MTDB Urges Trolley, Bus Fare Increases

Trolley and bus riders may be hit with an overall 15% fare increase to counter an expected $5.7-million deficit faced by San Diego’s mass transit agency.

Under a proposal by the agency, individual trolley and bus fares would increase 25 to 50 cents while the price of some bus passes would go up by as much as $5 a month.

The fare increases, along with the termination of seven indirect bus routes, are designed to address the deficit that transit district officials said came from an unexpected increase in labor costs and a rise in fuel costs related to the Persian Gulf crisis.

The plan, which was unveiled at Thursday’s meeting of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, received mixed reviews from board members, who wanted to pursue other means of raising revenue.

“The people who are riding buses and trolleys are people who are least able to afford these types of increases,” said San Diego City Councilman Bruce Henderson, a member of the board. “The people who ought to be paying are the people who are driving automobiles.”

Henderson said mass transit users are saving energy and relieving traffic congestion, and so should not bear the brunt of the costs.

The MTDB staff estimates the proposal will lead to a 3% decrease in riders, a result Henderson said is not acceptable. Last year, San Diegans took more than 55 million trips on the buses and trolleys, and the first quarter of fiscal 1991 shows a 12% increase over the same period the year before.

“We’re headed in the wrong direction. We should be reducing fares and doing anything we reasonably can to entice ridership,” Henderson said.

Other members seemed resigned to having at least some increases.

“We never like to have to look at a fare increase, but this is the first one that has been brought forward in over four years,” said Poway City Councilman Robert Emery, another transit board member. “It appears that some adjustments upwards of the current rate are going to have to be made.”

MTDB general manager Tom Larwin said there hasn’t been a major fare increase in more than four years.

Individual bus fares now range from 75 cents to $1.75, and trolley rides run from $.50 to $2. North County express bus fares would go up 50 cents from their current rates of $1.75 and $2.25.

Monthly passes now run from $55 to $65 and could go up by as much as $5 under the proposal. Passes for seniors and young people would rise by $1 a month.

Larwin said more than $3 million of the $5.7-million deficit is directly related to a December arbitration settlement with the bus drivers’ union, while the rising cost of fuel accounts for more than $1 million of the deficit. The balance of the deficit is linked to new services being offered and reduced federal aid, Larwin said.

Larwin said fare increases are the MTDB’s only means of increasing revenues, and, if the individual municipalities were to provide alternatives to fare increases, whether they be increased parking fees or taxes, he would more than welcome them.

A public hearing on the proposal will be held Feb. 28 at the MTDB board room, with the board scheduled to take action on it in March. Any fare increases would take effect in July.