WASHINGTON: The Port Authority board on Friday unanimously approved a new flat fare system beginning in January that will charge all riders $2.50 if they use a ConnectCard and $2.75 if they pay cash.
The authority currently uses a two-tier system that charges customers who travel longer distances $3.75 and shorter distances $2.50. Changing the fare will mean a lower cost for about 26 percent of riders and cost the authority $4.4 million in revenue the first year, but it expects to make that up in future years through increased ridership and operating efficiencies.
The fare policy also will require all riders to pay when they enter; eliminate paper transfers; and charge $1 for new or replacement ConnectCards beginning in January. One rider, Glenn Walsh, told the board the fare policy is a hidden increase of $1 for passengers on the Monongahela Incline because there no longer will be free transfers from certain bus routes to the incline. The transfer fee will be $1 for ConnectCard users and the full incline fare for cash customers.
About 2,000 use the incline on weekdays and Sundays and about 3,500 on Saturdays. Riders who use transfers to feeder routes on busways also complained about the transfer fee or double fare during public hearings about the fare policy in March, but the authority didn’t change that provision.
