By Frieda K. Edgette
Congratulations to EBYD At-Large Board Member Rebecca Saltzman and club Co-Founder (now AC Transit Board Prez) Rocky Fernandez for getting their messages across in this SF Chronicle article, which discusses AC Transit’s tentative fare increases. Read the article (below)!
Interested in learning more? For a holistic understanding of AC Transit’s services and possible budget solutions, attend the AC Transit Board Meeting this Wednesday, March 11 at 5pm at 1600 Franklin Street, Oakland (near 19th Street BART Station and/or the 51 Bus).
AC Transit riders may face higher fares
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
(03-09) 20:03 PST — AC Transit riders may be paying more to ride a bus come July 1 to help close a projected $52 million budget shortfall – a scenario that is becoming all too familiar as transit operators across the Bay Area scramble to close mounting deficits.
The AC Transit governing board will consider a proposal Wednesday to increase cash fares and the cost of non-discounted monthly passes. Trips for cross-bay rides also would go up. Bus fares were last raised in 2005.
“Nobody’s talking about this with any less than an upset stomach,” board President Rocky Fernandez said Monday. “But we’re going to have to make some tough choices.”
Transit agencies across the region have been confronted with those tough choices. Among the examples: The cost to buy a monthly Muni Fast Pass in San Francisco will go up July 1; the County Connection bus system in central Contra Costa County will raise fares and reduce service starting March 22; and BART officials are looking at raising fares, cutting service or a combination of the two later this year or next year, although no specific plan has been proposed.
Caltrain already raised fares Jan. 1, and it was only last fall that voters in Contra Costa and Alameda counties agreed to double a $48 parcel tax to help pay for AC Transit service with the hope that the additional money could stave off higher fares. The agency has a ridership of about 230,000 a day.
Candra Harvey, a college student, waited for a bus Monday in downtown Oakland with her fare money in hand. Raising the price, even a quarter, she said, would hurt. “It’s just a small amount, but every little bit counts,” she said.
Even if the AC Transit board raises fares, which would reap an estimated $5.7 million annually, service cuts may be looming.
“The fare increase alone won’t be enough to take care of the budget shortfall,” AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson said.
It’s the next step that most concerns Rebecca Saltzman, an Oakland resident who works in the East Bay and rides AC Transit daily.
She doesn’t relish the idea of paying $10 more for her monthly bus pass. “It’s certainly going to be painful for some people, especially with the economy as tight as it is right now,” Saltzman said.
But, she said, she’d rather pay a little more if it means keeping as much service intact as possible. “There’s no sense not raising the fare if they cut your line,” she said.
The prospect of charging riders more for less service has grown more urgent with the nation’s dire economy. Transportation agencies nationwide report falling revenue from sales and property taxes, which help fund service.
On top of that, California operators were dealt a staggering blow last month, when Gov. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers eliminated all state funding for transit operations for the remainder of this year and for the next four years to balance California’s budget. The new federal stimulus bill will pump $271 million into Bay Area transit operations, but that’s not enough to balance the books, regional transportation officials say.
“One of the real tragedies of this is that we think more people are riding the bus than ever before,” Johnson said.
The American Public Transportation Association reported Monday that nationally, transit systems provided 10.7 billion trips last year, the highest number in 52 years.
Fare increase considered
When: 5 p.m. Wednesday
Where: 1600 Franklin St. in Oakland.
The proposal: Raise the adult cash fare 25 cents, to $2, and the discounted cash fare for youth, seniors and the disabled 15 cents, to $1; increase the non-discounted, monthly pass for adults $10, to $80; and raise the monthly pass to ride across the bridge $16, to $132.
The current cost of the discounted monthly passes for seniors, youth and the disabled would stay the same.
Since joining EBYD this year, the highlight for me has been the opportunity to roll up my sleeves with fellow members and help get out the vote for President-Elect Barack Obama.