Simi Valley Metrolink Commuters to Pay Less : Transportation: Officials hope ridership will increase after a change in the station’s zone leads to the drop in fares.

In a move to boost ridership, commuters boarding the new Metrolink trains in Simi Valley will pay less for tickets beginning Dec. 1, transit officials said Friday.

The change came after many Simi Valley residents working in the San Fernando Valley complained that the fares, geared toward downtown commuters, are too high.

Directors of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority voted unanimously to shift Simi Valley to a different fare zone, lowering the price of one-way single-trip tickets from Simi Valley by $1.

The cost of a monthly pass between Simi Valley and Burbank or downtown Los Angeles will drop from $176 to $144; between Simi Valley and Van Nuys from $144 to $112, and between Simi Valley and Chatsworth from $112 to $80.

“It was a question of looking at the equity,” said Jacki Bacharach, chairwoman of the five-county rail authority. “We had put Simi Valley into a zone as though everybody was going to make the trip downtown. This has made us much more sensitive to the different travel patterns we’re seeing.”

The Simi Valley change was the first and only fare change approved by the board Friday after a review of Metrolink’s first three weeks of operation. The commuter system was free during its first week.

Although the rail authority board told its staff to review other possible zone changes, Bacharach said the board is not moving to slash fares for the entire system.

“I don’t foresee that happening immediately because we have to see what our revenue is against expenses,” she said. “That will take a little more time.”

Metrolink officials also announced Friday that train rides to downtown Los Angeles will take less time beginning Dec. 1.

Travel times to Union Station will be cut by 17 minutes on the Ventura County line, which originates in Moorpark; by 12 minutes on the Santa Clarita line, which begins in that city; and by nine minutes on the San Bernardino line, which starts in Pomona.

The system will cut travel times because of track improvements and because dispatchers, train operators and passengers have become more familiar with the service. In addition, the trains are expected to make shorter stops at each station.

New timetables are being prepared, Metrolink officials said.

The fare reduction for Simi Valley riders was hailed by Simi Valley Councilman Bill Davis, Ventura County’s representative on the regional rail board. Davis said he has heard many complaints from local commuters about the high cost of Metrolink trips to the San Fernando Valley.

The fares are based on the number of zones a rider crosses. Simi Valley has been in the same zone as Moorpark, but under the new structure, it will be in the same zone as Chatsworth.

“You’re talking $2.50 from here to Chatsworth, where it was $3.50,” Davis said. “I think the people who work over there would be willing to pay the $5 (round trip), but maybe not the $7.

“We’ll now see if more of the short-run riders will want to ride the train.”

Richard Stanger, executive director of Metrolink, estimated that about 30 passengers a day are riding from Simi Valley to Chatsworth, and another 50 to Burbank.

Stanger said the zone change was justified because Simi Valley is only 6.4 track miles from Chatsworth, but 11 miles from Moorpark.

During its first week of free service, the Ventura County line carried as many as 1,200 riders in each direction. That figure was cut in half when the system began charging fares, but Metrolink officials said ridership is slowly increasing.

Fares from the Moorpark station will remain unchanged.

Moorpark Mayor Paul Lawrason, who rides Metrolink regularly to his job in Chatsworth, said he does not believe Moorpark commuters will drive to the Simi Valley station to save on tickets.

But he said some people living in areas between the stations may be lured by the lower fares. “The people on the borderline obviously will opt for the Simi station,” he said.