Pre-paid transit fares to rise April 1
March 23, 2010
Increase helps to maintain service
The price of certain pre-paid fare options will rise as of April 1, as part of the financial plan to sustain the significant increase in transit services TransLink has put in place since 2004. The last increase was in January, 2008, and the one before that in January, 2005. Monthly FareCards, FareSaver Tickets and the Employer Pass Program will all see price increases; single-ride “cash” fares will not be affected.
The prices will change as follows:
| Fare Increase |
|---|
| |
Monthly FareCards |
FareSaver Tickets (book of 10) |
Employer Pass (annual) |
Single Cash Fare |
| One zone |
$81 (from $73) |
$21 ($19) |
$846 ($762) |
$2.50 |
| Two zones |
$110 ($99) |
$31.50 ($28.50) |
$1,139 ($1,026) |
$3.75 |
| Three zones |
$151 ($136) |
$42 ($38) |
$1,561 ($1,406) |
$5.00 |
| Concession 1 |
$46.50 ($42) |
$17 ($16) 2 |
n/a |
3 |
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1 Concession Monthly FareCards are the same price for all zones
2 Concession FareSaver tickets are only sold for one zone: travel for two or three zones (on weekdays until 6:30pm) requires an AddFare to make up the differences: 75¢ to travel two zones and $1.75 to travel three zones.
3 Single Concession fares are $1.75 for one zone, $2.50 for two zones and $3.50 for three zones
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Those who have unused FareSaver tickets purchased at the pre-April 1st price will not be required to pay an additional amount after April 1st.
“When the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation approved the Funding Stabilization budget option last fall, it included a $130 million revenue increase,” notes TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis. “Given that our biggest challenge was to preserve the expanded transit service levels, an increase in transit fares was considered a reasonable way to share the cost equitably between everyone contributing toward the additional revenue. FareSavers and passes will still provide a good discount for regular transit users while we will avoid placing an additional burden on transit-dependent people who have no viable alternative to cash fares.”
The increase in fares is expected to bring in an additional $18 million per year in revenue.
Even with the reduced discount, the price of pre-paid fare media is still a considerable savings over single-ride tickets. For example, a regular workday commute between Surrey and downtown Vancouver would cost $200 per month using single cash fares – 40 trips at $5 each way. With the Monthly FareCard, the break-even point comes at 30 trips, and since monthly FareCards are good any time, the economy increases every time a FareCard is used.
This break-even point is around the middle of the pack among major Canadian transit systems: passes in Toronto start paying for themselves at 40 trips and 33 in Victoria; Ottawa and Montréal have a shorter break-even period (27 and 25, respectively).
As well as being economical, monthly FareCards are tax-deductible, under the federal government’s Transit Pass Tax Credit program, which had been advocated by transportation agencies across the country.
The Employer Pass Program, one of TransLink’s highly successful TravelSmart initiatives, offers even steeper discounts and therefore greater convenience for working people. When 25 or more people sign up for a full year through a company-administered payroll-deduction plan, they receive a discount of up to 15% on the price of 12 monthly FareCards; some businesses add to that discount by subsidizing the program by as much as 15% more.
“The ‘Olympics Experience’ proved that people in Metro Vancouver can and will take public transit when it’s made available for them,” continues Mr Jarvis, “and with the infrastructure investments made over the past six years and a variety of alternatives to private autos gaining popularity, we have the capacity to meet the demand. While we understand the implications of any increase to fares, the one coming into effect next month will make a vital contribution toward our efforts to maintain that capacity.”