Hampton Roads Transit is considering charging 50 cents to ride the Norfolk NET, a free shuttle service that runs through downtown.
The same fee would apply to the planned Portsmouth Loop, which will serve marinas, hotels and the Naval Medical Center starting in April, HRT officials said Thursday.
The cost of HRT's basic bus service, which is $1.50, would not change, although express bus services would see a 50-cent increase.
The agency also is considering the elimination of free transfers for passengers who take more than one bus to reach a destination. The reason is to combat what an HRT study called "evidence of widespread cheating" among customers who request a free transfer, and then don't use it. Instead, it's thought that they give the transfers to other people, who then ride for free.
In exchange for ending free transfers, customers would be asked to buy a "day pass" for $3.50 that would allow them to transfer as needed. A customer would need to keep a day pass to go home at the end of the day.
"We issue an extraordinarily large number of transfers based on our ridership," said David Sullivan, senior vice president of planning and
technology at HRT. "Our conclusion is that, and our fare study says it, there is a high level of fraud and abuse in the system."
In January 2007, HRT provided rides for about 1.1 million people and issued roughly 333,000 transfers - about 29 percent of the total. "That's high compared to other transit agencies," Sullivan said.
Ridership on the downtown NET is comparatively low with about 27,517 passengers a month.
Michael S. Townes, president and chief executive officer of HRT, said the proposed fare changes are to simplify what's offered and account for new services coming this year.
In addition to the Loop, HRT will begin offering The Max, an express bus service that will run along interstate routes in coach-style buses equipped with Internet service. The proposed fare for The Max is $3.
HRT is developing light rail and wants a fare structure that will be consistent across all its services, Townes said, adding that increases will raise 6 to
10 percent more revenue for HRT to cope with higher fuel, wage, insurance and parts costs.
HRT officials also expect the new fares to reduce daily ridership by about 4 percent.
The NET proposal is likely to encounter resistance from Norfolk officials, who were caught off guard by the announcement and have yet to see the details.
"The city does not yet have a position, but we may want to see it remain a free service," said Stanley Stein, Norfolk's assistant city manager. Norfolk provides $617,000 in operating money in the current fiscal year, he said.
The NET service was started to help downtown workers get around easily from the parking lots, Stein said.
"The idea was for people to park one time and then use the shuttle to go anywhere," he said.
Councilman Barclay C. Winn, who represents Ghent and much of downtown, opposes NET fares.
"That's not what this system is supposed to be," Winn said. "It's supposed to be a quick, simple way for people to get around downtown. I think that would be a mistake."
Staff writer Harry Minium contributed to this report.
Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, tom.holden@pilotonline.com
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It would take a lot more me to use public trans here
I never ride the bus here, The service is horrible. I think it doesn't even run on Sunday. When I lived In San Diego, I owned 2 vehicles & still bought the monthly transit pass. The service ran all day & night except between 3 to 5 am. The trolley would take you all the way from the Mexican border to Santee, the very eastern part of the populated area. The trolley ran every 15 minutes most of the day. You can transfer on a bus & go all the way to the mountains or the Indian Casinos to the very edge of the county, north, south, east & to the oceanfront. If you institute service & a schedule like theirs , a lot more people would use public transportation, & not just the poor. I see buses driving around here with 1 passenger... a lot. If you live here you NEED a car.
WHO IS HRT KIDDING?
I had communicated with a certain big wig with HRT who would talk nice to you and TRY to convince you that he actually cared. With time people like this prove themselves liars! There were matters of drivers who are still currently not sticking with the scheduels and making up their own timing as they go and stopping for lunch at burger king and other stores during "UNSCHEDUELED" stops, causing the riders to be continually late for work and appointments and various other things that people need to be on time for. They say "Take an earlier bus!"...For what, to hanh out at a place that might be open till a certain time? To hang out at work for an hour or two hours before you need to be there? There are two many issues that NEED to be straightened out before they raise prices on ANYTHING!!! If you can't crawl, then HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO WALK??????? Can anyone from HRT ACTUALLY answer that? I wonder!!! WHO IS HRT KIDDING????
Mis-Management
HRT, SPSA, HRTA. Two are failures. One is going to tax you to death. And do you get a say? Heck no! Just total mis-management. SPSA is in the red. HRT, well, just look at the news. And HRTA wants to take your money. Can anyone explain how you increase ridership by raising the fare? DUH! I can see the masses of people jumping on a $3.00 bus to get internet service. Instead of spending over $200 million dollars to establish a mass transit system that will service all the people, we get to blow it on a stupid choo-choo to increase norfolk's development opportunities. Yet we still blindly elect these inept fools to run our cities, and tax our butts, all while they "just sit and smile".
Unaccountable Regional Government run amuck
Gosh, poor Norfolk city council folks - they endlessly push for every form of unaccountable regional government organizations - like HRT - and then they have the nerve to whine about these out of control regional dictatorships making decisons they have no input into - or means of redress? Welcome to our world! Now you guys see what we taxpayers have been trying to explain to you. We need to scrap HRT and the HRTA and retrun control over local tax dollars to our local governments.
bus fares and transfers
They need to consider who rides the bus..poor people! If we have a hard time coming up with the money for regular fare,how do we come up with the extra money just to get to a needed place. Then they have to also consider how many single moms are out there with their kids,too,who have no choice but to take them along. Then we'd have to put out all that money just to get them to drs or daycare. There have been many a times that I personally could not get to work because I didn't have the money to get the kids to a daycare and me to work and lost jobs because of it also. They need to realize who this effects and how it effects them before they make any decisions.
HRT PROPOSED DAY PASS
Replacing transfers with a DAY PASS is consistent with the policies of other transit properties which have eliminated transfers, whether free or not. In Baltimore, the MTA charges $3.50 for a DAY PASS; base fare is $1.60, and no transfers are issued. Several questions, though, arise with the HRT proposal, including whether or not the DAY PASS will permit unlimited rides for one-day, or will the number of rides be restricted? Concerning the EXP/MAX buses, if a higher fare is to be charged upon these buses, may a passenger ride same in conjunction with a DAY PASS by paying a step-up fee? Finally, will the DAY PASS be honored upon the HRT ferries?
A problem
The NET bus is quite small. When I worked downtown, there was an issue with homeless people getting on and off the bus throughout the day basically to enjoy the air conditioning, avoid the rain, etc. Being that it doesn't hold a lot of people to begin with, I can't help wondering if charging a fee will encourage those people, who would normally get on and off for relief, to just stay on the NET all day long to avoid having to pay again and, therefore, restrict the amount of people who are actually trying to get around who can ride it. Maybe not such a good idea?