Dyer Urges Raising RTD Fare to $1 : Beleaguered Agency Also Should Cut Service, Report Says

The beleaguered Southern California Rapid Transit District, facing both oblivion and a $26-million budget deficit, must cut service and raise the basic fare to $1, a report by RTD General Manager John Dyer concludes.

Dyer and his top aides said the only way to keep fares at present levels and make up the shortfall would be to fire about 480 employees. That, he concluded, would “necessitate a restructuring of district objectives and management such that it will be impossible for the district to respond to the riders, public officials, or carry out the normal business of the agency.”

Dyer’s report, prepared for an RTD board meeting Thursday, comes as legislators in Sacramento moved this week to eliminate the giant transit agency early next year and place its operations under the control of a newly reconstituted County Transportation Commission. The Assembly unanimously approved a restructuring plan Monday and a similar proposal received backing in a state Senate committee Tuesday. Under the fare-hike plan, effective July 1, the basic 85-cent fare and discount fares would rise. Only the 10-cent cost of a bus transfer would remain the same.

As part of the cost cuts, five local and 13 express bus lines would be canceled effective June 21. Dyer said a 14th express route considered for cancellation, Line 410, will remain in service.

Blame for Deficit

The RTD staff attributes the projected deficit to inflation, anticipated higher fuel costs and a 53-week fiscal year. The route cancellations and fare increases are expected to raise $19.2 million, and the rest of the deficit is to be erased through reforms initiated earlier this year by Dyer.

RTD directors are scheduled to consider the fare hikes at Thursday’s meeting, about two weeks after more than 100 riders protested the increases at a public hearing. Most argued that the service on the doomed lines should be improved rather than canceled and that fares should not be raised.

Dyer’s report concluded, however, that the only proper course is to raise fares, although that could mean the loss of up to 65,000 boardings a day, or 4% of daily riders, he said.

Besides the 15-cent hike in the basic bus fare, he suggested that the discount rate for the elderly and disabled should climb from 40 cents to 50 cents and that surcharges on express lines should go up from 35 cents to 40 cents per zone. Under the proposal, monthly passes would rise from $32 to $36 (regular), from $7 to $9 (elderly and disabled), from $12 to $15 (students in kindergarten through 12th grade), from $15 to $20 (college students) and from $12 to $14 (express stamp).

The service cancellations, Dyer said, would have an effect on about 6,000 riders, most of whom will be able to resume riding buses once a pilot project goes into effect in which the city and county either take over or subsidize the funding of some lines. Dyer said it is doubtful that the pilot project will begin before June 21 and asked the RTD board to seek temporary funding so service is not interrupted.

In addition to the bus line cancellations and the fare increases, Dyer also is urging the board to adopt a program to discourage riders from using dollar bills. Dyer said it costs the district more money to handle dollar bills than coins because the former often cause the fare boxes to overflow or jam.