Foothill Transit bus fares rising

The MTA did it earlier this year, now Foothill Transit is following suit:

Foothill Transit will be increasing some of its fares starting Jan. 1, transportation officials announced today. Fares for the San Gabriel and Pomona Valley transit’s Silver Streak line will jump 50 cents to $2.50, while the discount Silver Streak for seniors and the disabled will rise 25 cents to $1.25. Commuter Express lines will rise 75 cents to $4.40, while 31-day passes will see an increase of about 20%. Felicia Friesema, spokeswoman for the transit agency, said the increase in fares is due to higher fuel and maintenance costs and less funding. (CNS)

Comments

[Jake]

I used to come to this blog several days a week. What happened? It hasn't been updated since November 15!

[TrafficBulldog]

well as the Honorable Senator Schumer (D-N.Y.) said recently
"The days of a free lunch are over".

It appears that mass transportation is just not scalable.

With 700,000 riders last year and $4.2 billion in costs, that is about $6,000 for each rider.

That is a lot of pressure on tax revenue. And meanwhile the freeways get more crowded with hybrids in the carpool lane.

As long as we are allowing an anti-carpooling Transit Authorities to run things, gas will continue to be expensive. Transit costs will go up even more, the riders will have to pay more.

How can you justify taxpayers having to increase the $6,000 they pay for that rider? Senator Schumer, while aparently talking about the troops in IRAQ was right. There are no more free lunches.

http://trafficbulldog.org is a commuter advocacy group committed to helping people form carpools. Please join the conversation.

PS. Happy Thanksgiving facts

- California has 26 years of oil reserves according to CA.GOV
- IRAQ is the 3rd leading importer of oil into California
- Saudi Arabia has 80ish years of oil left to sell us
- If you are reading this, you are most likely not in IRAQ

[Dana Gabbard]

To understand why this is happening you need to master the arcane method by which regional funding for transit is divvied up in Los Angeles county. Go to the Southern California Transit Advocates website (socata.net) and read the page "Formula Allocation Procedure information" linked to the front page of the site (click "more" next to the listing). This gives you the tools to understand why Foothill is increasing fares the way it is.

And who says transportation fuinding is hard to understand? ;-)