Commuters to UCLA may see increase in Big Blue Bus fares
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 28, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 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.”
