LA Metro eliminating day passes - going to fare cap model

[BCL]

Not sure if this fits into any neat category since LA Metro has rail and bus service, but more recent discussions on them were here.

I'm making a trip to LA/OC around Christamas and noticed this even though it doesn't go into effect until this summer. Right now they have a $3.50 single day pass (supposedly 50% off) that includes express buses, but also a $12.50 7-day pass and a $50 30-day pass that have a 75 cent surcharge on express buses. Their fare page says those day pass prices are still in effect until Dec 31, but this announcement notes that they'll remain at those 50% off prices until the fare cap mechanism kicks in. They're also going to eliminate the express bus fare surcharge, but I guess that goes into place at the same time. However, this will be a price increase from the current discounted fare.

Making Metro More Affordable - LA Metro

Metro is creating a fare structure that’s simple and easy to use. Metro is committed to providing a great rider experience for all of its customers. One key aspect of […]

www.metro.net

How Fare Capping Works​

Under the new fare policy, Metro customers using a TAP card will pay as they go and will never pay more than $5 each day or $18 each week for unlimited rides – which is less than the regular price of Metro’s regular 7-Day and 30-Day passes.​

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Once customers reach the daily or weekly fare cap, they will not have to pay additional fares. The new policy will make 1-Day, 7-Day and 30-Day passes unnecessary, so they will be eliminated, making the fare structure less complicated for customers to use and for Metro to administer.​

I've never hit a fare cap before, but Santa Clara County's VTA does have a daily fare cap. I looked it up, and so does AC-Transit (they call it "Pay-as-you-go" capped at $5 a day) in my area. San Francisco MUNI doesn't have one. One has to purchase a day pass in advance, and they're not available using the Clipper fare card, but can be done through the MUNIMobile app or by paying for a day pass onboard or at some ticket machines servicing F-line street stations.

 

[BCL]

Apparently there were some concerns about earlier proposals that would eliminate the 2 hour transfer window on regular fares, and that the regular fare would go up to $2. Sounds like the board decided against these while also instituting the fare cap system. The previously proposed caps were also higher.

CA: LA Metro's new fare plan caps rider costs, but some say it's mostly a fare hike

 

[GDRRiley]

nice to see this. Seems like it will be the new standard in California going forward as caps are easier for most people

 

[west point]

nice to see this. Seems like it will be the new standard in California going forward as caps are easier for most people

math wizzards??

 

[GDRRiley]

math wizzards??

it just means you don't need to spend the money upfront for a pass, you'll just hit limits when you do

 

[MARC Rider]

it just means you don't need to spend the money upfront for a pass, you'll just hit limits when you do

This would have saved me money in several cities where I bought day passes yet didn't make enough rides to cover the cost of the pass. It's great for tourists, because you don't have to puzzle over complicated fare systems. Of course, the way things cost now, paying $12 for a day pass that you don't receive full value for in, say, Boston, isn't really a major expense of the trip when hotels cost $200+ a night and meals at restaurants commonly exceed $50.

 

[BCL]

it just means you don't need to spend the money upfront for a pass, you'll just hit limits when you do

One of the issues may be that riders using it may not quite understand when the limits kick in and how long it might last. Maybe a user hits the daily limit but then hits the weekly limit. But it would be nice to have some sort of time indication (through maybe the TAP app/website for registered cards) that indicates when each daily/weekly limit might start and when it might end.

There are likely to be permutations where maybe someone hits the $5 daily limit three times in less than a week (like Mon/Fri/Sat), but then on Sunday the rider rides once to make it $16.75. But then another ride ($1.75 cash fare) will put it into the $18 weekly fare. But then that weekly fare expires from the first ride. If daily/weekly passes were manually selected then the rider might have been able to pay for a daily pass for that Monday, then get a weekly pass that starts on that Friday and then continues until at least Thursday. It's not likely to matter for the rider who rides every day, but it may matter for the occasional rider such as me (who only uses it when visiting). I can imagine a visitor using Metro in LA one day with the express bus to Anaheim, then three days in Anaheim getting around on ART, then going back to LA for a week. In that case I think it might be possible to be debited for two weekly fares (Monday-Sunday, then another Monday-Sunday) rather than one daily fare (Monday) and one weekly fare (Friday-Thursday).

Also - the current daily/weekly/monthly passes expire at 3 AM. Maybe their release mentioned if it's a rolling 24 hour window or not - I don't recall.

I'm thinking the programming is probably going to be solid, but this still may be difficult for some riders to understand.

 

[BCL]

This would have saved me money in several cities where I bought day passes yet didn't make enough rides to cover the cost of the pass. It's great for tourists, because you don't have to puzzle over complicated fare systems. Of course, the way things cost now, paying $12 for a day pass that you don't receive full value for in, say, Boston, isn't really a major expense of the trip when hotels cost $200+ a night and meals at restaurants commonly exceed $50.

I was thinking there are some permutations where it might cost more than just selecting which days to get a daily/weekly pass, unless perhaps it can dynamically adjust for gaps. It certainly would help for the visitor who might ride once and then may not have used a daily/weekly pass for whatever reason, including determining that the transit system sucks.

What complicates it is that they're implementing fare caps for rolling days/weeks/months. All the other fare caps I've heard of are only for a daily total fare.

 

[jis]

What complicates it is that they're implementing fare caps for rolling days/weeks/months. All the other fare caps I've heard of are only for a daily total fare.

Really? The Grandaddy London Oyster has had daily/weekly caps for quite a while. New York OMNY which uses the same platform, has IIRC daily and weekly caps.

In general weekly caps are for a Monday to Sunday period. If you want to travel from Wednesday to Tuesday, in London you may be better off in some cases to get a 7 Day Travelcard, but not necessarily in all circumstances because of the way the zones and times of travel are taken into account in caps.

BTW, Portland even has monthly capping.

Some seem to be behaving as if LA has done something amazingly innovative. In fact it is sort of late in the game, even in the US. But better late than never.

Here is a nice article on the subject:

Cities that have transit fare deals (capping) have fairer fares

“Fare capping” is a jargon term for a fare policy that any transit agency can implement to save their riders money, make fares fairer, and potentially increase ridership. Another term i…

www.stevencanplan.com

 

[BCL]

Really? The Grandaddy London Oyster has had daily/weekly caps for quite a while. New York OMNY which uses the same platform, has IIRC daily and weekly caps.

In general weekly caps are for a Monday to Sunday period. If you want to travel from Wednesday to Tuesday, in London you may be better off in some cases to get a 7 Day Travelcard, but not necessarily in all circumstances because of the way the zones and times of travel are taken into account in caps.

BTW, Portland even has monthly capping.

Some seem to be behaving as if LA has done something amazingly innovative. In fact it is sort of late in the game, even in the US. But better late than never.

Here is a nice article on the subject:

Cities that have transit fare deals (capping) have fairer fares

“Fare capping” is a jargon term for a fare policy that any transit agency can implement to save their riders money, make fares fairer, and potentially increase ridership. Another term i…

www.stevencanplan.com

I haven't used those obviously. Last time I rode in NYC (2013) they were using magnetic strip fare cards where I used them on LIRR and the NYC subway.

LA Metro is going to a rolling week.

• 7-day caps are “rolling”, rather than fixed calendar days.

I'm thinking if someone has that really oddball schedule like my example, it might be possible to just use two cards. I bought one for my child, and I was told that the cards themselves are transferrable as long as one doesn't share a pass that's loaded. Might make things a little bit more interesting when sharing a TAP card now. I suspect there will be people who share the cards and it's pretty much on the honor system.

 

[jis]

I haven't used those obviously. Last time I rode in NYC (2013) they were using magnetic strip fare cards where I used them on LIRR and the NYC subway.

LA Metro is going to a rolling week.

• 7-day caps are “rolling”, rather than fixed calendar days.

I'm thinking if someone has that really oddball schedule like my example, it might be possible to just use two cards. I bought one for my child, and I was told that the cards themselves are transferrable as long as one doesn't share a pass that's loaded. Might make things a little bit more interesting when sharing a TAP card now. I suspect there will be people who share the cards and it's pretty much on the honor system.

Yeah, no matter which system one chooses, on can find corner cases where you could come out ahead a bit. But at least I have not found it worth my while worrying about it. Just tap and go and let the system take care of it generally works fine. Sometimes you come out ahead and sometimes a bit behind the most optimum.

 

[BCL]

I found their release on how they handled it after the public hearing. They have a nice little table. The "Adopted Pricing" is the former fare, but it doesn't specifically mention that the 1/7/30 day passes were promised to be 50% off those prices until the end of 2022, while their proposal keeps those passes at that price until the fare caps go into effect this summer.

We’ve updated our fare capping proposal to keep fares at current prices and continue free transfers

We’ve finalized our proposal to make paying fares easier and to ensure that no one overpays for riding Metro buses and trains. Based on customer feedback, the staff recommendation is to keep base f…

thesource.metro.net

 

[BCL]

I did find something weird on a day trip. I was fully expecting that I would be charged 50 cents for a transfer from Metro to Big Blue Bus within 2.5 hours. But for whatever reason, when I’ve tagged my card on BBB, it says it’s accepted my Metro day pass. I have been dealing with several Metro buses where the farebox wasn’t working with TAP cards. One driver even waved all passengers on board without paying.