In search of fare-ness
METRO tells the Chronicle that a new fare structure is in the works. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t tell everything and there’s no information on the METRO web site yet [UPDATE: there is now: letter and fact sheet, PDF presentation. But there are still unanswered questions.].
[UPDATE: I just talked to METRO (I had contacted them yesterday, but it took a while to set up a phone interview), and they addressed many of my concerns.]
The number that most people pay attention to — the base local fare — will stay at a dollar. That’s cheap: nationwide, fares tend to range from $1.25 (Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington DC) to $1.50 (Denver) or even $1.60 (Baltimore).
But there’s a fundamental change being proposed. METRO is implementing “smart cards.” These are cards containing inexpensive microchips that can be read simply by passing them by farebox readers (likely, you won’t even need to take them out of your wallet.) They can hold all sorts of information. You’ll buy a card with, say, $10 of stored value. The card will remember how much of that you have left. But it will also remember where and when your last ride was. That means you don’t need paper transfers — when you get off one bus and board another, the farebox on the second bus knows you just rode and doesn’t charge you.
For an occasional rider, smart cards make life a lot easier: you get the convenience of a monthly pass (no fumbling for change) but pay only when you ride. I’m looking forward to that.
But METRO is proposing to eliminate all passes [UPDATE: that includes day passes, weekly and monthly passes, and the UPass for college students] and paper transfers. That penalizes two very different groups: regular riders and one-time riders.
Smart cards generally aren’t sold on buses, only at vending machines [UPDATE: including all METRORail stations], at ticket offices (METRO has only 2, both downtown) [UPDATE: METRO is adding staffed sales counters to transit centers] and at stores (you can buy METRO fares at most Houston supermarkets [UPDATE: there will be over 1000 such locations].) If you don’t have a smart card before you board, you don’t get a free transfer, and, since most trips involve transfers, your $1 ride is now a $2 or $3 ride.
For regular riders, METRO is proposing volume discounts – you buy 55 rides for the price of 50. That has a smilar effect for commuters who ride twice a day. But people who depend on transit — those that ride not only to work but to shop, to the doctor, and so forth — would find themselves paying much more. I’ve always been a fan of weekly and monthly passes because they encourage you to use transit more. You’ve already paid, so every additional trip is free. Discounted stored value cards don’t do that [UPDATE: a whopping 38% of METRO boardings are now with $2 day passes].
[UPDATE: there will be validators on the platforms that let riders simply scan their tickets. This deals with the issue I raise in the next paragraph] Smart cards also pose a major technical problem on light rail. Rail critics often claim that they rode light rail and most riders didn’t pay. That’s because those riders had either transfers or passes. People who commute to work on the train generally buy passes (or get them from their employers). That means they can walk right on the train without having to go to the vending machine. But that doesn’t work with stored value cards, since there’s no way to deduct your fare from the card. Instead, every rider will have to go to the vending machine, flash their card, and get a paper ticket [UPDATE: there will be electronic validators -- no paper tickets, and no need to wait behind cash passengers]. That’s a huge step backwards. [UPDATE: I take that back]
Ultimately, this is a fare increase. That’s fair; METRO riders are paying less than their counterparts across the country, and fares haven’t gone up in 12 years. And it will cut down cheating — I regularly see people on the street downtown trying to resell paper transfers.
But the fare system as the Chronicle reports it will also make many people’s daily trips more complicated, and that worries me. [UPDATE: I take that back] We should be making transit use easier, not harder.
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