[PRCo] Fares

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!

	Reality is quite harsh here.

	.......But Reality is misrepresented.   When talking about wages and
benefits and their contribution to the budget, only the drivers are ever
mentioned.
	In San Francisco, the Muni has 4,100-employees - ONLY 55% of these
employees are drivers.   What about the contribution of wages for the other
45% to the budget?   And the  HUGE  salaries of Top-Heavy-Management(?) 
(is That an Oxymoron  --  or just a Moron?!?!)

	$1.00 is base fare on SF-Muni; $0.35 is fare for student and seniors.

	What are base fares in other cities?

	Ridership on Muni daily is equal to the population of the city  -- 
750,000!

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http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20020518porttrans3.asp

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, May 18, 2002

Port Authority riders face fare increases, service cuts

By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A 15-cent increase in cash fares, an approximately 20 percent increase in
prices of monthly passes, and a 4 percent overall reduction in bus-trolley
service are likely to take effect Sept. 1 for Port Authority riders.

The transit agency's administrative and finance committee yesterday
authorized Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas to pursue those changes
and hold public hearings in June on a new fare structure and on plans to
cut some bus routes 30 percent or more.

In several cases where ridership is low, entire routes face elimination.

The fare increases will be on top of a 35-cent hike in the base fare and 20
percent increase on the cost of passes and tickets effective in April 2001.

The service reductions will be in addition to systemwide cuts averaging 2
percent that will take effect June 16.

"It's not something we want to do," Skoutelas said. But it was made
necessary by back-to-back freezes in state operating subsidies, rising
fuel, utilities and health care costs, and a recently settled labor
contract with 2,800- member Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, which
represents operators and other rank-and-file employees.

Port Authority board members also learned yesterday that the operating
budget for the current fiscal year that ends June 30 will likely end with a
$10 million deficit. It will be the first time in 18 years that the
authority has been unable to balance the budget.

The budget proposed for the 2002-03 fiscal year is $279.2 million, less
than 1 percent more than the authority is spending this year, and assumes
that state operating assistance, the single biggest source of funding, will
be frozen at $67.7 million for the third consecutive year.

Skoutelas has been warning of another wave of financial problems for
months. They're the biggest the Port Authority has faced since the early
1990s, when fares were hiked in two consecutive years and bus-trolley
service was significantly pared to bring revenues in line with expenses.

The operating budget is funded and approved separately from the capital
budget, which depends mostly on federal funds for projects like extending
the light rail and busway facilities, buying new light rail vehicles and
buses and adding park-n-ride lots. However, the federal government stopped
providing direct operating subsidies for public transit years ago.

Skoutelas could not provide details of the proposed fare increase because
"all of them haven't been worked out yet." He also could not yet identify
bus routes facing major cuts or extinction.

"We will continue to lobby state officials and the administration" to try
to increase revenue, he said, although Gov. Mark Schweiker and Gov. Tom
Ridge before him have not been sympathetic. "We face a major challenge."

The Zone 1 cash fare, paid by the majority of patrons who account for
260,000 daily rides, would go to $1.75.

The Port Authority's Philadelphia-area counterpart, the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, has a $2 base fare, but riders can
also buy $1.30 tokens good for single rides with no transfers.

Monthly passes at SEPTA cost $70, compared to $48 at the Port Authority,
where an increase to $60 is under consideration. Skoutelas indicated that
monthly passes, while offering savings, may be too much of a bargain. For
someone with a monthly pass taking 40 rides a month, typically a commuter,
the revenue per trip is $1.20 -- and less if the pass holder rides more.

The new fare structure also is expected to impose expiration dates on
10-trip ticket books that sell at a 10 percent discount.

Fares could increase by 25 cents for Zone 2 riders in the rest of Allegheny
County, or those living beyond an approximately 8-mile radius of Downtown
Pittsburgh, and for Zone 3 riders outside of the county. The Zone 2 base
fare is $2 and for Zone 3 it is $2.50.

Skoutelas was unable to assess the impact of finishing the current fiscal
year with an out-of-balance budget, which technically violates 1986 state
legislation that stripped the union of the dual right to strike or force
binding arbitration; mandated balanced operating budgets; and created the
Allegheny County Transit Council as an unpaid citizens' advisory group.

Ten months into the current fiscal year, passenger revenue has fallen about
$5.8 million behind budget despite stable ridership and last year's fare
increase. While Skoutelas has frozen staff hirings and taken other steps to
make up the difference, state funding that failed to meet expectations
accounts for an additional $10 million shortfall that he hasn't been able
to make up.

Here are projections for the proposed 2002-03 fiscal year budget disclosed
yesterday:

Revenue -- Bus, trolley and incline fares, $57 million; senior citizen
off-peak ride reimbursements, $12.6 million; ACCESS program service, $14.8
million; contract service, like rides for Pitt students and staff, $3.1
million; advertising income, $2 million; interest income, $900,000; other
income, $600,000; state and county grants, $98.8 million; and various other
state and federal grants and expenses charged to capital programs, $89.4
million. Total: $279.2 million.

Expenses -- Wages and salaries, $138.5 million; employee benefits, $67.4
million; materials and supplies, $26.1 million; injury and damage claims,
$3.9 million; purchased services, $6.2 million; utilities, $6.4 million;
other expenses, $4.7 million; interest, $1.2 million; and ACCESS, $24.8
million.   Total: $279.2 million.

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation....... 
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
______"O"--Scale  Parts  mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net

______Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org/
___Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org

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