RTD Rejects Across-Board Fare Hikes

Directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, facing a $24.9-million budget deficit next year, on Thursday soundly rejected proposed across-the-board fare increases that would have included a 5-cent jump in the basic bus fare.

The board members, some admittedly stung by prolonged press and public criticism of the RTD, rebuffed a staff recommendation to raise current cash fares from 85 cents to 90 cents and to boost other bus fares for student, elderly and disabled passengers.

The proposed fare hike, which would have generated $9.5 million in additional revenues for the 1988 fiscal year, received only two supporting votes from the 11-member board despite a budget that anticipated the additional funds. The shortfall, blamed on dwindling state and federal transit subsidies, now must be made up in other ways. Reduction of service is among the possibilities.

Two directors abstained in the balloting while seven board members voted against the fare hike, which would have gone into effect July 1.

Although the board can still enact a fare increase before that July 1 deadline, RTD President Jan Hall said “the board has spoken” on the fare question and the present fare structure will remain in place.

Members Criticized

However, after Thursday’s special session, Hall--who along with fellow director Erwin N. Jones cast the lone votes in favor of the increase--sharply criticized her colleagues for turning down the fare hike.

“I absolutely do feel it’s irresponsible,” she told reporters, “and the reason I do is because in order to balance this budget, I anticipate we are going to have to eliminate (bus) service, which is something that I don’t support nor do the members who voted for this lower fare. . . .”

The RTD board, which is required by state law to submit a balanced budget, is facing a $24.9-million shortfall in its proposed $514.2-million budget, according to RTD General Manager John Dyer. All but $9.5 million, however, would be made up from administrative cuts by the beleaguered transit agency and from additional revenue from the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

The board voted Thursday to drop 18 bus lines in an economy move--although financing for 16 of them will be provided by the city and county under an agreement with the RTD, meaning that service will be interrupted only on two lines. But Dyer said that his staff now will have to recommend further cuts to make up the lingering deficit.

“It is going to be extremely difficult to come in with a budget that doesn’t show service reductions when the board says no (to) fare increases and there is still a gap of $9.5 million,” Dyer said.

In recommending his fare hike to the board, Dyer proposed raising the fare for elderly and disabled passengers from 40 cents to 45 cents while reducing the costs of transfers for these riders from 10 cents to 5 cents. Transfers for other passengers would have remained at 10 cents.

Other increases would have included a $2 increase in the cost of monthly bus passes to $34 while the passes for the elderly and disabled would have risen from $7 to $9. Student passes would have increased from $12 to $15 for grades kindergarten through high school while college and vocational students would have seen their monthly passes go from $12 to $15.

In protesting the planned fare hike, 68-year-old Ann Erickson of El Monte told board members: “I think senior citizens are already paying too much. I know I do.”

The projected boost in bus fares for low-income students, the elderly and the disabled also stirred opposition from board members, including Carmen Estrada, who warned that the proposal would place “an enormous burden on those students and their families.”

Mood of Riders Noted

In voting against the increase, Estrada said many riders are unhappy with the present bus service and that, rather than raising fares, the RTD should consider some “severe belt-tightening” measures, including eliminating “extraneous” activities and evaluating staff salary hikes.

Estrada also joined some of her fellow board members in noting that the district has been “battered” by unflattering publicity and scathing criticism over its management performance.

The RTD, for example, was the target of a state audit Wednesday citing the district for poor accounting and contracting practices. The two-month review found no misuse of funds but prompted California Controller Gray Davis to warn the RTD “to run a tighter ship.”