Fares for Metro bus and rail lines are set to increase in July and again in two years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors decided Thursday.
The fare increases are meant to alleviate MTA’s projected $1.8 billion deficit, largely the result of transit expansion, Metro spokesman Marc Littman said.
In accordance with the new fare schedule, the price of a regular one-way trip will jump from its current $1.25 to $1.50 by July 2009.
Day passes, currently $3, will double over the same time frame, and monthly passes for college students will increase from $30 to $36 in July, and to $43 by July 2009.
Though the fare increases have drawn criticism from some who say they are unfair to low-income riders, Littman said they are necessary to keep MTA financially stable.
“The deficit is just so massive and it’s growing so fast, we just had to step in,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate and it’s very sad.”
Catherine Yan, a second-year psychology and communications studies student who takes Metro to work once a week, said she believes current fares should be sufficient, especially for short trips like hers.
“I feel that $1.25 should be enough to get you just down Sunset,” Yan said.
But Littman said current fares do not allow Metro to fully recoup operating costs, since so many people use passes, which essentially allow them to ride at discounted rates.
It costs Metro $2.39 per passenger to operate, but because pass usage is so prevalent, Metro only takes in about 58 cents per boarding, Littman said.
The newly approved fare increases are lower than Metro officials had originally asked for, and Littman said they will not be enough to fully close the projected deficit.
“It’s not going to be enough to offset the deficit. … We’ve done other things to whack the budget internally but we’ll still have to draw on reserves,” he said.
Still, critics, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, say the increases will be too much for lower-income passengers to bear.
“When you look at so many of them who make the minimum wage, who make less than the poverty level, clearly they are not going to be able to afford it,” Villaraigosa told the Los Angeles Times.
And Yan said she believes the increases may deter some students from using Metro’s services.
“It’s already somewhat of a burden for some students, and even though it’s just a quarter, I think that might be enough to discourage some other students from taking it,” she said.
But Littman said Metro was not particularly concerned about the long-term effect the fare hikes will have on its ridership.
“Historically our ridership has always bounced back,” he said.
This is Metro’s second major fare hike in about 12 years, and Littman said in the interim Metro has attempted to shield passengers from rising costs.
“We didn’t pass on those expenses to our customers. We had a massive expansion but we didn’t pass that on,” he said. “We’ve put on a massive amount of service, including to UCLA.”