Riders to feel budget pinch

Cleophus Parker relies on public transportation to shuttle him to doctor appointments, which he has four to five times a week to treat his diabetes and heart condition.

The 65-year-old also leans on the bus to ferry him to job interviews, the Social Security office, the library and senior centers for social events.

With another bus fare increase looming, Parker, like other frequent passengers, is mulling which trips he will eliminate to stay within his budget.

At the Regional Transportation Commission's downtown bus terminal Wednesday, the fare jump was a topic that infuriated plenty of regular riders.

"This will hurt very deeply," Parker said. "If you don't have the money, how are you going to pay the fare? I don't know how I'm going to do it."

The commission started the fee increases in 2008. The first phase of the hike hit in January; the next increase will go into effect Jan. 10.

The majority of passengers waiting downtown buy daily passes, which will go up to $5, double what they were in 2008. A monthly pass jumps to $65, up from $40 over the two-year period.

That is a large chunk of money to pay at once, riders said. Single ride fares will increase to $2 in January, from $1.25 two years ago.

The commission had little choice but to boost the fares, agency spokeswoman Tracy Bower said. The combination of plummeting sales taxes and higher diesel fuel prices forced the agency to raise fees.

During fiscal year 2008, sales taxes amounted to about $129 million of the commission's $182 million in total revenue, according to a report by the agency. Ridership, which makes up a fraction of the total revenues, increased from a little more than 120,000 daily to more than 180,000.

The average fare per passenger is 77 cents, but the cost per trip per person for the agency is $1.77, according to the report.

"If there was no adjustment, we would have had to eliminate some routes and cut overnight service," Bower said.

Before 2008, Bower said, the base one-way fare had not been raised since 1999, and fees for monthly or day passes increased only minimally.

Riders shook their heads in disbelief when told of the reasons for the increase. They could not imagine a government agency's struggles in a sluggish economy would come close to comparing with their own troubles.

"Why does the city want to take the money from the poor?" said Bryan Pugh, 47. "There is money everywhere in this town, and they want to make money off us."

Pugh takes the bus everywhere, including job hunting. The only solution, he said, is to cram all of his errands into a single day rather than two or three.

"They just beat us down a little more, make it a little harder for us to dig out of the hole," he said.

"We don't have the money; we're out looking for jobs!" a woman shouted as she boarded her bus.

This is true.

Larry Bierman, a roofer who once ran his own business, has been unemployed since September 2008. He was fired from a clerking position at a convenience store for allowing a 4-year-old to use the restroom. He stays at Catholic Charities and estimates he has 350 job applications spread around town.

"I'm out job hunting every day, and this sucks," Bierman, 61, said of the rate increases. "It's a fact that their ridership has gone up; they're just trying to gouge us. I just have to tighten up my expenses even more.

"I just want my business back, I want my house back, I want my life back," he said.

Renee Dupree has a job, two in fact, but a significant chunk of her income goes toward bus fares.

She said $65 is too much to dole out at once. Instead, she will spread out the pain and pay the $5 a day, which for her will come to $100 a month. She has four children.

Thanks to the rate increases, her daughter, who takes fashion classes, cannot afford the $25 fee to sit at a sewing machine at school.

"If you want these tourists riding the Strip bus, I can understand, but we're trying to go to work," she said.

"For locals it should be cheap. This is not cool for us."

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904.