By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

April 30, 2010 -A combination of a desire for more information and lack of support for at least portions of the proposal led to six of the seven City Council members on Tuesday voting to delay a decision on Big Blue Bus fare hikes until at least May 11.

City staff had proposed a variety of changes to the Blue Bus fare structure to eliminate a portion of the service’s structural deficit, which is projected to be $6.1 million next fiscal year and reach $16 million in 2015. While staff provided information on how much could be generated through fare increases, it did not give the Council numbers on how much could be saved with various budget adjustments and service efficiency changes, as well as revenue enhancements such as additional advertising.

“What we have here is not enough information to evaluate the policy trade-offs that we’re looking at,” Council member Terry O’Day said. “We’re talking about service reductions when we’re talking about a ridership cut (due to people choosing to ride less because of the increased fare). We ought to look at that and evaluate it … against other budget cuts that could be made, against other options that we have.”
Council members also argued that there were many unknowns in the service’s revenue projections because a large portion of the revenue comes from county sales tax funds, which fluctuate in size based on the economy, and the state, where the amount of money that should be designated to transit is in dispute.

Among City staff’s proposed fare changes was increasing the regular cost of a ride from 75 cents to $1.25. The ticket price was proposed to go up from 25 cents to 60 cents for seniors and the disabled and from 50 cents to 75 cents for students. Greater cost increases were proposed as an alternative, but those were not even considered for discussion. Also included in the proposal was the elimination of the 50-cent transfer as a method to increase interest in the $4 unlimited use day pass.

Stefanie Negriff, Santa Monica’s director of transit services, said the fee hikes would initially reduce bus use by 17 percent, or 3 million rides per year. Several Council members said they were bothered by this in a City that is attempting to increase bus ridership as one of the ways to reduce traffic. However, Negriff said this reduction would not translate to more people in vehicles, it would mean people would take fewer trips.

Upping the cost of a bus ride bothered several council members.

“If we were going from 75 cents to a dollar, I don’t think I’d freak out,” Council member Kevin McKeown said. “But going from 75 cents to $1.25 with no transfer, that’s a significant change.”

McKeown said he was most troubled by the senior/disabled recommendation. He said this went against the City’s policy to protect the most vulnerable when it came to budget adjustments.
“So do I want to vote tonight to condemn seniors in our community to be homebound? I don’t want to do that. I won’t do that,” McKeown said.

Council member Gleam Davis said increasing the fares would not be so drastic had the City done it more often over the years so the price could go up gradually She looked to the fact that the senior/disabled price has been in effect since 1985. The regular fare has remained the same since 2002. She said this is a problem with how City goes about with pricing for many programs.

“We need to stop artificially suppressing the prices over time and start addressing these issues on a more regular and periodic basis,’ Davis said.
She added, “While I am willing to support fare increases, and that’s incredibly reluctantly … I am not comfortable with these options the way they are structured and proposed here.”

Negriff and City Manager Rod Gould warned the Council that without fare increases to curb the Blue Bus’ deficit, service reductions would have to be made. Negriff estimated this would be about a seven percent total reduction, including a “drastic” decrease in weekend bus availability. Council member Bobby Shriver asked that specific information on these reductions be provided at the May 11 meeting.

Another factor that could cut into the deficit is an adjustment to employee compensation. Gould said a negotiation is ongoing between the employees and City management about “sharing medical costs” and “pension reform.” He said more information would be provided about this later in May during the Council’s budget study sessions.

Blue Bus officials want the new fares to go into effect Aug. 29.