The PVTA is facing a budget gap of $1.8 million—and is looking to increase rider fares to make up the difference.
Tonight, PVTA riders can voice their opinions on the proposal at a hearing in Springfield. The hearing will take place at 7 p.m. at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, at 60 Congress St.
If the plan passes, the basic adult fare would rise from $1.25 to $1.50, with transfers increasing from 25 cents to $1. Monthly passes would increase from $45 to $52. Fares for elderly and disabled passengers would increase from 60 cents to 75 cents.
The most dramatic increases would affect paratransit van riders whose stops are more than three-quarters of a mile outside a bus route; they would see their fares increase from the $2.50 to $3.50 they now pay to $7. (Click here for a complete list of proposed hikes.)
If approved, the changes would go into effect July 1.
The proposed increases are not, predictably, going over well with passengers. “Instead of fixing the broken transit system, the PVTA is asking the elderly, disabled, low-income, and working people to pay for a system that doesn’t work for everyone,” reads a recent email from Western Mass. Jobs With Justice, which is calling on riders to voice their disapproval at a series of public hearings on the proposal.
“Fare increases range from 16 to 67 per cent!” the note continues. “Only the rich are seeing their income rise like that.”
The PVTA is also proposing some route modifications, eliminating certain runs but not eliminating any routes in their entirety. Proposed changes can be found here.
One way riders could avoid paying fare increases, at least for awhile: by buying one of the “SmartCards” the PVTA plans to roll out this summer. Fares on SmartCards will still be $1.25 during a promotional period designed to get people to buy the cards.
Future hearings on the proposals include:
• Tuesday, March 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. at Northampton City Hall, in the City Council Chambers
• Thursday, March 29, from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. at Amherst’s Bangs Community Center at 70 Boltwood Walk
• Monday, April 2, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Council on Aging in Palmer, at 1029 Central St.
Comments can also be submitted to PVTA by phone, mail or email; click here for contact information.
According to a report by WAMC’s Paul Tuthill, “The fare hikes are being proposed at a time when PVTA ridership has been steadily increasing, up seven percent in the last year, according to PVTA officials. They project ridership will decline by nine percent if the full fare hikes proposed go into effect.”
Mary MacInnes, PVTA’s administrator, told Tuthill that the authority has no other recourse to make up its deficit, caused in part by rising fuel costs and pay raises due employees through union contracts.
The fare increases won’t go into effect unless approved by the PVTA’s advisory board, made up of representatives from the communities it serves. And at least some of those members have indicated concern about the proposed hikes, including Springfield’s representative, Tom Walsh, an aide to Mayor Domenic Sarno. Noting to Tuthill that 60 percent of bus riders have incomes below the poverty level, Walsh said, “This although nominal increase could be quite a burden for them, so as a Springfield representative that’s something I’m very concerned about.”
The union that represents PVTA drivers has been organizing a bus riders’ union, where drivers and passengers could work together on shared concerns about the service.
