus
and subway system, the idea could drastically cut hours from subway riders’
commute every week, while lowering the number of people packing onto some of
its most crowded lines, according to the New York City Transit Riders Council,
which introduced the proposal last year.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric
Adams’ office said it will be teaming up with Queens Borough President Melinda
Katz to once again advocate for the payment option along the LIRR’s Atlantic
Branch as the MTA begins hosting eight public hearings around its two fare hike
proposals.
Adams said he views the ticket
as a cheap option that would improve commutes in transit-starved— but now also
quickly developing — areas of his borough, like East New York and
Bedford-Stuyvesant. A monthly Freedom Ticket, priced against the current fare
rates, would cost $215 — that’s between 28 percent and 36 percent less than the
value of combined monthly LIRR and MetroCard costs for riders on the branch.
“We need to ensure we have
transit equality for people struggling to make ends meet,” said Adams. “Without
the capital funding to get more trains online, this is the best we can do with
what we have.”
The Council has already eyed the
Atlantic Branch of the LIRR as the first branch to pilot the ticket. It
estimates that opening the commuter rail line could shorten intra-city commutes
by as much as 40 hours a month—including in areas of southeast Queens, where
LIRR stations sit beyond .8 miles from the nearest subway.
“As I have stated before, many
of the boroughs have this wonderful rail infrastructure running through them,”
said Andrew Albert, who chairs the Council and sits on the MTA board. “But many
residents can’t cover the fares to ride them—where to ride them would greatly
reduce their travel times to work.”
Albert argues that implementing
the card could actually make the MTA money, since it could entice more
outer-borough commuters to spring for a $215
Freedom Ticket over a $116.50 monthly MetroCard without overburdening LIRR
service.
The MTA, though, is in the midst
of weighing two fare hike proposals to implement this March. Either option
would increase the monthly MetroCard to
$121. The base MetroCard fare could increase to $3.
That prospect has furthered
discussion within the MTA for several social fare policies as well, like half-priced MetroCards for low-income New
Yorkers.
“Each one of these proposals has
merit and challenges not all the same,” said Fredericka Cuenca, MTA’s director
of strategic initiatives, at last month’s MTA board meeting. “It’s not always
cost; it’s not always operations. But we’re going to be continuing to look at
these.”
The MTA will host its first
public hearing on fare and toll hikes on Monday, December 5, in Queens.
The good news is that Clark County transport won’t be raising their
fares or taxes as they approve a new budget.
From Mass Transit
With its new budget, C-Tran
plans to expand services and make several capital investments during the
two-year, 2017-2018 cycle without raising taxes or passenger fares.
On Dec. 13, the C-Tran Board of
Directors adopted the 2017-18 biennial budget, which outlines $122 million in
net operating expenses and just under
$133 million in revenue.
The agency projects a 17.5 percent increase in its sales tax
revenue over the prior biennial budget.
C-Tran spokeswoman Christine
Selk said the agency doesn't plan to increase rider fares or bring any new tax
measures to the voters.
The agency plans to add about
20,000 service hours to its fixed routes over the next two years. Selk said the
agency will decide later how those extra hours will be distributed into the
system, noting that the agency is still trying to return its service levels to
where they were before a big reduction a few years ago.
"We're debating internally
improved frequency versus expanded service and if we can we get both
somehow," she said. "If there would be any new routes (it) won't be
until 2018."
The agency also plans to hire 18
fixed-route and 15 C-Van drivers.
C-Tran expects to make five
significant capital investments in the budget. Over the next two years, the
agency plans to replace 80 bus stop shelters, purchase 10 replacement buses,
study potential future routes of the next Bus Rapid Transit line and invest in
new operations management software.
C-Tran also plans to pay for a
study for a new park-and-ride somewhere in east Vancouver, and expects to
release requests for proposals in 2017.
But, when it comes to an exact
location, "nothing is close to being settled on, which is why we need to
do a study," Selk said.
The agency also will look at the
possibility of constructing a new operations and administration building as
part of the facilities master plan, Selk said in an email.
"We're extremely early in
the process," she wrote.
To finish the article off, I bring bad news from the Scottish bus firm
‘Xplore Dundee’ who have announced
fare rises due to congestion and the increasing popularity of online shopping.
From Evening Telegraph
Dundee’s biggest bus firm has
announced fares are to go up due to
congestion and the increasing popularity of online shopping.
Xplore Dundee has also blamed growing car ownership for the price hike, which is set to
come into force on January 2.
As a result of the changes, a
max single fare will rise from £2 to £2.10, while the cost of an adult daysaver
will go up from £3.70 to £3.80.
A spokeswoman for Xplore said
the decision had been made after an annual review of operating costs and
revenue.
She added: “In an economic
climate which continues to challenge all aspects of life, three issues in
particular have affected the way we operate our network.
“Car ownership has significantly
increased, the popularity of online shopping has increased and the volume of
traffic on our roads has increased, causing congestion.”
The spokeswoman said delays
associated with congestion — particularly at peak times — mean the firm has to
dedicate more resources to maintain a frequent service on core routes.
She added: “This results in
extra costs to cover driver, vehicles and fuel. More than half of our costs are
committed to staff wages, which increase in line with the cost of living, as we
are an employer that is proud to be accredited by the Living Wage Foundation.”
Coldside councillor Helen Wright
— who has campaigned for a better bus service for her constituents following
changes to timetables earlier this year — said she was shocked and disappointed
at the price rise.
She said: “They are saying
traffic congestion is one of the reasons for the rise. But how can they
realistically think they are going to encourage more people to use the buses
and leave their cars at home if they put the prices up?
“They should be dropping the
cost of travelling on the buses, not putting the price of tickets up.”
Xplore managing director Elsie
Turbyne said: “These revised fares will help us to continue to support our
workforce of more than 300 people and maintain our fleet and network in 2017.
“We are doing our best to ensure
that Dundee’s bus fares are among the lowest of any major Scottish city.”
Xplore made profits of more than £1m in both 2014 and 2015 and its
revenue increased by £250,000 in 2015.
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