SR-1000-001-02 (4)
.
(cODO - 00 i / 02--
Santa \lonlC~, CalIforn _ August
28, 1980
6L
TO:
Mayor and City CouncIl
'SfP 9
1980
FRO],;].
CIty Staff
SUBJECT:
~ MotIon to Set a PublIC HearIng on a Proposed Fare
Increase for the Santa MonIca MunICIpal Bus LInes
IntroductIon
Over the past twelve years, the Santa MonIca MunICIpal Bus LInes has maIntaIned
a 25~ baslc fare, and durIng the same perIod has ellmlnated zone charges and
InItIated reduced fares for SenIor CItIzens and HandIcapped. In FY 1979-80, fares
collected from MunICIpal Bus LInes patrons amounted to approxImately 50% of the
operatIng expenses necessary to run the system. In FY 1980-81, due prImarIly
to increases In wages and the cost of fuel and materIals, the proportIon of ex-
penses paId by users of the Bus LInes WIll drop to apprOXImately 36%, unless a
fare Increase is Implemented
ThIS report requests that the CIty CounCIl set
a date and tIme for a publIC hearIng to conSIder a proposal to Increase the
fares on the Santa MonIca MunICIpal Bus LInes.
Background
Reasons for the Fare Increase
The Santa MonIca ~uniclpal Bus Lines last implemented a general fare Increase on
July 1, 1968. At that tIme, the fare adjustment enabled the MunICIpal Bus LInes
to COntInue operatIng at a profIt through FY 1971. BegInnIng In 1972, the CIty
CounCIl deCIded to use avaIlable State and Federal tranSIt aSSIstance to help
maIntaIn eXIstIng fares and bus serVIce.
For many, the actual fare has been reduced SInce 1968. In 1972, the CIty CounCIl
approved a speCIal discount fare for SenIor CItizens Subsequently, In 1973 and
1974, the senIor CItIzen fare was further reduced and the restrIctIons on use
lIberalIzed untIl today, senIors over the age of 62 years may rIde any place on
our system, any tIme of day for Just 10~. In addItion, In 1974, zone (dIstance)
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SEP 9 1980
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,To ~layor .and CIty cou_ -2- . August 28, 1980
charges were elImInated for all passengers as part of the Los ~ngeles County Flat
Fare Program.
DurIng the past decade, all costs for the Department have Increased substantIally.
Labor costs have more than doubled. Recently, the CIty and the bus operators
agreed to a new contract which calls for a 40% Increase In wages and benefIts over
the three year perIod endIng June 30, 1983. Just In the last two years alone, fuel
costs have rIsen 176%. As a result, without a fare Increase, patrons would be
paYIng only 36% of thIS year's budgeted expenses.
Present and Proposed Fare Structures
The current fares charged on Santa MonIca buses are as follows:
Local Cash Fare
Token Fare
Freeway Express Fare
Students(under 21 years old)
SenIor CItIzens and HandIcapped
Inter-Agency Transfers(To SCRTD
and Culver CIty)
BIg Blue Bus Transfers
BlInd
251'
5 for $1.00 (20~ a rIde)
80r/: or 3 tokens
10 rIde card for $1.25(12 5~ a rIde)
lOr/:
10~
FREE
FREE
As detaIled earlIer, SInce the last general Increase In July 1968, certaIn fares
have been reduced. Only the express fare, whIch was establIshed In connectIon WIth
the InauguratIon of our LIne #10, Santa MonIca-Los Angeles Freeway Express, has
been raIsed from Its orIginal 50~ to BOr/: in August 1976. In order to help meet In-
Ing fare schedule IS proposed'
creased expenses and to Increase the farebox contrIbutIon by our riders, the follow-
Local Cash Fare
Token Fare
Freeway Express Fare
Students (through hIgh school)
SenIor CItIzens and HandIcapped
Inter-Agency Transfers(to SCRTD
and Culver CIty)
BIg Blue Bus Transfers
Bllnd
35~
10 for $3.00 (30t a ride)
$1.00 or 3 tokens
10 rIde card for $1.75(17.Srj: a rIde)
151'
20"
FREE
FREE
If the proposed fares are adopted by the CIty Council and made effectIve ~ovember 1,
1980, they would produce almost 51,600,000 addItIonal revenue annually. ThIS would
'To Mayor 'and Clty cou~
-3-
.
August 28, 1980
permlt the Munlclpal Bus Llnes to cover 46% of ltS expenses through the farebox
durlng the current flscal year and 45% of ltS costs ln FY 1982
The new fare schedule proposes that the student dlscount rate be restrlcted to
those students regularly attendlng elementary, Junior hlgh and senlor hlgh schools.
Presently, the student dlscount card may be used by any student under 21 years of
age and therefore lncludes some students attending UCLA and Santa Monlca College.
The student card, when orlglnally offered ln 1952, applled only to elementary,
Junlor hlgh and senior hlgh school students under the age of 21 years, then the
legal age for adulthood, In 1956 thlS prlvl1ege was also extended to UCLA students
under 21 years of age, The Municlpal Bus Llnes does not recelve any State or
federal asslstance for the speclflc purpose of provldlng fare dlscounts to students,
or any other group of rlders. However, federal regulatlons do requlre that elderly
and handlcapped persons be charged no more than one-half the peak-hour fares durlng
non-peak hours, Because the financlal burden of granting fare discounts to any
group of rlders must ultlmately be borne by those patrons who pay the regular fare,
many of whom are ln the lower income categories, good argument eXlsts to restrlct
eliglbl1lty for the student dIscount rate to those attendlng elementary, Junlor
hlgh and senIor high schools.
As shown In the attached chart, the increases proposed by the Munlclpal Bus LInes
wll1 brIng ltS fares Into lIne wlth those charged by other munlclpal operators ln
Los ~ngeles County, and, of course, are substantlally less than those of the
Southern CalIfornIa Rapld Transit Dlstrlct(SCRTD). The Inter-agency transfer
charge to the SCRTD and the Culver City Munlclpal Bus Llnes has been set to equal
the regular SCRTD transfer charge. It IS our understandIng that most of the other
munlclpal operators wl11 adopt thIS hlgher charge. Long Beach, the only operator
to lnstltute a fare increase since SCRTD raIsed lts transfer to 20t, has already
done so
To Mayor and CIty coun~
-4-
e
August 28, 1980
Legal Requirements to Increase Fares
The CIty CouncIl may set fares upon adoptIon of a resolutIon
However, State and
Federal reqUIrements mandate a more complex procedure. To satIsfy Federal regu-
latIons, the CIty may only set fares after: (1) haVIng held publIC hearIngs or af-
forded an adequate opportunIty for such hearIngs after adequate publIC notIce (de-
fIned as 30 days) publIshed in a newspaper of general CIrculatIon; (2) having gIven
proper conSIderatIon to the VIews and comments expressed In such hearIng, and (3)
haVIng gIven conSIderatIon to the effect on energy conservatIon, and the economic,
envIronmental and SOCIal Impact of the change In fare.
Under Chaper 356, Statutes of Callfornla(1978), the State reqUIres that In lIeu of
fIling an envIronmental Impact statement, a fInding be made that the f~~e InClease
will be used for at least one of the following purposes; (1) to meet operating ex-
penses, IncludIng employee wage rates and frInge benefIts, (2) to purchase or
lease supplies, equipment or materlals, (3) to meet fInanCIal reserve needs and
reqUIrements, (4) to obtain funds for capItal projects necessary to malntaln ser-
vice WIthIn eXIstIng service areas, or (5) to obtaIn funds necessary to maIntaIn
such intra-city transfers as are authorIzed by CIty charter. The CIty must Incor-
porate ltS wrItten fIndIngs as part of the publIC hearIng record. CIty staff would
prepare a proposed findIngs statement for the CounCIl's conSIderatIon at the publIC
hearIng.
AlternatIves
1. The City CounCIl could reJect the fare Increase entIrely. The need for a
public hearIng would then be obVIated
2. The CIty CounCIl could set a public hearIng on a fare Increase. ~otlce of
the hearIng would be publIshed as reqUIred by Federal regulatIons.
RecommendatIon
Clty Staff recommends that the City CounCIl set a publlc hearIng concernlng the In-
crease of fares on the Santa MonIca MunIcipal Bus LInes for its meetlng of October
28, 1980.
Prepared by: J. F. Hutchlson
R. L. Ayer
.
.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
S.~~T~ MONICA ~IDNICIPAL BUS LINES
PROPOSED FARE CHANGES
I. Notlce lS hereby glven that a publlC hearlng wlll be held by the Clty Councll
of the Clty of Santa Monlca at the Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 ~aln Street,
Santa Monlca, Callfornla, on Tuesday, October 28, 1980, to receive comments
on possible fare changes for patrons of the Santa ~onlca ~uniclpal Bus Llnes.
The hearlng wlll be held as an agendlzed part of the Clty COUDCll meeting
whlch starts at 7:30 p.~.
II. The Clty Council may adopt a fare structure subsequent to the publ1C
hearlng WhlCh reflects a combinatlon of changes to the current fares
and/or restructurlng of the fare system. They wlll make thelr declslons
after conslderlng the effect on energy conservatlon and the soclal, en-
vlronmental and economlC lmpacts of changlng fares and/or reduclng service.
At the hearlng, the Clty Councll wll1 afford an opportunlty for lnterested
persons or agencles to SUb~lt either orally or in wrltlng eVldence and
recommendatlons wlth respect to changlng the fare structure.
III. The Clty Councll wlll be conslderlng posslble increases to regular fares,
student fares, senlor and handlcapped fares, express fares and inter-agency
transfer fees. Further, the Clty Council wlll be conslderlng posslbly
alterlng one or more of the baslc elements of the fare structure ltself,
lncludlng but not limlted to the ellglbillty restrictlons for use of the
student dlscount card.
IV. The servlce area affected by the fare changes generally can be descrlbed as
the Clty of Santa Monlca and adJacent communltles, lncludlng Paciflc Pallsades,
Brentwood, Westwood, West Los Angeles, Beverl)~,ood, Rancho Park, Palms, ~Iar
Vlsta, Marlna del Rey, Venlce and Westchester.
v. A descriptlon of a recommended optlon for a fare change lS avallable, upon
request, from the Santa Monlca MunlClpal Bus Llnes offlce, 1620 Slxth Street,
Santa Monlca, CallfoTnla 90401. Although this fare optlon lS avallable for
reVlew prlor to and during the public hearlng lt must be understood that the
Clty CounC11 lS in no way bound to thlS optlon ln ltS conslderatlon of the
fare structure and may well develop a fare structure totally dlfferent than
the optlon available for reVlew.
VI. A. Envlronment
Compared to other actlons the Santa ~Ionlca Hunlclpal Bus Llnes \\Ould flnd
necessary to covcr a simllar percentage of operatlng expenses, lncludlng
service cutbacks, these fare changes are not antlclpated to have a signiflcant
adverse lmpact upon the Santa Monlca Municlpal Bus Llnes' serVlce area.
B. Elderly and Handlcapped
Sectlon 5 (m) of the Urban ~lass TransportatlOn Act of 1964, as amended,
provides that elderly and handlcapped persons are charged no more than
one-half the peak-hour fare durlng non-peak hours.
Date
}layor
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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARI~G
S~~TA MO~ICA }~~ICIPAL BUS LINES
PROPOSED FARE CHA..\;GES
1. Notlce is hereby glven that a public hearing will be held by the City Council
of the Clty of Santa Monlca at the Santa Monlca City Hall. 1685 Maln Street.
Santa Monica, Call fornia , on Tuesday, October 28, 1980, to recelve comments
on posslble fare changes for patrons of the Santa Honica Hunicipal Bus Lines.
The hearlng will be held as an agendized part of the Clty Council neetlng
WhlCh starts at 7:30 p.R.
II. The CIty Councll may adopt a fare structure subsequent to the public
hearing WhlCh reflects a comblnation of changes to the current fares
and/or restructurlng of the fare system. They will make their declslons
after consldering the effect on energy conservatlon and the social, en-
vironmental and economic impacts of changing fares and/or reducing serVlce.
At the hearlng, the Clty Council wlll afford an opportunity for interested
persons or agencles to submit elther orally or in writing eVldence and
reco~~endatlons wlth respect to changlng the fare structure.
Ill. The City CounCIl WIll be considerIng possible increases to regular fares.
student fares. senlor and handicapped fares, express fares and Inter-agency
transfer fees. Further, the City CounCIl WIll be considerIng possibly
altering one or more of the baslc elements of the fare structure itself,
lncluding but not limited to the ellgibility restrictions for use of the
student discount card.
IV. The serVlce area affected by the fare changes generally can be described as
the Clty of Santa Monica and adjacent coamuTIlties, including Paciflc Palisades.
BrentKood, Westwood, West Los fu,geles, Beverl}~,ood, Rancho Park, Palms, Mar
Vlsta. ~larina del Rey, Venice and I~estchester.
V. A descripticn of a recoNffiended optlon for a fare change is available, upon
request, from the Santa Monica ~runlclpal Bus Lines offlce, 1620 Slxth Street,
Santa Monlca. CalIfornIa 90401. Although this fare option is available for
review prIor to and durlng the public hearing it wust be understood that the
CIty Council is in no way bound to thlS option in its consideratlon of the
fare structure and may well develop a fare structure totally different than
the option avaIlable for review.
VI. A. Environment
Compared to other actIons the Santa Honlca ~Iunicipal Bus Lines would find
necessary to cover a similar percentage of operating expenses, including
service cutbacks. these fare changes are not anticipated to have a signlficant
adverse lmpact upon the Santa Monica ~ronIclpal Bus Lines' serVlce area.
B, Elderly and Handicapped
Section S(m) of the Urban Mass TransportatIon Act of 1964. as amended,
provides that elderly and handIcapped persons are charged no more than
one-half the peak-hour fare during non-peak hours.
~bK~ \q~
Date
Mayor
----~..,;;- ~~,--........--