MTA fare increases set to take effect July 1, raising one-way rides by a quarter to $1.50 and monthly passes by $13 to $75, will be discussed at the agency’s board meeting Thursday, when members will consider setting a date for a public hearing to explain the rationale behind the hikes.
The increases, the first in two years, are meant to help make up for a $204 million deficit in its operating budget for buses and trains, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Public transit activists with the Bus Riders Union say the fare increases are ill-timed and will affect the working poor disproportionately.
“The monthly pass is going up by $13. That’s a meal on the table. The typical transit rider only makes about $12,000 to $17,000 a year,” Barbara Lott- Holland of the Bus Riders Union told The Times at rally Tuesday.
Daily passes will go from $5 to $6. Fares will not be raised for people with disabilities, students, Medicare recipients and people who are 62 or older.
The fare increase should cut the operating budget deficit to about $180 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. At its meeting Wednesday, the MTA board will consider setting a hearing in May to explain the reasons for the increases.
MTA officials blame the deficit on decreased ridership, the loss of state funds and declines in revenue from two of the county’s three transportation sales taxes — all factors driven by the economic recession, The Times reported.
MTA spokesman Dave Sotero said the increase are not out of line with fares in other big cities, citing $2 or more one-way fares in New York and Chicago.
The Riverside Transit Agency and the Orange County Transportation Authority now charge $1.50 one way, $4 for a daily pass and $55 for a 30-day pass. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System charges $2.25 one way, $5 for a daily pass and $72 for a 30-day pass, The Times reported.
While the MTA has funding for long-term projects, money set aside for construction cannot be used to prop up the operating budget.
Members of the Bus Riders Union have called on Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer to support legislation in Congress that would give local transportation agencies more flexibility in the use of federal transportation funds.