OCTA Fares to Rise; Amtrak Will Expand Its Commuter Service

Over the objections of disabled people and the elderly, the Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday decided to increase bus fares in January to eliminate a $3-million deficit and help pay for future transit services.

The OCTA board of directors raised a range of fares from 20% to 100%, with seniors and handicapped riders being asked to shoulder the largest percentage increases. It is the first rate increase in 13 years.

Authority officials say additional revenue is necessary to erase a $3-million deficit in next year’s $200-million bus operations budget and to cover the growing costs of paratransit services, employee health care, and route expansions.

“There have been no fare increases since 1991 when gas was $1.20 gallon, and we have had increasing costs at the agency,” said OCTA Board Chairman Gregory T. Winterbottom. “This is long overdue.”

Now carrying more than 60,000 passengers a day, OCTA runs one of the fastest growing bus systems in the nation. The authority’s annual budget is more than $1 billion.

On Jan. 2, the standard OCTA fare will rise from $1 to $1.25; a day pass will go from $2.50 to $3. A 30-day pass will rise from $37.50 to $45.

The basic one-way fare for senior citizens and disabled riders -- about 15% of all passengers -- will double from 25 cents to 50 cents. Day passes will increase from 50 cents to $1. The cost of a seven-day pass will rise from $2.50 to $5, and a 30-day pass will go from $10 to $15, $5 less than originally proposed by OCTA’s staff.

For riders who must rely on special paratransit vans because of severe disabilities, one-way fares for the Access program will increase from $1.70 to $2.25 to be picked up and dropped off at the curb.

Rates will escalate steadily from $3.30 to $12.25 by July 1, 2007 for full door-to-door service, in which drivers escort disabled passengers to and from transit vans.

Like other transportation agencies, OCTA is required to provide service to the handicapped under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. It is the only transportation agency in California, and perhaps the nation, that provides door-to-door service.

Before the vote, people who depend on buses and paratransit services told board members that many senior citizens and the handicapped might not be able to afford the new fares. At public hearings in September, more than half the public speakers were opposed to the changes for the elderly and disabled.

“This is an unconscionable fare increase,” said Bill Chrisner, executive director of the Dayle Mcintosh Center, a nonprofit organization in Garden Grove that provides social services for the disabled. OCTA “can find $500,000 a day to improve the Garden Grove Freeway but not the money to keep Access fares low,” he said.

Also on Monday, the OCTA announced that it had reached an agreement with Caltrans and Amtrak to expand commuter rail service between Orange County and Los Angeles.

On Nov. 17, two Amtrak trains will add weekday service between Los Angeles and the Laguna Niguel-Mission Viejo station. Another Amtrak train from Los Angeles will begin stopping in the afternoon at the transportation center in Orange.

One Laguna Niguel train will depart for Los Angeles at 12:15 p.m. The other will head from Los Angeles to Laguna Niguel at 7:25 p.m. The third train will depart Los Angeles at 2 p.m. and arrive at the Orange station.

Metrolink passengers who buy 10-day passes will be allowed to use those passes to ride any Amtrak commuter service. That convenience is now extended only to Metrolink’s monthly pass holders.

“This is critically important for riders from Laguna Niguel,” said Cathryn De Young, an OCTA board member and Laguna Niguel council member. “It is exactly the direction we need to go to make Amtrak and Metrolink compatible.”

Finally, in a sign of eroding support for CenterLine, OCTA board members voted 6 to 5 to extend the preliminary engineering phase of the light rail project to Feb. 28. The decision adds $2.25 million to the contract that was awarded in July 2002 to the engineering firm of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas Inc.

Considering an earlier $8-million increase, OCTA records show that the overall cost of preliminary engineering has now risen to more than $48 million. The original contract was for about $38 million.

The OCTA board usually votes unanimously or with overwhelming margins to approve CenterLine matters. But there has been growing disenchantment on the board because of uncertainty over whether Congress will approve about $500 million in federal funds for the project. A vote against the extension would have been a major setback.

CenterLine supporters say the contract extension is necessary to continue to court the Federal Transit Administration, which oversees funding for proposed light rail and subway projects across the nation.

CenterLine is a $1-billion street car system that would run 9.5 miles from John Wayne Airport to the Santa Ana train station. The proposed line would pass through Irvine, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Bus rate hike

The Orange County Transportation Authority will increase most bus fares beginning Jan. 2. Some of the increases for fixed-route service:

*--* Fare type Current fare On Jan. 2 Change % chng Adult cash fare $1 $1.25 25¢ 25% Adult day pass $2.50 $3 50¢ 20% Adult 30-day pass $37.50 $45 $7.50 20% Senior, disabled cash fare 25¢ 50¢ 25¢ 100% Senior day pass 50¢ $1 50¢ 100% Senior 30-day pass $10 $15 $5 50%

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Door-to-door service

The one-way fare for a senior or disabled rider who requires full door-to-door service will increase 271% over five years.

*--* Cost from door to + Curbside + To door = Full service* bus pickup Current 80¢ $1.70 80¢ $3.30 Jan. 2, 2005 80¢ $2.25 80¢ $3.85 July 1, 2005 $2 $2.25 $2 $6.25 July 1, 2006 $4 $2.25 $4 $10.25 July 1, 2007 $5 $2.25 $5 $12.25

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*Full service is picking up the customers at home, helping them to the bus, helping them off the bus and into their destination. Riders can also be picked up curbside from their residence and dropped off curbside at their destination.

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Source: Orange County Transportation Authority