Proposed Bus Fare Hike Expected to Stir Protests

A proposal to increase bus fares by 25%--from 80 cents to $1 a ride--on Jan. 1 is expected to generate heated opposition from groups representing senior citizens, the disabled and the poor at a scheduled public hearing Sept. 25, but transit officials warn that the alternative is service cuts.

The increases, the first for San Diego Transit since 1981, received tentative approval from the Metropolitan Transit Development Board this week when the bus company’s budget, based on the $1 fare, came up for approval.

Smaller bus companies--Chula Vista, County and National City transit--will retain 75-cent fares, but monthly passes, express route fares and discount fares for senior citizens and the disabled will increase. San Diego Trolley fares, which became zoned fares in 1984, will remain unchanged under the new proposal.

North County Transit District riders will not be affected. Their fares will remain at 60 cents per ride, $26 for monthly passes, with half-price fares and passes for senior citizens and the disabled.

The proposed fare increases, which will be debated by the transit board at a public hearing Sept. 25, include:

- Standard San Diego Transit bus fares, from 80 cents to $1.

- Monthly bus and trolley passes, from $38 to $40.

- Express bus fares, from $1 to $1.25.

- Fares for senior citizens and the disabled, from 40 cents to 50 cents.

- Monthly passes for senior citizens and the disabled, from $19 to $20.

Systemwide, the fare increases are expected to bring an additional $3.2 million a year and to cause a loss of 1.2 million fares, 6% of the current total annual ridership.

Roger Snoble, general manager of San Diego Transit, said that the proposed increases will not mean improved bus service. Without the increase, he said, bus riders could face cuts in service.

Snoble predicted that the increases, proposed to take effect Jan. 1, may prompt frequent riders to buy monthly passes, which offer substantial savings over single-ride cash fares. The increases will be made more palatable by relieving single-fare riders from having to come up with the right change. Fare boxes that accept $1 bills will be installed in the coming months, Snoble said.

The fare increases also are necessary to ensure that the region’s transit systems continue to obtain state and federal funding that depends on a minimum “fare box recovery rate” of 33%, Snoble said. Riders now contribute about 36% of San Diego Transit’s operating costs, Snoble explained, and without the fare increases, that percentage could fall below the minimum and threaten the system’s eligibility for federal and state funds.

Metropolitan transit board directors are elected officials from the areas served by the county’s transit systems, said Bill Lieberman, transit development board director of planning and operations, “and find it a difficult political decision” to support a sizable fare hike. Lieberman pointed out, however, that there was a consensus among board members at their meeting Thursday that the increases are needed to maintain service.

“Most of the board members agreed that it was more important to most riders, especially the senior citizens and handicapped, that adequate bus service be provided even if it meant an increase in fares,” he said.

He said that if a proposed half-cent local sales tax for transportation purposes--originally scheduled to be voted on countywide Nov. 4--had been successful, the current fare increase proposals could have been delayed. However, the transportation tax proposal was postponed until November, 1987, after a similar half-cent local sales tax to pay for jail facilities was placed on the this November’s ballot.

Transit board director Jim Bartell, a Santee city councilman, sought to remove senior/disabled fare increases from the proposal Thursday, proposing instead that their fares be reduced to 25 cents and their monthly pass price to $10. Bartell was overruled by other transit board members after district officials said exempting seniors from the increases would lead to possible reductions in bus service resulting from the loss of an estimated $200,000 in revenue anticipated by the higher fare schedule.

Half-price fares and passes for senior citizens and the disabled result in higher subsidies for those groups than for other riders, Lieberman said. Dropping the senior/disabled fare increases would widen the gap in subsidies, placing the burden on other groups equally affected by the increases, he said.

Snoble said that the public “is unaware of the actual cost of bus services and the amount of taxpayer subsidy now required.” The cost of a bus ride now averages $1.50, which means that tax money is now subsidizing nearly half of the rider’s trip.

Officials of suburban bus lines in the South Bay and rural San Diego County determined that they could operate at present 75-cent fares for another year. The smaller systems increased their fares from 60 cents to 75 cents in 1984.

Under the proposed rate schedule, Strand Express riders will lose special 40-cent youth fares and a $25 monthly pass rate for travel within Imperial Beach and Coronado.