fares
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ta...@murphstahoe.com
Aug 3, 2011, 4:48:22 PM8/3/11
to caltra...@googlegroups.com
To me, the ideal fare setup would be thus (might as well shoot for the stars).
No eight ride tickets. All Clipper users without a Monthly Pass tag on and off, and get a 15% discount, the same as current 8 ride tickets. Paper tickets bought from a machine pay full fare. This has a lot of benefits. The only product non-Monthly holders have to put on their Clipper Card is cash, and the problem with people who forget to tag off going negative and not being able to use their 8 rides, goes away. With fewer of those problems, fare enforcement on trains gets easier and customer service overhead goes down. Riders transitioning between 8 rides to a Monthly are faced with the issue of "draining" their 8 ride tickets, perhaps eschewing the train towards the end of the "8 ride" month once they have used their 8 rides and do not want to pay full fare. It addresses the complaint about "Zone Upgrades" no longer being available for 8 ride tickets. It i ncents Clipper usage, which has long term benefits for the system.
The counter argument is that current riders who pay full fare will now get a discount, but aside from the cost savings discussed, the fare discount will incent increased ridership for those willing to get a Clipper card. This also incents riders to take "non-traditional trips" - for example someone who normally commutes from zone 3 to zone 1, would be more likely to take the train on a discretionary trip to zone 4, previously seeing their loyal daily ridership not being rewarded for say, a trip to a Sharks game.
Monthly passes would need to be maintained. There are insufficient Clipper readers at many stations to begin with, as seen on the first of the month when the Monthly riders must queue up to tag on and off. The majority of Caltrain riders have a pass, and one of the benefits of the pass is not having to tag on and off. It also produces a good discount for the most loyal riders, driving ridership from the core consituency. What needs to be addressed is an easier method to activate the pass on the card. Right now there is a lot of software doing zone calculation and comparing to what "products" are on the card. This should be simplified. If you have a Monthly, and are autoloading it or buying it online, you should be able to tag on (and if needed off) at a single station, have your pass activated, and be done with it. The software should be upgraded to have the smarts to allow you to tag on/off beyond the zones of your pass and automatically charge you for a zone upgrade based on your activated pass.
With this done, Caltrain should remove the zones. Distance based fares a la BART. For Clipper users this transition should be fairly seamless, modulo the ability to buy a Monthly pass by station instead of by zone. This would require the "Upgrade" functionality to be in place. For paper tickets, the machines would need new software.
This has great advantage for Caltrain. Caltrain is missing out on ridership that is faced with a $4.75 fare to take a very short trip from San Bruno to Millbrae, crossing a zone, while other patrons can ride all the way from San Francisco to Redwood City for the same fare. Some of those short haul riders take the bus which is more economical for those short distances, but much slower, to the detriment of the rider. Others simply drive. Worse - some riders who can walk to a local station may drive across the zone boundary in order to save the zone fare differential. The fare differential is more than a monthly parking pass! This is an inefficient use of Caltrain's parking lots and adds unnecessary car trips - with the removal of zones the added fare differential will be more reasonable and incent wiser usage. An even more precious resource - room on the bike cars - is also wasted as riders who could walk from the station to their home or office, will ride their bike across the zone boundary instead.
Thoughts?
John
No eight ride tickets. All Clipper users without a Monthly Pass tag on and off, and get a 15% discount, the same as current 8 ride tickets. Paper tickets bought from a machine pay full fare. This has a lot of benefits. The only product non-Monthly holders have to put on their Clipper Card is cash, and the problem with people who forget to tag off going negative and not being able to use their 8 rides, goes away. With fewer of those problems, fare enforcement on trains gets easier and customer service overhead goes down. Riders transitioning between 8 rides to a Monthly are faced with the issue of "draining" their 8 ride tickets, perhaps eschewing the train towards the end of the "8 ride" month once they have used their 8 rides and do not want to pay full fare. It addresses the complaint about "Zone Upgrades" no longer being available for 8 ride tickets. It i ncents Clipper usage, which has long term benefits for the system.
The counter argument is that current riders who pay full fare will now get a discount, but aside from the cost savings discussed, the fare discount will incent increased ridership for those willing to get a Clipper card. This also incents riders to take "non-traditional trips" - for example someone who normally commutes from zone 3 to zone 1, would be more likely to take the train on a discretionary trip to zone 4, previously seeing their loyal daily ridership not being rewarded for say, a trip to a Sharks game.
Monthly passes would need to be maintained. There are insufficient Clipper readers at many stations to begin with, as seen on the first of the month when the Monthly riders must queue up to tag on and off. The majority of Caltrain riders have a pass, and one of the benefits of the pass is not having to tag on and off. It also produces a good discount for the most loyal riders, driving ridership from the core consituency. What needs to be addressed is an easier method to activate the pass on the card. Right now there is a lot of software doing zone calculation and comparing to what "products" are on the card. This should be simplified. If you have a Monthly, and are autoloading it or buying it online, you should be able to tag on (and if needed off) at a single station, have your pass activated, and be done with it. The software should be upgraded to have the smarts to allow you to tag on/off beyond the zones of your pass and automatically charge you for a zone upgrade based on your activated pass.
With this done, Caltrain should remove the zones. Distance based fares a la BART. For Clipper users this transition should be fairly seamless, modulo the ability to buy a Monthly pass by station instead of by zone. This would require the "Upgrade" functionality to be in place. For paper tickets, the machines would need new software.
This has great advantage for Caltrain. Caltrain is missing out on ridership that is faced with a $4.75 fare to take a very short trip from San Bruno to Millbrae, crossing a zone, while other patrons can ride all the way from San Francisco to Redwood City for the same fare. Some of those short haul riders take the bus which is more economical for those short distances, but much slower, to the detriment of the rider. Others simply drive. Worse - some riders who can walk to a local station may drive across the zone boundary in order to save the zone fare differential. The fare differential is more than a monthly parking pass! This is an inefficient use of Caltrain's parking lots and adds unnecessary car trips - with the removal of zones the added fare differential will be more reasonable and incent wiser usage. An even more precious resource - room on the bike cars - is also wasted as riders who could walk from the station to their home or office, will ride their bike across the zone boundary instead.
Thoughts?
John
Michael Mathews
Aug 3, 2011, 4:58:28 PM8/3/11
to caltra...@googlegroups.com
This makes a lot of sense. Since I do have two primary stations (SF
and Mtn View), I can get a pass covering those, and then just pay the
difference when I go to Sunnyvale or San Jose instead.
and Mtn View), I can get a pass covering those, and then just pay the
difference when I go to Sunnyvale or San Jose instead.
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