Uh oh - looks like another fare increase is going to hit around September. The rising fare cost is due to “record-high” diesel prices.
Originally, TriMet was only going to bump up the fare prices a nickel… but with this gas crisis that’s happening around the nation, that $.05 has turned into either an increase of $0.20 or $0.25.
TriMet has the lowdown in two downloadable PDFs about what the prices would look like in September for either option. Those can be found here: twenty-cent option & twenty-five cent option.
TriMetiquette reader Kevin shares his opinion:
“Why won’t Tri-Met do more to enforce fares and transit rules such as the smoking ban before considering huge fare increases? It makes no sense at all.”
What do you all think? I think it’s quite an increase… a little shocking, but I guess with diesel prices being what they are, they do need to offset that rising cost somehow. What they need, with this, is an increased presence of fare inspectors (specifically on the MAX) to make sure riders are purchasing fares.
8 comments ↓
Not shocking. Peak oil. We’ve known this was coming for 5 years now, at least.
Fare inspectors cost money. Just so you know, it also might detract from a pleasant riding experience if you are asked for proof of fare every 5 minutes.
A better bet would be a higher payroll and gas tax for those people not using mass transit. The era of cheap oil is gone. Whining about it isn’t going to bring it back.
Yeah, an increase isn’t shocking… but a $0.25 one might hit a little harder for some folks than a $0.05 one.
Totally agree with your point about fare inspectors. Yeah, it might detract from a pleasant riding experience… but at least it’ll get those who never pay to either pay up or stop riding, both being ideal situations. And how much you have to pay those folks, anyway? Let’s just throw out 13 / hour. One ticket write-up equals how much? I just think it would be wise to maybe hire some seasonal work for the summer months, just to get that idea in the back of someone’s mind that there are people checking fares on a fairly regular basis. Hit it hard for a couple of weeks and subside a bit…
But anyway, an increase was going to happen, sure. And we’ll just have to make-due with what we can get…
As a driver that also takes the bus a lot it is difficult to justify using the bus from a financial perspective. While fuel costs HAVE gone up ridership on mass transit won’t if fares continue to increase at the same rate as fuel costs. A smarter move would be to figure out how to keep the rates lower than the rate of inflation to encourage people to leave their cars at home thereby easing some of the demand for gas and improving air quality, etc. Guess I should stock up on ticket books now!
a friend told me recently, the reason he drives downtown is that parking is cheaper than tri-met.
Felix, does you friend take into account gas, parking and maintainence? Tri-met will still be cheaper unless you carpoo
l.
Steve has a good point. Keep prices low and more people will ride and that will cover the cost.
I have to agree with Christian. If the fair inspectors that they have actually checked people all the time, then they would pay for themselves. Since I have started seeing fair inspectors, I have yet to be ask for my ticket. They seem to be happy talking to themselves and drinking coffee.
Perhaps a fare increase is needed but I am somewhat skeptical since Tri Met has always said in the past that fares are a very small part of their income. I don’t understand how increased ridership costs more in fuel, since from my point of view Tri-Met has not increased service, i.e. more buses on the road. More people will ride and pay increased fares if service was improved. Just as a point of information, I use the bus not MAX as MAX does not go where I need to go. We have not seen any fare inspectors on our line in over a year.
If you take the maximum fine ($250) for no proof of fare or disruptive behavior it more than pays for extra fare inspectors. The $250 fine could pay for the hourly wage of 19 fare inspectors if you use Christian’s example of $13 per hour.
Trimet should charge less not more. Get more people to ride. Trimet should put more money in to hiring good planners to oversee how to increase ridership throughout the metro area. Make Trimet go where people go. Take it’s cue from europe and really start moving people around. More smaller feeder busses. Perhaps contract out to independents to supply more feeder routes.
Not sure why it sould take me one hour by bus when I can get there in 10 minutes by car….
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