City Hikes Fares and Trims Back Transit Service : Transportation: Current routes and fares would have cost the city’s General Fund $800,000, an official says.

Norwalk Transit bus riders will soon be paying more for less.

The financially strapped transit system is cutting service this month on three routes and raising all fares by 10 cents on Nov. 1. The regular fare will go up to 60 cents. Students will be paying 45 cents, up from 35 cents, and fares for senior citizens and handicapped riders will rise to 35 cents. Transfer tickets will increase to 10 cents from 5 cents.

Weekend service will be eliminated, effective Saturday, on Route 1, which links the Norwalk Square shopping area, Rio Hondo College in Whittier, central Bellflower and Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center.

Daily service will be reduced Monday on two routes serving the western and eastern portions of the city. The bus runs on Routes 2 and 3 will be changed from a half-hour to an hour, except during peak periods. Half-hour service will continue during peak periods--6 to 8 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.

“Some people are going to be unhappy,” said Dan Keen, deputy city manager. “Clearly what we’re doing is reducing service because of the fiscal problems we are having.”

The transit system exhausted its $958,000 reserve fund to balance the $4.35-million budget last year, Keen said. The city would have had to draw $800,000 from its General Fund to sustain current levels of transit service this year, Keen said.

The department’s maintenance and transportation workers took 8% pay cuts and gave up 4 1/2 days of their 12 paid holidays. The city also laid off two transportation workers to help balance the $3.6-million budget.

The city’s Dial-A-Ride program, which serves about 70 handicapped Norwalk residents daily, was not affected.