Commuters to UCLA may see increase in Big Blue Bus fares

50 percent raise in fee approved; operating costs of BruinGo! would be affected

Jenny Blake

Friday, March 1, 2002

  EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Third-year Spanish student Tony Joe Neal boards the Big Blue Bus to head back to campus.

By Jenny Blake

Daily Bruin Contributor

UCLA commuters are concerned that if the Big Blue Bus transit program raises fares by 50 percent, as has been recommended, it will empty their pockets and possibly the pockets of the BruinGo! program.

In response to proposals by the Big Blue Bus company, the Santa Monica City Council approved a public hearing on May 14 for the adoption of a fare increase in bus from 50 cents to 75 cents per ride – the first increase since 1983.

This fare increase would raise the operating costs of UCLA’s BruinGo! pilot program – which allows passengers to ride for free with a swipe of a BruinCard – from approximately $1 million to $1.5 million, significantly impacting the community, said Mark Stocki, director of UCLA transportation services.

According to the Big Blue Bus staff report submitted to the city council, recent improvements have been made to improve customer satisfaction. But to accommodate such improvements, the average cost per customer has more than doubled since the last fare increase, the report said.

In 1997 as part of its first service improvement program, the company added new lines and improved on-time performance to relieve overcrowding, said customer relations manager Joe Stitcher.

The Big Blue Bus increased service by 46 percent to “give people the service they want,” Stitcher said.

“Because of this, operating costs have gone up,” he said.

Increased fares will impact the decision to continue the BruinGo! program, but will not be the deciding factor, Stocki said.

A bigger concern in deciding whether to continue the programs is identifying what benefits the program produces and what the funding sources might be, Stocki said.

“(A fare increases is) not the only or the overriding factor, it’s one of a number of factors,” he said.

As an alternative to raising fares, the Big Blue Bus company considered eliminating free transfers to avoid a fare hike, but decided not to because it would force the 16 percent of transfer passengers to pay an additional fare at each boarding.

A fare increase, on the other hand, would distribute the cost burden to all riders, and maintain the existing policy of free local transfers, the report said.

Long-term needs were also considered in deciding how much to increase fares, Stitcher said.

“We looked at the long term options that would help us avoid another fee increase for the longest amount of time,” he said.

Some students are worried about affording transportation costs if the BruinGo! program is discontinued.

“My parents pay a lot for me to go here and the one free thing I got was the bus rides,” said second-year Russian studies student Carolyn Kubacki. “Without the BruinGo! program I might stop taking the (Big Blue Bus) because they don’t come frequently enough to warrant a pay hike.”