Several Madison alders drafted amendments Thursday to alter Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s proposed 50-cent bus fare increase for the 2009 operating budget.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, and Ald. Satya Rhodes Conway, District 12, led the amendment, saying they want to help defray costs for University of Wisconsin students and Madison residents.
Verveer and Conway agree Madison’s low-income residents would be most affected by the fare increase because they often rely exclusively on the Metro system to get to work.
Conway said she appreciates the importance of maintaining Madison’s public transportation system but does not want those most reliant on the system to get the short end of the stick.
“I understand the desire to get more revenue for the system, and I don’t want to take that out on the riders — it’s the people that pay cash fare [that] are the ones who can’t afford it,” she said.
Verveer said increasing fares would also raise the price of bus passes in 2009, whether they be Associated Students of Madison passes or those issued to UW employees and others in the area.
Instead, Verveer and Conway proposed two alternatives in an effort to avoid increasing bus fares.
The first alternative includes a raise in property taxes to offset the potential money made from the bus fare increases. According to the amendment proposal, Madison’s total property tax would increase by $682,000 in 2009.
The second alternative would channel Metro’s saved fuel expenses back into the Metro system. According to Verveer, that would redirect $300,000 of $600,000 in saved fuel expenses back towards operation.
Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, proposed a third alternative, but could not be reached for comment. According to Verveer, Clear’s proposal that would eliminate $150,000 in service expansions in order to dodge an increase in property tax by cutting $40,000 from the proposed $80,000 to provide rides for homeless and low-income riders.
Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, a member of all of Madison’s transportation committees, said although she has not reviewed the bus fare amendments in detail, lowering bus fares is a double-edged sword.
“If we have a smaller fare increase, we will have to cut service in order to not raise fares,” she said. “Would people rather have a fare increase and more service or would they prefer to have less service but no fare increase?”
The Board of Estimates will meet Tuesday to discuss the amendments. Verveer is optimistic the proposed amendments will pass when the final decision is made in mid-November.
“There are enough votes to keep it at $1.50,” he said. “I think there is an excellent chance that the majority of the City Council doesn’t want to raise fares to two bucks.”
However, according to Verveer, prices may very well rise again in the near future.
“We’ll very likely be back in the same position in a year.” Verveer said. “In the 2010 budget, there will be pressures to consider raising the fares again, so this might just be a short reprieve.”
