Input From Riders Alters Plan to Raise Bus Fares

Foothill Transit says it is listening to its riders.

In a meeting next month to determine rate and and other changes throughout the San Gabriel Valley, the executive board of Foothill Transit is expected to present a proposal culled from the public’s suggestions, officials said.

Changes in bus fare were scheduled for implementation in January. But after hearing riders’ input during five public hearings in September and October, the West Covina-based bus company came up with a compromise proposal, and any change will be postponed until July 1997, said Michael De La Torre, Foothill Transit president.

“As a result of the public’s comments, we reevaluated the proposals and developed a fifth option that we believe will be more acceptable to the majority of customers,” he said.

That option would reduce the five bus zones to three, rather than two as originally proposed. It would also call for a five-cent increase in adult base fares--the low end of the five- to 10-cent change proposed by Foothill Transit, said Nancy Pearl, director of marketing and communications.

“The fifth option addressed concerns, but still created the appropriate scenario for revenues,” she said. “It was more simplified and more equitable.”

The Foothill Transit Zone members are expected to meet next month, but Pearl said no meeting time has been set.