A Comparison Between No Paper Day Passes and Fiscal Year Fare Increases on Bay Area Transit

Paper Day Passes are coming to an end at VTA... very soon. To spread the message about major changes involving day passes, VTA will have to let SamTrans and AC Transit know about the changes that are going to affect their customers trying to board VTA and purchasing day passes. Information about the end of day passes at VTA was first mentioned in my blog shortly after I picked one up while riding light rail despite the lack of the VTA announcement on VTA's website. Only in my blog, however, compares the end of day passes at VTA to increases of fares at SamTrans and whether AC Transit has any plans to increase fares or eliminate paper day passes.

FARE INCREASES IN THE FUTURE FOR TRANSIT AGENCIES?

The Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which oversees the Clipper card program, has long been known to provide discounts that cash and paper passes would never reach before. It already has provided a slight discount on AC Transit, Caltrain, and Golden Gate Transit over cash and paper passes. AC Transit provides a 10 cent discount for those with Clipper cards, and 5 cents with RTC/senior cards. Caltrain provides a discount of 50 cents for adult and 25 cents for RTC/senior cards. Golden Gate Transit for adults also provides a discount, but RTC/senior cards remain the same in regards to comparison between cash/paper passes and Clipper cards.

The one transit agency to be watching in the next several years is within Caltrain's service area that spans three counties, including VTA and San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA, or more commonly MUNI). SamTrans is already putting up a plan for fare increases that will likely be slightly higher than AC Transit within the next five years as apartments in San Fransisco has staggering rate hikes. It remains unclear, however, if the current fares getting out of San Francisco will apply. MUNI, though, has already increased fares on selected cash and Clipper card holders since July 1, 2015.

The only thing that SamTrans, MUNI, and maybe AC Transit favors are fare increases instead of what I'm about to describe below.

FARE INCREASE ON VTA? OR JUST MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY?

VTA, meanwhile, has a more creative plan that was never announced by spokespersons Brandi Childress, Cody Kraatz, or Stacey Hendler Ross - only my previous blog was the first to announce the "extinction of," or no longer selling, paper day passes after I picked up a "Take One" leaflet that addresses VTA-related news. VTA has a huge plan that makes paper day passes a thing of the past in order to be more environmentally friendly - this also applies to adult tokens purchased at VTA offices used to dispense paper day passes when inserted at ticket vending machines (TVM) or boarding the bus. This is something that no other Bay Area transit agency has pursued at all - in fact, to make this happen, VTA will need to inform AC Transit and SamTrans about the major changes that is scheduled to take place on the first day of 2016, which could have a ripple effect on riders who use SamTrans and AC Transit. It still remains unclear whether the transfer program at Fremont BART station will continue to be accepted on VTA buses.

VTA, however, has yet to develop a plan on whether they plan a fare increase for cash users to match those of AC Transit or SamTrans, as the increase in fares are now starting to become more common on transit agencies. The increase of fares on VTA buses several years ago has led to decreased ridership, and instead opted to balance service between having more service on popular routes and lesser service on those with lower ridership, as well as their plans to increase service on light rail routes along the highway 87 corridor.

Such a fare increase on both Clipper and cash customers to the take of many people including my own have raised questions on how that part may affect ridership on VTA, including an increased traffic presence on US-101 between Gilroy and San Jose. The bottleneck on traffic started two decades ago when I was a kid, often having to rely on Monterey Highway. 101 is often unreliable as that only had two lanes in each direction before the completion of a widening project in 2003. However, even with the widening of the freeway from Cochrane Road northward, traffic is often below 20 miles per hour (MPH) between San Martin Avenue and Cochrane Road. If any projects tied to improvements on US-101 is implemented, VTA will have to extend the High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to near Masten Avenue exit, as traffic is still likely to continue the streak of more residents taking up housing in Gilroy, Hollister, and beyond.

Will more changes to VTA in both projects and fares be likely? I'll see...