She’s Got a Ticket to Ride--and $10 in Change, to Boot

At first, Ann Murphy thought it was a joke.

A lifetime bus rider, she has spent many months shuffling into the downtown Transit Store to shell out the $20 for a monthly bus pass--receiving nothing in return except her pass and a hearty adieu.

But on Tuesday, a startled Murphy also got half of her money back.

Much to the elderly woman’s delight, a cashier at the Transit Store at 449 Broadway accepted only $10 of Murphy’s money for the pass as the Metropolitan Transit Development Board continued to shock pass-buyers with the new, discount “Ready Pass” that went on sale last week.

“Can you believe this?” asked Murphy, her eyes glued to her surprise refund. “I actually have some money left over. I come in here all the time. Usually, they tell me the price went up $4. I feel like a millionaire.”

Pleasant Surprise

The new pass has been eliciting joyful surprise throughout the county, a transit board spokeswoman said, as county residents 60 years old and over visit the board’s nearly 80 outlets to buy the cheaper passes, which become effective Friday

“We’ve been getting a lot of responses, more than we anticipated,” said Judy Leitner, MTDB spokeswoman. “A lot of our outlets have sold out and are calling for more passes.”

But the elderly are not the only residents benefiting from the cheaper passes. The MTDB is also offering the “Ready Pass” to youths from 6 to 18 and to the physically handicapped, who will also pay $10.

“We have had discounts for the elderly and disabled before,” Leitner said. “But we have never had a youth pass.”

Leitner said a San Diego County transportation sales tax has enabled the board to offer the cheaper passes--which also permit buyers to use all county transit systems except the Dial-A-Ride--and will provide the board with close to $750 million over the next two decades.

As a result, the minimum age for purchasing a senior citizen’s pass has been lowered from 62 to 60. The board requires that would-be pass-purchasers produce either identification proving their age or, in the case of handicapped riders, a medical statement.

Transit officials hope the cheaper passes will boost ridership, but they said they are more concerned with providing better rates for residents.

“The cutest thing is to see the way elderly people respond when we tell them the price is $10,” said Grace Redondo, manager of the Transit Store. “Some people say, ‘I guess I can take my old lady to dinner’ or ‘Now, I can have lunch at Horton Plaza.’ The kids say things like, ‘Now, I don’t have to bother my mother for money to go to the beach.’ It’s nice.”