Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority financial
officer Chip Falldine, left, and TMTA board members
Clark Trammell, Matthew Gassen and Jim Daniel listen
as one of their colleagues makes a point during debate
on proposals to raise bus fares and cut some services
to compensate for a revenue shortfall in the authority's
current budget.
(Photo by Fred Johnson/Topeka Capital-Journal)
The Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority will conduct two public hearings prior to its Sept. 19 board meeting on proposals to increase its fares and eliminate evening and Sunday services.
TMTA board members decided Saturday morning to conduct hearings, which have yet to be scheduled, on raising the single-ride fare to $2 from $1.25, the paratransit fare to $4 from $2.50, and the price of a monthly pass for unlimited rides to $50 from $33.
Those figures represent a 60 percent increase in the single-ride and paratransit fares and a 52 percent increase in the price of the monthly pass.
Board members also propose to eliminate evening and Sunday service and reduce the area in which paratransit services will be offered. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires public transit agencies that offer fixed-route service to also offer paratransit service to people living within three-fourths of a mile of a fixed route.
TMTA has been offering paratransit service for the disabled throughout the city but is considering pulling it back into the area specified by ADA.
The transit authority's board members and administrative staff conducted a retreat Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to discuss the agency's operations, rolling assets, services, fares and budget. During the final hour of the retreat, the board convened as a committee of the whole and voted to conduct public hearings on the proposed rates and service cutbacks.
Debate among the board members was fairly short on raising the single-ride fare to $2 and the paratransit fare to $4 — by law, the paratransit fare can be no more than double the single-ride fare. Beyond those moves, however, the debate was vigorous but civil.
A revenue shortfall in the current budget and pending funding reductions by the federal government necessitated some action on bus fares and services.
At the end of the retreat, board member Jim Daniel said, "We did our fiduciary duty."
Board members on Friday had discussed raising the price of the monthly pass to $40, but on Saturday talked about going to $45 before finally settling on $50.
Board member Clark Trammell and several of his colleagues noted that a person who rode the bus to and from work each day would spend $20 a week, or $80 a month, on bus fares.
A $50 monthly pass for unlimited rides still represents a substantial savings from the single-ride fare and offers the rider a good value, Trammell said.
Board member Jim Ogle entered the retreat thinking the transit authority should keep the monthly pass at $33 to reward loyal riders, but on Friday he offered a motion to raise the monthly pass price to $45. Eventually, he accepted an amendment from board member Nancy Johnson to set the price at $50.
Board members also decided to increase the reduced monthly fares for the disabled, Medicare recipients, and seniors 65 and older to $35. The price of a monthly pass for students 18 and younger would rise to $40. Board member Matthew Gassen offered dissent on both of those changes. Gassen had suggested keeping the reduced fares for those groups at the current $22, which is a 33 percent discount from the price of a monthly pass.
During discussion of the student fare, TMTA staff member Denise Ensley told board members that Topeka Unified School District 501 purchased the majority of the reduced-fare student passes.
As part of its truancy reduction program, Ensley said, the district purchases the bus passes and gives them to students with truancy problems to encourage them to go to school.
Ogle questioned whether the transit authority should sell passes to the school district at the reduced rate.
It is one thing to sell a pass at a reduced rate to a student or a student's family, Ogle said, but it is another to subsidize the school district's truancy program. The program is the district's responsibility, he said, and it should pay the full $50 for each monthly pass.
Board members said they planned later this year to consider different fare packages that would offer savings to riders, including reduced price daily passes, weekly passes and employer passes, which an employer would purchase for employees.
TMTA officials crafted the budget for the agency's 2012 fiscal year, which began July 1 and runs through June 20, 2012, with a $173,000 revenue gap to be plugged by a rate increase.
The initial plan was to raise the single-ride fare to $1.50 from $1.25 and hike some other fares at the same rate of increase. That approach became outdated when TMTA officials learned federal transportation authorities were considering a 30 percent reduction in public transit funding.
TMTA received $1.9 million for its past fiscal year and plugged the same amount into the 2012 budget. A 30 percent reduction would see its support cut to about $1.4 million.
Chip Falldine, chief financial officer for TMTA, said the fare changes to be discussed at the public hearings would generate $222,000, eliminating evening and Sunday service would save about $200,000, and pulling back paratransit service would save about $50,000.
That still would leave TMTA with a budget gap if the federal government cuts its funding by $500,000.
TMTA now receives about 13 percent of its revenue from passenger fares and 50 percent from a property tax mill levy approved by the Topeka City Council. Federal and state transportation money make up the remainder of its budget.
Fredrick J. Johnson can be reached at (785) 295-1181 or fred.johnson@cjonline.com.
Read More at: TMTA weighing changes in fares, services