Public hearing on fare increase, parking fee changes set for May 28

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT:

Preliminary budget pamphlets of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District concerning its preliminary annual budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010, were made available beginning April 9, 2009, to persons requesting them at the Office of the District Secretary, Twenty-Third Floor, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California.

On Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in the Board Room, 344-20th Street, Third Floor, Oakland, CA  94612, pursuant to the direction of the Board of Directors, the District will convene a hearing for the purposes of hearing comments regarding the fixing of the final budget.  Any person may appear at the public hearing and be heard regarding the increase, decrease, or omission of any item of said budget or the inclusion of additional items.

Also at the May 28, 2009, public hearing, comments will be heard on possible options for fare increase(s) and modification(s) to the District’s parking fees.  The ongoing economic downturn has caused significant declines in sales tax assistance and passenger fare revenue, as well as the elimination of the District’s transit assistance funding from the State of California.  These losses have contributed to a large deficit of $54 million for the District’s FY10 Operating Budget.  Options to reduce the deficit include expense reductions and revenue generation, including fare increase(s) and modification(s) to parking fees. 

Fares.  The proposal to increase fare(s), on or after July 1, 2009, could include some or all of the following options: (1) a $0.25 increase to the minimum fare from $1.50 to $1.75, plus an average increase to all other fare components of 6.1%; (2) a $0.25 increase to the base fares, plus an average increase to all other fare components of 6.1%; (3) a new fare surcharge of at least $0.05, plus an average increase to all other fare components of 6.1%; and/or (4) an increase to the San Francisco International Airport (SFIA) Station Premium Fare that is charged for trips to or from the SFIA Station, plus an average increase to all other fare components of 6.1%.  The current SFIA Premium Fare is $1.50; an increase of up to $3.50 or more is under consideration.

Parking.  The modification(s) to parking fees that could become effective in FY10 could include some or all of the following: 

Modification to criteria for implementing daily parking fees.  The current criteria are as follows:  (1) that the station’s parking lots become full three or more times a week; and (2) a minimum of 15% of the station’s parking spaces are sold for monthly reserved parking. The proposed modification is to only use criterion (1), above—that the station’s parking lots become full three or more times a week—in making the determination whether daily parking fees are to be implemented at a station.

Modifications to parking charges.  Maximum dollar figure increases for systemwide parking charges to be discussed are as follows:  (1) parking charges of up to $7 per day for daily parking; (2) parking charges of up to $147 per month for monthly reserved parking; (3) parking charges of up to $8 per day for single-day reserved parking; and/or (4) parking charges of up to $10 per day for airport long-term permit parking.

The possible options for fare increase(s) and modification(s) to parking fees will be discussed at a future meeting of the Administration Committee, after which the full Board of Directors may be asked to take action on the fare increase(s) and modification(s) to parking fees. The Board of Directors may adopt any, all, or none of the elements.  For more information, contact Charlotte Barham at 510-464-6379.

Comments may be made at the hearing or should be sent to:
Kenneth A. Duron, District Secretary
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District
300 Lakeside Drive
Oakland, California 94612
[email protected]
Dated at Oakland, California, this ____ day of May, 2009.

Additional background on options that the BART Board of Directors is considering for dealing with the budget deficit can be found here.

Download the official notice of the public hearing.