C-TRAN Board to Vote on Fare Increase February 8

For immediate release: January 12, 2005

Vancouver, WA: Following the public hearing on Tuesday, January 11, the C-TRAN Board of Directors deferred a decision on the proposed fare increase until their next regular Board meeting on February 8, 2005. The Board meeting will begin at 5:15 p.m., at a location to be announced in the coming days, and will be preceded by a 2005 budget workshop scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.

The C-TRAN Board closed the public comment phase on the proposed fare increase which means no additional public testimony will be accepted. In preparation for the February Board meeting, C-TRAN will conduct a detailed analysis of each proposed fare instrument and the projected revenue and ridership impacts that may result. When implemented in early 2005, this will be C-TRAN’s third fare increase in the past five years.

The current fare proposal calls for across-the-board increases in all of C-TRAN’s current fares, including consolidating some current fare instruments for more efficiency, eliminating transfers (to be replaced with a day pass), and creating a new Premium Commuter Fare for direct service to downtown Portland.

Below is the proposed fare schedule that will be voted on at the February Board meeting:

 

All-Zone*	Current	Original Proposal	Final Proposal
Cash Adult	$1.75	$2.25	$2.25
Cash Honored	$0.50	$0.60	$0.60
Cash Low-Income/Youth	N/A	$0.60	N/A
Day Pass Adult	$3.50	$5.50	$5.50
Monthly Pass Adult	$52.00	$78.00	$78.00
Monthly Pass Low-Income/Youth	$24.00	$36.00	$36.00
Monthly Pass Honored	$14.00	$36.00	$21.00
Transfers		Eliminate	Eliminate
*All-Zone Fares The proposed All-Zone fare is for travel within Clark County and for access to routes serving the nearest TriMet light rail transit center such as the #165 Parkrose Express.

 

C-Zone (For routes serving Clark County only)	Current	Original Proposal	Final Proposal
Cash Adult	$1.00	$1.25	$1.25
Cash Honored	$0.50	$0.60	$0.60
Cash Low-Income/Youth	N/A	$0.60	N/A
Day Pass Adult	N/A	$3.00	$3.00
Monthly Pass Adult	$28.00	$44.00	$44.00
Monthly Pass Honored (not valid on C-VAN)	$14.00	$36.00	$21.00
Monthly Pass Low-Income/Youth	$24.00	$36.00	$36.00
Transfers		Eliminate	Eliminate

 

C-VAN	Current	Original Proposal	Final Proposal
Cash All-Zone	$1.75	$2.25	$2.25
Cash C-Zone	$1.00	$1.25	$1.25
Monthly Pass All-Zone (valid on fixed route)	$14.00	Eliminate	$26.00
Transfers		Eliminate	Eliminate

 

Premium Commuter Fare* (Direct service to downtown Portland; no other fare instruments accepted )	Original Proposal	Final Proposal
Cash	$3.00	$3.00
Monthly Pass (pass valid on fixed route and C-VAN)	$105.00	$105.00
*Premium Commuter Fare The proposed Premium Commuter Fare is for direct, non-stop express service to downtown Portland. Commuter service levels and routes served are yet to be determined.

In addition to modeling the “Final Proposal” fare structure, C-TRAN will also model adjusting the Premium Commuter Fare from its current $105 monthly rate to the proposed All Zone Fare which is $78 per month. C-TRAN will also model adjusting the monthly Honored Citizen Pass from its proposed $21 to $18.

C-TRAN initiated a Fare Policy Study in mid-2004 that assumed a fare increase in 2005, regardless of the outcome of the agency’s recent ballot measure which was rejected by Clark County voters on November 2, 2004. Increasing C-TRAN’s “farebox recovery,” or the amount passenger fares offset the cost of paying for service, has been a top priority for many years now.

The C-TRAN Board of Directors established the following goals in 2004 which relate to C-TRAN’s fare policy:

• Achieve the national fixed route farebox recovery ratio of 21.3% in three years and exceed it in five years. (C-TRAN’s current fixed route farebox recovery is nearly 19%);
• Compare favorably to benchmark data from similar-sized authorities; and
• Secure new revenue streams.

C-TRAN is Clark County’s public transit system and provides 27 bus routes throughout the county and downtown Portland. In 2003, C-TRAN provided 6.91 million passenger trips. For more information on C-TRAN’s services, please call C-TRAN’s Passenger Service Office at (360) 695-0123 or visit C-TRAN’s Web site at www.c-tran.com.

 

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