Rock Region Metro officials aren't saying they're ready to raise bus, streetcar and paratransit rates in the wake of a failed sales-tax campaign to fund the agency, but they are ready to decide on a formula to do so.
They are working on setting as a goal the percentage of their operating budget that should be covered by fares. If that standard isn't met, then a rate increase could be triggered.
Fares for the Pulaski County transit agency's regular bus routes -- a one-way fare for adults costs $1.35 -- haven't risen since 2009.
"At this immediate time, we're not suggesting a fare hike, but no one should be surprised if we do in the near future," Becca Green, the public engagement director for Rock Region, said at a recent meeting to discuss proposed changes in the services the agency offers. "Because everything is going up in costs. The price of paper goes up every year. Anything you use in your household you can point to as more expensive than it was nine years ago or seven years ago."
She and other agency officials discussed the possibility of a fare review and other proposed changes, including exploring noncash options to pay for a bus ride, in a series of five public hearings that concluded last week.
The hearings were held primarily to outline a series of proposed adjustments to 14 of the agency's 26 regular bus routes, which likely will go into effect in October.
The route adjustments are part of its annual service review, but Rock Region officials call them low-cost or no-cost improvements they can implement within the agency's fiscal and geographical limitations after a more ambitious initiative to expand service failed to materialize when voters in March rejected a 0.25 percentage-point increase in the countywide sales tax that would have paid for it.
Proceeds from a sales tax dedicated to transit would have given Rock Region more latitude to improve service. The 1986 agreement that created the agency limits what adjustments the agency can make because it requires that any service miles within the system must stay within the jurisdiction funding them.
Agency officials have discussed other proposed policy initiatives, including what would trigger a fare review.
The trigger would be based on what is called the farebox recovery ratio, which is the percentage of the agency's operation expenses supported by the fares passengers pay. Increasing fares would be considered if the ratio veered too far from a predetermined base line, which hasn't been set yet.
About 14 percent of Rock Region's $17.3 million operating budget, or about $2.3 million, is income from direct funds, including fares and advertising. Fares alone cover about 13 percent of expenses.
At a meeting last week, Green said the 13 percent is about the national average.
But a 2014 report from the Federal Transit Administration, the latest for which the figure was available, showed that, on average nationally, the fares on fixed bus routes amounted to 26.2 percent of transit agency operating costs.
Rock Region relies on contributions from Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Maumelle and Sherwood to cover most of its operating expenses. That amounted to $12.6 million last year, according to Green. Federal funds totaling $2 million and state money totaling $310,000 covered the remainder of the agency's operating expenses.
The fare policy the agency is developing will outline its responsibilities and goals, set a farebox recovery rate goal for both buses and streetcars, define what a fare adjustment is, define fare discounts and outline the public participation process for changes in fares, according to information presented at the meetings last month.
Whatever the increase in fares will be, it won't be enough to cover operations, Green said.
"We're tracking about the national average," she said. "That number is never going to be 100 percent because what makes public transit public is that it is heavily subsidized by the government.
"The local jurisdictions that are paying in are covering a lot of that fare cost. The federal government is chipping in, and you've got that 1 percent from the state government."
Different fare recovery rate goals eventually will be set for each service.
"We do want to set that recover rate for each type of service -- bus, streetcar and paratransit," Green said. "We want to know what a fare adjustment would look like. If, for example, we drop below our ideal farebox recovery rate goal, that would possibly be a trigger to engage in a fare review and possible suggest a fare hike."
Fare discounts also would be more strictly defined under the policy, Green said. "For instance, who qualifies for a student fare discount," she said.
Green said public input also will be part of the process.
"If we do decide to raise our fares in the future, with this policy, it would be outlined how we are going to share that with the public and give them a chance to comment and be involved in that process," she said.
Meanwhile, the agency also is looking at other pay options for the riders, most likely on the streetcars first.
"A lot of tourists don't carry cash," Green said. "A lot of natives here don't carry cash. But definitely, visitors. If you are waiting for the streetcar and it pulls up and you don't have cash, you're not going to ride the streetcar."
While riders can purchase passes at certain area establishments, Green said, the agency is exploring debit or credit options for the streetcars.
What the agency will not do is make those options available on the streetcars or buses themselves because it would create lines of people waiting to get onto the streetcars or buses.
"One thing that is important in the transit world is time," she said. "You're going to hold up the line if everyone is swiping their card."
Instead, the agency is looking at what Green called "street-level pay options," such as stand-alone kiosks.
"They're not cheap," she said. "One version we're looking at right now is about $10,000 to $12,000 per machine."
Another possibility is paying for a ticket on a smartphone.
"People are online mobile," Green said. "We already know that through our mobile app. We have a healthy level of users for the mobile app, so we know people are on their smartphones."
Again, however, the technology is pricey, she said. "But one thing about being a small transit agency is we may have the opportunity to be a way for one of the players [to] break into the industry to get their feet wet by using a smaller transit agency.
"We do have some options and some possibilities."
Metro on 08/01/2016