Metrolink-to-MTA transfer policy set to change

Metrolink customers who transfer to MTA buses and trains in Los Angeles County should brace for some bad news for their wallets: The days of free transfers will likely end next year.

The issue was discussed at today's special meeting of the Metrolink Board of Directors in downtown Los Angeles. The board was set to make a decision about the transfers at its regular meeting on Feb. 27, but that has been postponed.

The issue is coming to a head because of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's decision last February to install gates and turnstiles at many of its rail stations to reduce the number of passengers who ride without buying tickets. The problem for Metrolink customers is that the paper tickets Metrolink uses won't work in the turnstiles the MTA is installing.

So the onus is on Metrolink to do something. After reviewing the available technology, Metrolink staff told board members that one possible solution is to require customers to also buy a TAP card -- the electronic fare cards that the MTA is trying to adopt. Metrolink would provide the TAP card at a discount: $20 to $30 for an MTA monthly pass, which currently sells for $62.

To put it in more blunt terms, Metrolink passengers who now transfer for free would have to carry two tickets and pay $240 to $360 extra annually to transfer to MTA buses or trains. Metrolink says this would be an increase of about 11% in total cost for their average customers.

As part of the switch, Metrolink also plans to end free transfers for people traveling with one-way or round-trip tickets. Between the moves, Metrolink expects to lose about 725 passengers a day who don't want to pay the higher fares. The trains currently carry about 46,000 passengers on the average weekday. 

The obvious problem here is that the two agencies have incompatible ticketing systems. That leads to the obvious question: Why not have Metrolink and MTA adopt the same ticketing system?

Not so fast. Metrolink also runs in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, and transit agencies in each of those counties have their own ticketing systems.

"We have four other counties that would have to adopt the TAP system," said Francisco Oaxaca, a spokesman for Metrolink. "We're the one that has to come up with a way to work across all five counties. The other counties are going to follow their own paths toward some sort of smart-card technology similar to TAP, but they're all on different time frames and have different needs."

At this point, the only potential out for Metrolink customers is if the MTA decides to chip in some money to further discount TAP cards for them. The chance of that happening? Probably not very good, based on past fiscal policies.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[M]

I noticed new brochures on the Red line recently advertising the TAP cards are to be used for daily passes now. One of the weird things about it was that they stated you could get tap cards on buses starting march 15 through april 15 (or while supplies last). So, what happens after april 15? What happens if supplies don't last? Do you not get to buy daily passes anymore?

This all seems so hokey. They want to add in turnstiles to prevent the tiny percentage of people that do not pay from getting into the system. So this requires more equipment with more costs, more employees (someone needs to be available to fix the issues with turnstiles at ALL hours that the stations are open), less security (because they claim they don't need ppl to check tickets on the trains now), but the system is incomplete because not all of the stations will have turnstiles. Now they are telling ppl they also need to pay hundreds of dollars a year to continue using this system of they ride metrolink.

I recently noticed some new signs (and where did the money from these signs come from?) appear around the Universal City station telling you to smile because you're saving money by riding metro. Sadly, this is less and less true every day. I originally started riding metro in 2005 when a daily pass was about the price I was paying for gas to get to work ($3). Since then, gas has gone up and then way back down in price and the daily passes almost doubled in price. Nevermind the fact that you MUST have alternate forms of transportation to deal with many of the details of life. I personally bought a bike, which while cheaper than a car, still has costs associated with it, including safety issues due to the lack of any real bicycle infrastructure within this city. Sometimes I have to rent a car, which can quickly add up to the same cost as a car payment. Nope, sorry, not saving time (my commute is always twice as long with Metro as it was with a car) or much money by riding Metro.

This city should be doing everything in it's power to INCREASE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION USE!!!! All of these ideas mentioned above do not support this idea. We have jammed roads and freeways that we don't have money or space to fix indefinitely, our air pollution levels are still way higher than what is considered safe, we don't have any sort of motivation for people to NOT drive when there are unsafe ozone levels (other cities, including in Texas of all places, allow everyone to ride public transportation for free on these days), we supposedly are running out of land and space, but that is because so much of our space is dedicated to cars, we have droughts, but we are also losing huge amounts of our water to run off since so much of the land is paved over or covered with buildings and most of our transportation is powered by something that the longer we depend on, the harder it will be for us to overcome (oil). I don't really understand what else we need as motivation.

[CS]

FAILURE or SUCCESS??

Instead of encouraging to attract more riders into the system, the agency decided to throw two barriers in front of the mass transit user, i.e. the gates at MTA train stations and the extra fare that Metrolink riders will have to pay. I'm guessing the ridership numbers will be down when this policy is enacted.

Truly nice work MTA, nice work. You have accomplished getting people back into their cars instead of getting them on mass transit because that where the money is, right? With the 12 cent gas tax, the VLF increase, and the extra 20 to 30 dollars a month Metrolink riders will have to pay to ride into Downtown. You people finally though of a way to make it rain dollar bills in the board room.

FAILURE or SUCCESS?? Depends which way you see it. But I say Failure for the riders and commuter in the car and on the trains.

Success for the MTA Board in finding more money to line their pockets with.

Success for LAC residents?? I would say yes if we didn't have to pay for Measure R, so I say no. Paying to much for transit already.

Kinda of contradicting but MTA has done more contradiction then I have with their ads saying save money on gas by riding Metro but sees sticker shock when someone actually listen and try to ride Metro.

[m]

Will Metrolink tickets decline in price as a result, so that the riders can use the difference to buy yet ANOTHER pass?

As I understood it, the cost of the transfers to the MTA was built into Metrolink tickets.

[Spokker]

The fare gates are a monumentally stupid idea and a egregious waste of money for a project that won't solve any problem or do any good.

Shame on MTA.

[Ruby Jackson]

Don't these agencies talk with each other before signing multi-million dollar contracts to install equipment and ticketing systems? I would think these transportation agencies would be working together to make ridership easier, more affordable, and convenient. Instead, they each assert authority over their own domain, instead of creating an overall system that meshes together to make a great transit system for the entire city. It's obvious no one on the either the MTA board or at Metrolink actually uses public transportation. What a farce.

[cph]

I have been riding Metro and Metrolink for about 11 years straight now.

In 1998, I started commuting nearly every day from Chatsworth to Union Station on the Metrolink, then using the Red and Blue Lines to get to my job in South Central Los Angeles. At the time, the Metrolink monthly pass cost about $140, and I had to buy an additional MTA pass for about $40 more. (In June 2003, when the Gold Line opened, the Metrolink pass became valid for fare on all Metro rail and bus lines)

For that last half a mile or so between the Metro station and my workplace, I can either hop on a Metro bus or walk. Usually I walk, but occasionally, I do take the bus, either in bad weather or just for variety's sake.

In 2005, I moved near Rancho Cucamonga, and started commuting from there. That alone raised the fare about a zone's worth, but it wasn't the end of the world.

Metrolink fares started going up not too long after that. It now costs me almost $250 to ride from Rancho to LA. I have stuck with Metrolink, though, it still costs less than driving and saves me the stress of being stuck in traffic. The Metrolink pass also gives me access to the trains and buses on weekends, for trips to Downtown, Pasadena, Westwood, etc. Without the pass, I'd probably either drive or not go at all.

If I had to buy an MTA pass again to access the Metro Rail/Bus, it would cost me an additional $62. Total monthly fare would exceed $300, and I'm not sure that there isn't yet another Metrolink fare increase lurking out there in the near future.

I'm running out of rabbits and hats here. Driving part way (to Claremont or even to the Gold Line in Pasadena) may save on a transit fare, but the difference may be eaten up in car costs (gas, wear-and-tear, etc). An all-bus trip (Omni 66 + Foothill Silver Streak + Blue Line) would cost about $189 monthly, but would add at least another two hours to my already long commute (currently two hours each way).

"Moving closer" is such a can of worms right now that it is not worth mentioning. Suffice it to say that any savings in transit fares would end up being absorbed by something else.

On barriers in the Metro stations: This was a bill of goods sold to a very silly MTA board in the name of "fighting terrorism". What it will do is make it more difficult for transit riders to get in and out of stations, especially the crowded transfer stations such as 7th/Metro, Union Station or Rosa Parks/Imperial. They use barriers in systems such as BART, the Washington DC Metro, Atlanta, as well as overseas systems. There is often a backup at the turnstiles as people get their cards ready to activate the barrier and move through it.

Late in the evening, people are running from the Red Line to the Metrolink platforms in order to catch the last frequent trains (around 6 pm), since missing them means you get to twiddle your thumbs in Union Station for about an hour before the 7 pm trains run. I wonder what *that* scenario would be like with crazed, rushing passengers fighting with gates.

This is tempting me to just give up on riding transit altogether and buying the most economical auto I can find. This hurts me to say that, it is akin to saying that the Revolution of 1776 or Emancipation was a mistake, and we should just give up and go back to the way things were.

( But guess what, gas taxes and car fees are going up too, and there's still no guarantee that we won't see another "$4 surprise" at the pumps like we did last year. And the state has the audacity to propose zeroing out all transit funding as well?)

[Ricky]

Personally I don't understand why Metro and Metrolink can't just install TAP readers at all the Metrolink stations. You can TAP in when you board and TAP off when you leave. Metro can calculate the cheapest fare for your month of travel, give you the discount for Metro travel and mail Metrolink a check for its cut. If they are worried about fare evasion give Metrolink all those portable readers that Metro supposedly has once the gates are in.

[Stephen]

Definitely a bad idea to install the turnstiles. A significant number of Blue and Gold Line stations weren't designed to have barriers in place, and now it's going to cost more to implement them. I agree with Spokker, and the cost savings will be minimal, if any, when implementing the gates. I think a lot of this has to do with Metro wanting to get people on TAP. The problem is TAP negates any time savings on a proof of payment system (which is what Metro Rail is right now). In fact, it takes longer than a current paper pass because transfers require you to validate your TAP card every time you switch (i.e. 7th/Metro).

The new turnstiles would put us in line with many other major cities that require transfers from commuter rail systems to rapid transit systems. Metra to CTA in Chicago, Caltrain to Muni/BART in SF, MARC/VRE to Metrorail in DC. But that doesn't mean it should be OK to do it in LA, where interagency fare agreements can significantly help make the switch to transit much more pleasant for the discretionary rider.

[Interurbans]

This is another example of the disconnect the MTA has from it’s riders. They are doing all possible to discourage ridership and have its riders by choice return to driving.

The gates are a boondoggle to profit the gate manufacture. Not only will the gate manufacture profit from the initial sale but will need to service and maintain the system which will cost much more than having fare inspectors and security personal on trains and at stations.

The MTA needs more people and security on trains not less. In my personal experience there are noise teenage kids, venders selling anything you can imagine, homeless people, people shouting to themselves and who ever was present etc.

The MTA needs more fare inspectors and security people on trains and platforms. With the proposed gates that the MTA will be installing it will mean less people on trains leaving the riders to a less present riding experience. I wonder how many years it will take for the “cost savings” of having gates and less personal on trains to check tickets and for security than it will take to pay off the gates? The MTA made the wrong decision to have gates instead of more personal on trains and stations. I would think that there is a lot of money and profits made form this deal and that was the reason for their decision for gates, not passenger safety or stopping more fare evaders.

[Devon]

Scrap TAP! TAP needs to be scrapped. It fails in every way possible as a fare payment system. For honest patrons it is incredibly difficult to use. For the dishonest patrons it makes cheating the system a breeze. I know just as many people who complain how bad TAP is as I do people who haven't added fare to their TAP card in months. Day Passes and EZ passes made the system easy to use. Gating train stations won't make a difference either. It will just make using public transit even more difficult. TAP is a mistake that should be remedied. We must stop it before it is too late!

[Dave]

Is it true that TAP is run by the wife of the Chief Financial Officer? Aren't there laws against that kind of thing?

[Dan W.]

In London and Berlin you can buy passes which allow you to ride any form of public transit: bus, light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, within the zones you pay for.

There should be passes that allow for the same within Los Angeles county.

[Andy (美國土子)]

Get realistic people, barriers are a good thing. People should pay according to how far they travel and of course... everybody traveling should have a paid ticket. I don't know if you have been in one of those fare ticket enforcement sweeps, but I'm always amazed at how many ppl don't have a ticket!

What is stupid is that all these transit agencies don't have a common ticketing system.

I will use Hong Kong as an example, there have over a dozen transit agencies. Several bus companies, several rail companies, ferries, funnicular rail, electric tram, even a cable car.... they all use the same electronic fare system. Easy simple... transfers are seemless. Getting on and off are seemless. Are turnstiles a problem? No... you build lots of them.

Even McDonalds, 7 Eleven and other retailers accept the transit card, since it is a cash refillable system, not tied to anybodies identity.

Can't they do something like this here in the US? They've been doing this for over 10 years already in Hong Kong. I never fumble for change or worry about having to buy a paper ticket and missing my train, bus, or boat.

[RE]

Last week I watched a sheriff's deputy fine an old man who was sipping from a plastic water bottle on the Gold Line platform in Union Station.

I've also witnessed two fare sweeps over (about) the past month. Each time there has been at least one person in my car without a valid ticket. Each time they were given a warning. Not a fine.

Gee, whaddya know - MTA has misdirected priorities all the way down to the little stuff.

[Mark Bonilla]

These issues about the day passes is so dull, stupid, phony and rubbish that they will no longer be sold. I mean COME ON! I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE A TAP CARD!