50-Cent Fares Fail to Increase RTD Bus Ridership : Transportation: The program is popular among those who were already using the system. The lack of new revenues is hurting district finances.

Discount bus fares offered since the riots have not increased ridership as expected, and the cash-strapped RTD has found no way to pay for the $7-million program, General Manager Alan F. Pegg said Thursday.

In a report to the district board, Pegg and Assistant General Manager Gary S. Spivack said that although ridership figures may not show it, reduced fares are popular. On Aug. 12, the RTD for the first time took in more paper discount tickets than dollar bills.

The popularity has come at a price, however. Steadily growing sales of the 50-cent tickets, discounted from the regular $1.10 cash fare, have come as sales of monthly passes have fallen by 27,000, further confounding district finances.

District officials were at a loss to explain why the discount fares have not attracted new riders, whose additional fares could have at least partially offset revenue losses caused by the inexpensive tickets. One possible reason is the recession.

“There are a lot of people out there without jobs right now,” said Planning Director Dana A. Woodbury.

Ridership rocketed upward the last time the RTD slashed its fares to 50 cents, after voters approved a half-cent sales tax subsidy for transit in 1980. This time, discounts seem to have succeeded only in wooing regular patrons away from the full $1.10 fare.

“The primary people to benefit appear to be pre-existing riders, but that doesn’t make them any less deserving,” Woodbury said. “Increased ridership was never the primary focus of this program. Our main objective was to give people locally a break.”

The program was born shortly after the riots, when many shops and offices were either looted or destroyed, forcing people to travel longer distances for medical care, food, clothing and other essentials.

RTD director Antonio Villaraigosa proposed a temporary fare reduction to make it easier for people affected by the unrest to travel. Job-seekers also were expected to benefit. After projecting costs and assessing potential subsidy sources, the RTD board approved the new fares in May. Discounts are scheduled to end Sept. 30.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn immediately pledged $2 million of his district’s share of sales-tax revenue to the program, but no other subsidy has been found. Other supervisors--including Gloria Molina, who named Villaraigosa to the RTD board--have expressed interest in following Hahn’s example, Woodbury said, “but there haven’t been any specific commitments to date.”

In addition, federal officials once showed interest in helping to subsidize the discounted fares as part of Washington’s overall effort to help Los Angeles recover from the civil unrest. Now, however, the RTD expects less than $1 million from the Federal Transit Administration.

“While they were sympathetic,” Woodbury said, “it doesn’t look good.”

The RTD, meanwhile, continues to look for ways to erase a budget shortfall projected to reach about $60 million this year.