Bus fare hike follows ridership bump

As May flowers follow April showers (or blizzards), news of increased ridership spawns talk of jacking up fares at Metro Transit. On Monday, the Metropolitan Council’s Transportation Committee heard about the best first-quarter ridership rates in 24 years but also approved a schedule of public hearings on a proposed fare hike. The culprits are rising fuel costs, less money coming from the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax (MVST) and not enough money coming from the government (the proverbial “projected budget shortfalls”).

It’s happened this way before: When Metro Transit raised fares by 25 cents in July 2001, ridership had increased by nearly 3 percent over the previous six months. After the fare increase, ridership dropped back down by nearly the same amount over the next six months. The exception that proved the rule was another 25-cent increase, in July 2005, that followed a long slide in ridership, which officials blamed in part on a 2004 transit-worker strike. The most reliable pattern is that ridership falls after a fare increase. No one’s saying exactly how much fares would increase this time, but Metro Transit predicts that a 25-cent hike would trigger a 2 percent drop in ridership. If it’s approved, people would begin paying more in October.

Continued: Click “Read More”The full Met Council takes up the plan Wednesday at its downtown St. Paul HQ. If downtown St. Paul is not your typical destination on a spring evening, you’re in luck, because this week the Met Council launches live streaming and archived video of its (full council, not committee) meetings.