The Metrolink commuter rail service plans to increase fares as early as July to help reduce a $13-million budget deficit largely caused by rising fuel and labor costs, railroad officials said Thursday.
If approved, the proposed increase of 5% to 9% will cover only part of the shortfall, making it necessary for Metrolink to seek additional subsidies from the five county transportation agencies that help fund the railroad.
"The current economic climate, including soaring fuel prices, requires tough decisions by transportation leaders to fund operations at a level that will continue to meet the region's transportation needs," said John Fenton, Metrolink's chief executive officer. "Many transportation providers across the country and in the Southern California region are faced with the same challenges."
Metrolink, which has 512 miles of track and an annual budget of about $194 million, has more than 40,000 boardings per weekday in six Southern California counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura.
The typical round-trip fare between downtown Los Angeles and Fullerton is now $15 and between Los Angeles and Riverside is $23. To go from Los Angeles to East Ventura costs $25.50, the same as a round trip between Los Angeles and Lancaster.
Officials estimate that $7.9 million of the budget shortfall has resulted from a 78% increase in fuel prices and a labor agreement that increased costs for the railroad's contractors.
The rest of the deficit is the result of payouts for employee benefits that had not been budgeted for previously, rising maintenance costs caused by the addition of rail cars and costs related to the transfers of Metrolink riders to other transit systems.
Fenton said that without help from supporting transportation agencies, such as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, fares might have to be increased by 20% to eliminate the funding gap.
Metrolink will explain the proposed fare hike at a series of public workshops this month across its service area. They will culminate with a public hearing at the Metrolink board meeting May 30. Information about the workshops is available online at http://www.metrolinktrains.com.
Labor costs should go down as many private employees shoulder a reduction in income. Also in today's paper:
By Tiffany Hsu May 11, 2012, 8:32 a.m. Falling energy and gas prices helped keep inflation in check last month and also pushed consumer confidence to a four-year high, according to two reports Friday.
So you see problem solved service should be pressured to improve with current funding! Require all elected officials to take public transportation to work once a month would help also! :) lol
When can a price for a service or product be increased? Only when the service improves. Metrolink's service is probably the WORST train service in the world and they have only 512 miles of track and only 40K boardings a week. Other countries, even poor countries have more service and over 100K boardings a DAY and they have nearly 90% ontime service. Metrolink's ontime service record is about 45%. The board of director's and CEO only seem to concerntrate on increasing their own salaries and benefits and hiring more people into the unions for benefits. Last year they hired scores of people as Customer Service Reps who were seen all over for 2 months. Now, they probably sit at some desk watching YouTube videos all day and getting paid. None of them are to be seen anywhere. Then they had ticket collectors. They have disapperared and conductors check tickets. Metrolink conductors are the laziest bunch, they don't even walk the train once during the journey, they hardly check tickets. There are many ways to increase income without increasing ticket prices. STOP weekend service and save at least $4million. Check tickets every trip. Force Amtrak ticket holders to find the conductor for validation not the other way around or change ticket type to those that work in the validator. Many passengers take advantage and get free rides. Reduce unneeded staff - there are tons of them.
Metrolink ticket prices used to be managable 5 years ago. Then the gas prices shot up and customer base grew nearly 400% with less people driving. Metrolink also raised their prices through the roof with the excuse of train fuel prices going up. Ticket prices shot up 35%. Then, 2 years ago, train fuel (sulphur free) prices dropped rapidly just like regular gas prices, but Metrolink did not drop their prices. Now, they mis-managed funds, paid legal costs for putting meth-using engineers in the operator's seat and they want to increase prices again? Isn't this price gauging? Aren't they using their monopoly to fleece the consumer? Can the Federal Trade Commission look into this? I am going to complain to the FTC. Plus it gets Measure M funding in millions. Also, the Fed gave them millions for safety upgrades...none of which is making any difference. We don't even know it they have been implemented.
If Metrolink cannot be operated at a profit on it's own, IT SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN. Passengers must not keep shouldering the responsibility. The cost of riding the train is almost 3-times that driving a Hybrid car. Times have changed.