I think if you METRO plans to increase fares, it should include the cost of transfers. It is not fair to only provide transfers to holders of the QCard, since you cannot get a QCard on the bus.

Liz

Mary said:  " fare increase of 4 to 5 percent in fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 1011"

Well, Mary you might want to change the year to 2011.  In 1011, the bus was a millenium away and the Tejas Indians were saving their beads up to afford to ride Metro.

As I predicted when the Q-Card was introduced, the card was a way to increase revenue without increasing fares when the discount was discontinued and a fare increase was not far behind to pay for the Q-Card and the new trains for the sheeple to ride.

Metro could significantly increase revenue if they would enforce the train fare rules.  I rode the train down to the med center 2 days just before Ike rolled through and I watched about 80% of the train riders walk past the Q-Machine on the platform without tapping as required.  If you are only collecting 20% of the fares due, you could keep my P&R fare from going up and just collect the proper fare on the train.  And while I am on my soapbox, keep the stinking homeless off the train.  They smell horrible.

P&R Rider,

"Metro could significantly increase revenue if they would enforce the train fare rules." If Metro did that it would lose it's spot as the second highest percentage of riders to trains in the country. I ride the rail daily and would say the number of riders who walk past the machine, without touching the Q Card, is more like 75%.(most of those are probably transfers:) I saw some Metro cops checking Q Cards one day in early August at Wheeler station, so no worries Metro is cracking down.

No base fare increase since 1994 is a very long time. And, you guys were giving it away for half price with those discounts and Day Passes (=2 days effectively). $1.25 is still a real bargain. I mean, it was $1.25 in Chicago about 30 years ago! People who are complaining about the proposal need to try to ride the bus just about anywhere else.

Hopefully some of the METRO personnel do read this.  

I am a frequent rider of METRO's local bus service, and I used to frequent the 137/236 park and ride when I lived on the East side.  METRO has done an outstanding job by trying to keep fares affordable, but I agree it's high time for a fare increase.  But please go ahead and up the fare to $1.50 or $2... phased increases like the one proposed are just a bad idea.  It leaves your riders in constant confusion about how much they have to pay.  

The fare increase should immediately be used to aid the light-rail construction, and increased frequency in Bus service.  What the budget plan failed to mention is that because of our low fare, we offer sub-standard bus service in comparison to the other transit agencies.  People in Houston become frustrated with our bus service because they have to wait 20, 30 and even 45 minutes to catch a bus.  While in other cities like Toronto, busses run in REMOTE stops at 10 and 15-minute intervals.  METRO has to realize that you must raise someone's expectations in order to get results.  You can't just go by 2000 census numbers, and assume that your routes are sufficiently meeting the needs of Houstonians.  Please increase your fare, and use that revenue to expand and refine your service.  

Well, Liz Referente, your hopes for free unlimited day pass transfers went out the door with the magnetic media when the Q-Card arrived.  Q-Cards are available at many retailers and Metro will even mail one to you if you call them and request one.  You can put cash on it or load it up with a credit card at any Park and Ride lot or at 1001 Travis or at any of the retailers that have the cards.  The local buses have a machine at the back of the bus to load money on the card also.  A Q-Card is the only way to get a free transfer, unless you ride the train where you never have to pay to ride.

Have no fear, when Obama is elected he will surely punish the producers with higher confiscatory taxes, and promise to spread that "milk and honey" to 95% of all Americans so that everything the Democrat voters ever wanted will be "Free," likely including free Q-Cards.

So Royko, you are predicting the outcome already? You've got cajones.

I used to like John McCain, but he must've gotten lost somewhere. They must've kidnapped him and substituted his evil twin out on the campaign trail.

"We will also be adding 100 hybrid buses to the fleet."

If Metro has to raise fares to pay for hybrid buses, what is the point of buying them? They do not provide better or faster runs, so they do not represent a service improvement.

"We will be improving service to...Park & Ride lots."

Why do local bus riders have to pay for that?

"We will be...launching signature service."

John Sedlak's sorry Q/A performance August 26 indicates that Metro has no vision to improve local bus service. Why are Metro local bus riders paying for this?

If Metro wants to raise local bus fares so that it can pay operations and maintenance costs that have increased in the past 14 years, it should just say so and make that value proposition to riders.

If Metro intends to raise local fares to improve service, Mary should bring someone here to tell us how they're going to do it:

-- The light rail is and will be limited in reach. New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC are covered in rail, but buses are still very important.

-- Signature bus service may yield improvements to local service, but there's no one saying how.

-- Park and ride will increase the amount of suburban commuters that ride the bus to work, but this will not yield better service for the local bus riders.

Thanks for your suggestions, P&R Rider. I do have a QCard, but feel it would be fair to continue Metro's past practice of permitting included free transfers (not in the same direction) for up to 2 hours as part of its proposed rate hike.

Oops - correct my previous post to transfers not in the opposite direction. Thanks!

Will the ops get some of this as a pay increase?

P&R Rider:

You are right.  The homeless smell worse than your avian friends!

Dominic......

I am an Operator...No we won't!!  

We never Have!!  Never will!!  This is one of those corporate THINGIES....YOU KNOW, MORE FOR "US...less for ya'll"

They Get Bonuses...we get ours cut, and held up!!

P.S. IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA GET BETTER SERVICE ON THE BUSES....GOOD LUCK!

LIZ...I THINK WHAT IS BEING SAID,

the X_FERS are still free.   maybe you are speaking of a DAY-PASS...ANCIENT WILL NOT BE BACK!!

THE Q-CARD IS PUTTING RESPONSIBILITY ON THE RIDER TO KEEP UP AND PRESENT A CARD.  THIS IS 2008 AUTOMATION IS HERE!!

AND IT'S FASTER AND EASIER TO BOARD THAN EVER!!  

THIS FARE HIKE WILL IN NO-WAY ON EARTH BRING BACK THE DAY-PASS!!  

Yes  the metro executives have no plan to increase operator wages or even give them the longevity checks that have already been cut.

They are holding them in violation of agreement so that operators will ok a crappy agreement that binds operators more than it does metro.

Get the media involved and see if they don't pony up the monies owed to the backbone of this operation.

CALL CHANNEL 13, CALL CHANNEL 11 and the CHRONICLE and ask them to shed some light on this subject.

Metro hates bad publicity and will I pray, under pressure give them what they worked for so many years and deserve.

SOMEONE PLEASE DO THIS!!!

john

Fares are rising while service is declining, surprise surprise.  If you all are really so cashed strapped, why the hell is Frank Wilson getting a 21% raise for running the system into the dirt with his rail centric policies?  

The whole system is piss poor.  First Transit, the contract operator who runs some of the routes, actually responds to complaints.  Here's the difference between the useless waste of skin Metro reps and First Transit reps.....

Problem - A bus is 10 minutes late EVERYDAY

Metro Rep - Sorry, but we allow drivers to run 10 minutes late due to traffic conditions.

First Transit Rep - You say he's late everyday?  We'll put a mystery rider on that bus to follow up your complaint.

I've gotten TWO response calls from First Transit and NONE from Metro.  

And don't even bring up Signature Service.  The 402 QL has been delayed for almost TWO YEARS now.

If nobody minds....

As much as I really hate the fare increase, I can assure you that METRO not the only TA that has to go this route.  There may even be some TAs that will have to do service cuts.

In other words, I really don't care how much more I have to pay.  Just long as I can STILL ride a METRO bus and/or a METRORail train, I'll just be satisfied with that.

Thanks!

Liz R, the only way to get the Q-Card to allow free transfers and even free rides is to get hired by Metro and get one of their employee cards that allows free rides all day every day (or have your husband join Metro).

And Mary Sit, did you have the Metro Police dispatched to Wheeler today to check the train riders?  A daily rail rider told me they were checking Q-Cards at Wheeler this morning.  Quite a coincidence that when I complained about train riders not paying yesterday, the police show up today after being absent for months.

In Metro's defense, their fuel buying policy is the same as Southwest and Continental. Southwest has reported their first quarterly loss in 17 years because fuel prices dropped after their rates were set.

Now for the bad news.

Metro better be glad that so many of us require bus service, as abysmal as it is.

I don't care about the P&R increases because I haven't ridden one in well over a year. Even then it was just the 209 to catch the 86 once in a while.

However, I'd better see more local service if I'm being subjected to a 25% increase. I want to see some kind of improvement that pertains to us local riders. Your on-time performance is horrible. Service in certain parts of town are sporadic at best, non-existent at worst. The treatment of your better drivers is poor, and it's a wonder why none of them have bailed to work for Greyhound 2 blocks away.

A very good (and extremely attractive) driver got admonished this morning for running early by seven minutes on the 73 - Bellfort Crosstown.  She left the TMC TC on time, but due to the incredible amount of extra running time combined with lack of ridership she ran early towards the end of the line.  And the kicker is she was only driving 25mph the whole way.  The scheduling department needs to be gutted.  Their lackluster and overall incompetent performance has created schedules for routes with either WAY TOO MUCH running time or not nearly enough AND NO LAYOVERS FOR THE DRIVERS!!!!!!!

How can you sleep at night after creating a schedule that is not only impossible to run, but also HAS NO LAYOVER AT EITHER END!!!!!!!!!?????????

Hopefully, with this fare increase you get schedulers who are rooted in reality and not ridiculous metrics.  And why is the west side of town almost totally locked out of Sunday service?  The 25 is an extremely busy and critical route but the Westchase branch gets no Sunday service forcing a number of people to rely upon the totally unreliable 2 - Bellaire.

And it's nice to see the Renwick Crosstown is FINALLY going to launch after TEN YEARS IN DEVELOPMENT.  I remember it was one of literally DOZENS of routes and service extensions that were to be launched to be luanched over a period of three years before Frank Wilson took over and began ending the "if we provide it they will come" era that began in the early 90s.  Where's that 4 - Beechnut extension to Highway 6?

The useless QL to Palm Center is set to launch in January. How?  I have no idea and Metro doesn't either.

It's a well-known fact that a large percentage of train riders don't pay the fare.  My son, who recently took the rail for the first time, said after he bought a ticket one of his friends told him he was stupid to do so, since "everybody knows the train is free."  I can count on one hand the number of times I've noticed Metro police have checked Q cards at Wheeler station on the southbound side since the Q was introduced.  If Metro simply did away with the honor system on the rail, they would be pulling in a LOT more revenue.

And the TVMs are not exactly time or customer friendly which makes fare beating a very attractive alternative.

I will restate my proposal for train fare revenue increases.  Get some retired Metro Operators or other competent people, give them the hand held Q-Card reader and put them on commission.  Pay them a 10% bounty from ticket revenue.  Give them a tazer to zap the freeloading riders that get out of hand.  

I see the fine is "up to $500" for standing on a rail platform without a valid fare item.  I'll bet the fines start around $50 for 2nd time offenders with the first fine a warning.  If a retiree can make $10 for each ticket written and given the amount of free riders, the retiree can easily make $1000 per day with Metro collecting $9000 per day per retiree.

Ticket revenue may drop after the first few weeks when word gets around the platform.

Since no ones touched on it, I will.  How dare Metro hold the rate change meetings with the public 2 days after Ike?  2 days after IKE my main drive was to get extra everything for the extra people who came to live with me.  If I remember right, were we not still under the "if you dont have to be out, stay ho,e!" requests?  I don't mind the increases if, big if, they actually translate into better service.  But I'm not that naive

Seems to me that Metro could save a few bucks by eliminating the frogman squad and the snipers. Put them back to enforcing some of the regulations posted like No Smoking,No Loitering etc.

Miz porkie, speaking of bus operators, I rode the #1  to the medical enter the day the rail crashed. An elderly man took a few minutes finding his Q card and the driver chewed him out for being so slow. Then another passenger pulled the cord to get off and the driver passed up his stop by a half block before letting him off. Another rider asked where the bus was going and her reply was "wot dat sign say" pointing to the front of the bus. I rode on down Main a few blocks and at each stop this driver was putting on fingernail polish. Maybe this could have something to do with not getting raises.

well.....i cannot answer this Don!!  

all i can say whatever entity you work for, or affiliated with, there are some BAD APPLES!!

as far as the older gentleman, if i were late, i would have just let him ride.  

and the cord puller, let them off!!

and as far as nail polish....i find it hard to believe!!  you can't drive one of those "BUCKET OF BOLTS" ONE HANDED!!!! NO HANDED!!! They are terribly out of alignment and brakes pull!!!!

BUT...I DO DESERVE A RAISE....FRANK SAYS FUEL COST WENT UP SO HAVE MINE AND MY COST OF LIVING HAS AS WELL!!

BUT I ALL I WANT NOW, IS THE RANSOM CHECK...LONGEVITY BONUS!

I'VE EARNED IT, ITS MINE, GIVE IT TO ME!!

I SPENT $1100.00 ON AGAS FOR A GENERATOR...I AM HURTING!!!!

I recently rode a bus whose driver seemed almost insane. She kept shouting to no one in particular about other drivers going through intersections too slowly, people in crosswalks blocking her way, etc (even though most of the people she was shouting about had the right of way). At one point, when the bus stopped at one of the transit centers, she turned to me and said, "Is this your stop?" It wasn't, and I wasn't making any move to get up, so I had no idea why she said that. She just seemed weird as heck.

I suppose my point is that if METRO isn't paying its drivers well, perhaps it is getting what it is paying for.

I ride the bus quite a bit and probably 95% of the drivers are very professional but that other 5% make you all look bad. I found the nail polish hard to believe also but she managed to do it.

Steve, there are definitely some weird drivers out there.  But like Don also says, I find the majority of drivers are really nice people (who probably get the short end of the stick 99.99999% of the time).  Somehow, the drivers who are a little "off" are the ones we remember most.  The new driver for the route I'm on in the mornings is incredibly nice.  He always smiles and says good morning.  He's also almost always late.  He has a tendency to pull the bus up for boarding when we're actually supposed to be pulling away and he drives very sloooowly to boot.  However, I know I'd drive that bus a lot slower and I simply cannot bring myself to send a note about him because he's just so NICE!

I must also echo what Cheryl L said above.  To hold this fare hike thing two days after the Ike storm was completely classless and underhanded.  

I think they could have had hearings later, and increased the fare Jan 1.  Gets everybody beyond Ike and the Holidays!

....and I fell sorry for those who drive the 20 Memorial City Branch, 25, 33, 49, 46, 53, 81, 82, 70, 131 for the next few months.  The REAL "Nightmare Before Christmas, Houston Edition"  Sequels:  Galleria, West Oaks, Shartstown, Memmorial City.  (Is not that "thing" near the Main Street Square SB station about to open?

Don't get mauled in the malls!

If they are going to raise the rate ,the lest they can do is bring the #48 back on weekends.

I am diabeticm and have been fighting an infection in my foot for 7 months now because I have to walk 3/4s of a mile to catch the #40 to get to work.

Other cities ave this, so why can't we?

Have a set of routes which run in Late Evening, and Saturdays and Sundays.  Diferent from the prent routes.  Kind o like the "Owl" services of the Chicago TA and Portland Tri-Met.  Some of thse routes slit the diffence between two routes.  You may have to walk a little bit, but it is better than NO service, or a LONG walk to a service.

Dominic our latest buses used to stay out on the major routes till 2-230am until LIGHT RAIL!!

""let's take a long walk! around the park....after dark!!"""

....jill scott

QUESTION...

Is this "board of directors" thing necessary or is it a formality to make things look good. I don’t think METRO would go through all of this planning "hoping" the board will approve it. Just doesn’t make sense to me.

C, yes I believe the open hearing was just a formality.  The Board meeting was going to approve it no matter if every rider in Houston showed up to protest the increase.

P&R Rider said:  "The Board meeting was going to approve it no matter if every rider in Houston showed up to protest the increase."

Correct---except ME!  I wouldn't care if the local base fare is $2 or even more.  As long as I get from Point A to Point B with few or no problems, I'm happy with it---and I know I ain't the only one.

I have ridden the local 8 route during the mid-morning from the 265 lot to downtown and it takes about 3 times as long to get downtown than the P&R bus, so I guess I will pay $3.25 for a faster ride vs. my old fare of $2.50.  I think, and I may be wrong, that the Park and Ride buses charge more because they can and not because it costs more to run the bus.  The 8 takes more time to cover the distance, stops many more times, where it idles at stop lights.  The 265 bus is almost always full.

If Metro had the bus fare in proportion to the cost to serve, the local bus would cost $3 to ride and the P&R buses would cost $1.

I'm curious to know as far as the fare increase.  If we are going to be paying more for the fare are there any plans to improve the buses as well?  Lets see I have been on buses, that are freezing during the winter and hotter than h*ll during the summer, some that makes beeping noises the entire drive into downtown from the west side, some that the vents become loose during the ride into town and some where you have to hold the window in to prevent it from flying into the bus, some that backfire along the interstate not knowing if you will be making it into town or not. Or some where the front seats are pushed all the way forward to where the only way you can sit on the seat is if your legs take over the seat next to you as well, or those where the seats are pushed all the way back and you have more leg room than you know what to do with.  So, obviously our money isn't going towards the fixing of the bus and that is why they need to increase the fare now is it?

I'm appalled by the increase.  If the service was improving that would be one thing - but it isn't.  Since the hurricane, I haven't managed to be on time ONCE if I ride the bus.  The HOV is hopelessly crowded and the bus is often standing room only so going into work, you're standing.

And don't get me started on the ride home.  I can't count the number of times that I've had to stand rather than wait an additional 10, 15 or 20 minutes for the next bus to come along so I can make it home.  I have severe arthritis in my back and to stand that long is excrutiating, especially when the drivers make it feel like you're surfing because of the fast stops and starts as they try to cram more people in because of the lack of busses.

And I won't even go into how long I've had to wait in the middle of the day when I've had a doctor's appointment back north.

Not only that, more than once I've almost been hit by drivers in downtown who don't seem to care what the lights do.  

When the board had their hearing, they ensured that it was in the middle of the Ike turmoil so people couldn't get out and complain and make their voices heard.  But then, what else should we expect from an organization that says one thing and promises rail but then comes back with buses instead.

My car gets 35 miles to the gallon, and I'm thinking more and more that I want to drive in rather than ride, I get there MUCH faster, and then I can go home when I'm done without waiting for the...poor bus service.

Metro, you should be ASHAMED of yourself raising the price like this and expecting the good citizens of Houston to deal with the lousy Park and Ride service.