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Friday, February 15, 2008
MARTA may be smarter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every morning, a paratransit shuttle bus picks up Glen Appling at his home in Buford.
It transports him to the Park & Ride lot off I-985. He catches the 101 Express bus to downtown Atlanta. He’s dropped off in front of the Twin Towers, where he works as a records management technician for the Georgia Department of Corrections.
His transit fare runs about $124 a month, which includes the $4 a day paratransit fee. If the Gwinnett Transit System’s proposed transit hike takes effect, though, the service will cost him almost $300 a month.
“That’s pretty steep,’ said Appling, 44.
Indeed.
Some of the transit fee increases under consideration are excessive. The one-way charge for riders who hop on at the farthest stops will jump to $5 each way from $3. Other local fares won’t increase that much, to $2 from $1.75. And fares for senior citizens and disabled people would rise to 41 from 85 cents.
Under the bus fare proposal, riders like Appling who travel into the city would stomach the greater hit. Monthly pass fees will jump to as much as $190 from $100 on the farthest routes. The idea is for patrons who travel the farthest distance to pay more than the flat fee. It’s known as “distance-based fares” in the transit world. Some cities charge such fares to help offset the operating cost of a transportation mode that seldom pays for itself.
No one likes to see costs rise. But I’d imagine GTS riders don’t have one-track minds, either. They expect a fare increase every now and again, done incrementally but without the extreme sticker shock.
Maybe transit officials should rethink this proposed hike, even if is it the first one in six years. It threatens to tick off existing riders and shoo new ones away. It could decimate the one thing transit officials have worked to build and maintain: ridership.
Last week, I stopped by the GTS terminal near Gwinnett Place Mall. Willie Goodson had just gotten off bus No. 38. His Pontiac Gran Am was in the shop, and he was hoping it wouldn’t be a major expense. Some people, he said, just don’t have any extra money - not even for public transit.
“A lot of people are already struggling,’” said Goodson, 28. “The amount it costs to just keep gas in the tank - everything is just ridiculous.”
As soon as notice of the increase became public, some loyal transit riders began strategizing. Customers like Appling who work in the city in offices within blocks of each other are thinking about carpooling.
Heck, with these hikes, they may as well take rail. Sure, it might be out of the way to get to MARTA’s Doraville or Chamblee station. But when it comes to the pocket book, it would be a whole lot cheaper - especially if employers offer a subsidy.
On Tuesday, Appling sent an e-mail to the transit advisory board, asking them to please reconsider the bus fare hikes.
“There are definitely cheaper ways to get to Atlanta,” he wrote.
True.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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