MTA Raising Fairs to Keep Pace with Fuel Costs

A record-high number of paying passengers riding Metro buses hasn’t been able beat back rising fuel costs. The Metro Transit Authority is considering a 5-to-10 cent fare increase starting in February.

Planning director Jim McAteer says the MTA has spent an additional 600-thousand dollars for diesel fuel this year.

“We have taken other measures as well to make up some of the difference. The fare we’re expecting out of this will not cover that full amount, but it will help get us through.”

MTA has also implemented a hiring freeze and is requiring buses to be shut-off if they idle for more than 5-minutes. Increasing the local fare to one-dollar and thirty-five cent per trip will make up an estimated 200-thousand dollars of the shortfall.

Transportation officials have held public comment sessions this week and seen low attendance and relatively few complaints. The last rate increase was back in 2005, but more could be just down the road. Metro agencies, including the MTA, face a tight budget year with possible cuts of 15-percent.