11 years ago, I spent a summer in London. I lived in Earl’s Court and worked at South Bank University. To get to work, of course, I took the Tube. And to pay for my Tube travel I bought a weekly pass. It was an obvious choice: I’d spend at least 2 pounds a day just to travel to and from work; a weekly travelcard cost me 11. It was also convenient: I bought a card once a week and otherwise I never had to worry about change or ticket machines. And it was predictable: I knew exactly how much I’d spend on travel on travel every week.

Aside from all the practical benefits, my travelcard meant freedom. I could go wherever I wanted in central London, any time, essentially for free. Dinner, museums, the theatre, It was a wonderful way to live.

So why does METRO want to get rid of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly passes?

The first official reason is economics: time passes offer considerable discounts. The cash fare for a METROExpress bus from zone 4 is $3.50; a yearly pass holder making that trip 10 times a week pays only $1.90. A local monthly pass holder pays 83 cents for a 1 dollar trip. Those discounts are greatest for suburban park-and-ride users and for people who buy yearly passes — the very people who can probably pay the most. METRO thinks that’s unfair, and I agree. But there’s a simple solution: increase the cost of passes.

The other reason METRO gives is cheating. That’s clearly an issue for day passes — someone who’s made all their trips for the day can simply pass the card onto someone else or even sell it. It’s obviously not a problem for longer period passes: you want to keep your card for the next day. And I imagine smart cards — which, unlike the current tickets, won’t have balances or expiration dates stamped on them — would reduce cheating: would you buy a pass off of someone on the street if it looks exactly like a ticket with zero balance? And cheating would be discouraged simply by raising the cost of day passes: right now, anyone riding the bus twice a day is buying a day pass, and a lot of them are done using those passes early in the day. If the cost went to $3 — three trips — fewer people would buy passes, and cheating would be reduced. And frequent riders would still benefit.

METRO makes a compelling case for increasing the costs for riders currently using passes. But that doesn’t require eliminating passes. Passes are not simply discounts; they’re a convenience, a financial planning tool, and an incentive to use transit not just for the commute but for other trips. Monthly passes also make it much easier for employers to offer transit benefits to their employees. Cities across the world — and nearly every major transit system in the United States — offer period passes. There’s good reason for that.

Most transit systems have used new fare technology to introduce more fare options to make transit more convenient and encourage more transit use. In New York City, for example, the MetroCard introduced free transfers and period passes to a system that had been based on pay-per-ride. METRO is proposing the reverse: using 21st century technology to implement an 1880s fare system.

Transfers are always free in our forums.

And here’s your chance to tell METRO what you think:

Meetings and Notices

MEETINGS
Metropolitan Transit Authority
Public Hearing
FY2007 Business Plan, Budget & Fare Restructuring
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
12 noon and 6 p.m.

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors’
Finance/Audit Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
9 a.m.

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors’
Future Programs Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
9:15 a.m.

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors’
Government & Public Relations Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
9:30 a.m.

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors’
Human Resources Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
9:45 a.m.

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors’
Operations Committee Meeting
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
10 a.m.

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors’
Executive Session
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
Following Committee Meetings

Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board of Directors’
Regular Board Meeting
Thursday, September 21, 2006
1900 Main, 2nd floor Board Room
1:00 PM

NOTICES
PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, TX (METRO)
FY2007 Business Plan, Budget & Fare Restructuring

METRO’s FY2007 Business Plan, Budget and Fare Restructuring will be the subject of a public hearing to be held on Tuesday, September 19, 2006, at 12:00 noon and 6 p.m. in the METRO Board Room on the 2nd Floor at 1900 Main Street in Houston, TX.

METRO’s FY2007 Operating & Capital Budgets are available for public review prior to the hearing at METRO headquarters at 1900 Main Street on the 14th Floor by contacting Rose Gonzales at 713-739-4834.