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ChineseFoothill Transit fare increase meetings
[tags]los angeles, foothill transit, san gabriel valley, el monte, pomona, west covina[/tags]
Foothill Transit, citing increased fuel prices and decreased funding, proposes fare increases for Silver Streak and express bus lines.
Cash fares would go up to $2.50 for the Silver Streak for all passengers, including seniors and disabled riders. Peak-hour express bus fares would rise to $4.40 for all passengers. Presently, Silver Streak fares are $2 and $1 for seniors and disabled, and commuter fares are $3.65 and $1.80 for seniors and disabled.
Prices for 31-day passes are also increasing: $66 for a local pass (from $55), $30 for students (from $25) and $21 for seniors and disabled (from $18). The Silver Streak and Express passes rise to $96 and $155 respectively for all passengers. Seniors and disabled passengers would see huge price increases, currently paying $40 and $65, respectively.
Local fares would remain the same.
A meeting is scheduled for 6:30 tonight at the Metro San Gabriel Service Sector Office on Division 9 at the El Monte Bus Station, 3449 Santa Anita Avenue. Transit connections: Metro Express lines 484, 490 and 577X, and Local lines 70/370, 76/376, 176, 267, 268, 270 and 287; and Foothill Transit lines 178, 269, 481, 482, 486, 488, 492 and 494.
The schedules for two other meetings are listed after the jump.
- 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 25
Pomona Library, 625 S. Garey Ave., Pomona
Transit access: Foothill Transit lines 286, 291 and 480. - 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 1
Foothill Transit Administrative Office, 100 S. Vincent Av., 2nd floor, West Covina
Transit access: Foothill Transit Silver Streak and lines 272, 284 and 480.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Anyone wanna explain to me how Foothills Transit fits in with other SoCal transit agencies? Do they have reciprocal transfers?
By the way, $155 a month for an express service sounds way too steep to me.
Foothill Transit charges .50 for transfers, and accepts transfers from limited OCTA and OmniTrans service, and transfers from Metro as well as the use of MetroLink tickets.
Foothill Transit is also part of the EZ Transit program. If these changes go through as is, it would only be $5 more to get an EZ Transit Pass for local and Express service (more for Silver Streak) than it would to get the Foothill Transit only passes.
The funny thing is that the cost equals that of Metrolink now. It’s actually cheaper when you consider the Metrolink EZ Day Pass privileges. Remember that when riders switch to the EZ Pass, the agencies lose money. Metro gets like $50 out of the $70, and Foothill gets even less (of course, it’s per pass, including people who never ride Foothill).
Comparisons: Silver Streak would go up 25% to $2.50 with no discount, which is illegal under federal regulations (Metro on the Busway is $2.45 and $1.15), Commuter Express would go up 20% to $4.40 (Metrolink ten trip ticket between Baldwin Park and Union Station is $4.70 per trip, with the EZ Day Pass privilege), and pass prices would go further up to $66 (EZ Pass $70) and $33 for discount categories; Silver Streak to $96/$48 (Metro Pass on the Busway is $98 and $14); and Commuter Express to $155 (Metrolink from Baldwin Park-Union Station is $148.25; from Covina $152.75; and from Industry $157).
The problem is Foothill Transit runs way too much service for demand. Their costs are going up so they are equaling MTA, but they are running Line 291 and 486 with 15 minutes service, but with less than 20 passengers an hour in the midday. You could easily downgrade Lines 187, 280, 291, and 486 to half hour service on middays; reduce Silver Streak service to half-hourly on weekends (I ride it on weekends all the time, and most of the time the artics run empty, and everything that connects to it runs half hourly or less), and with the commuter price increase, they are going to lose riders to Metrolink, so they should cut service there. Put the peak hour routes 189, 292, 851, and 855 out of their misery, except for school trippers ONLY. You could get at least $3 million by cutting service there.
And the real problem for Foothill Transit is the FAP. You can read more about it at http://www.socata.net/gm/archives/00000044.shtml