On January 1, Portland Streetcar will roll out a new fare policy: Streetcar tickets will be good all day.
We’ve discussed the perception that a 1-2 zone fare for a few stops on the Streetcar outside fareless square is a tough value proposition. This move is intended to help that issue. At a minimum you’ll be able to get your round trip out of one ticket purchase.
TriMet transfers will also be valid all day on Streetcar.
However, the reverse is not true, a Streetcar ticket is only good for the usual two-hour transfer window on TriMet. This keeps Streetcar tickets compatible with the rest of the TriMet fare structure. The “deal” is only on Streetcar.
The other January 1 change is that the Streetcar annual pass will go up to $100/year. Still a bargain in my opinion.
30 responses to “New Years Resolution for Streetcar: Fare Policy”
Does that mean you’ll be making sure that the fareboxes on board are working? Will you undertake the occasional fare enforcement action to make sure that people are actually paying the fare? Too many people in town seem to think that the Streetcar is always a free ride, and I don’t think the people running Streetcar have done enough to disabuse the public of this notion.
This move is meant to address those issues. Streetcar has been stepping up fare inspection during tha last year and will continue this.
The hope is that a fare that is seen as a more reasonable value will encourage more people to actually buy a ticket (although in fact we believe that 80-90% of riders outside fareless square DO have a fare intrument – there aren’t as many scofflaws as perceived because many people walk on board Streetcar with a pass or transfer in their pocket).
The fare machines are a different story. Look for replacement of all the fare machines when we purchase a new fleet of vehicles for the Streetcar Loop. Until then we’re going to have to lump it with the current machines, which none of us love.
maybe it is time to consider trailers for the streetcars as used in Europe, will increase the capacity. a few easily overcomeable tech problems.. Have talked to R. Gustafson about buying one hopper tickets [think they are still avaILABLE AT tRI-MET TICKET OFFICE]… he was cool to the idea as it puts more money in Trimet hands and not in PDX streetcar coffers.
GO Ducks tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If by one-hoppers, you mean one-zone tickets, yes, I buy them from TriMet or at Food Front and use them all the time for my travel around the central city.
They’re valid on Streetcar, but I don’t use them there as I have a Streetcar annual pass.
“although in fact we believe that 80-90% of riders outside fareless square DO have a fare intrument”
DUDE?!? We’re winning in Iraq too! Come on now. Seriously. I in my normal mode of curiosity just started asking people one day if they had fare. I got in a conversation with about 20 people on the Streetcar about how NOBODY on the Streetcar at that moment had fare.
They all seemed to not care, some actually made the comment that more of it is paid by taxes (which they feel they’ve paid enough of) than by the fare – which is true. Most just generally didn’t think they should pay for whatever completely arbritrary reason.
That 20 people where about ALL that where on the car that day.
I’ve also randomly asked people going about during rush hour. Nope, many don’t have legit fare then either. Don’t even approach a college student about it, it’s a safe bet they haven’t paid for it.
…the fare that is in place is for all functional and practical purposes – useless. From the financial docs I’ve seen it doesn’t even pay the cost of a single full employee outlay.
But I digress, as many seem to think in Portland, price is irrelevant, and the operational business validity of a vehicle is generally an even lower priority.
You realize that there is only a 50 cent difference between a book of 10 “short hoppers” and a book of 10 1-2 zone tickets? I’ve never really understood the point of them.
Chris –
Two things concern me about this new policy.
1. I feel that fare enforcement on the streetcar has been all carrot and no stick… switching to an all-day fare provides still more carrot but little to educate and enforce fare payment behavior.
2. Fare system confusion and incompatibility. One of the advantages of having a single regional transit operator (TriMet) is the ability to have a consistent and pervasive fare system. Until the Streetcar, we had such a system (unless you also used C-Tran). I realize there are practical and political considerations as to why Portland Streetcar is a separate entity, but for consumers, the streetcar is public transportation within the city, just like any other mode. Having a separate fare type just for the streetcar leads to a perception that the streetcar should somehow be treated differently by riders.
Point #1 was driven home quite clearly for me when, upon boarding a streetcar, I attempted to purchase a ticket. Quite suddenly a guy (who claimed he was a regular rider) came up to me, apparently thinking I was a tourist, and told me that I did not need to buy a fare because we were in Fareless Square. When I told him that my destination was _not_ in fareless square, he looked perplexed and reiterated that I did not need to buy a ticket and that the streetcar was “free”. (Apparently he was able to deal with the cognitive dissonance of the existence of a fare machine right there on the streetcar.)
Have you considered updating the automated announcements to state “Valid fare required when riding in this area” at _every_ non-fareless stop? I know it would be annoying to many, but it could be phased out as people get the message.
If you already believe that 80%-90% of riders outside fareless square have a valid fare, won’t the practice of giving out all-day tickets cause a drop in revenue greater than the percentage gain in paid riders? Or do you believe that the vast majority of streetcar riders are one-trip-per-day riders?
– Bob R.
Yes Donna, the “short hopper” tickets do seem a bit silly to most people at this time. The price difference between a one-zone ticket and a two-zone ticket seems to be getting smaller all of the time.
The short-hopper ticket does serve a useful purpose though. There are quite a few of us that commute to Downtown Portland or the Lloyd District and live just outside of Fareless Square. Walking is an option, but getting across the river can be difficult. It seems only fair that those of us that are taking a 5 or ten minute hop across the river should be paying less than those that are riding for a full half hour or more to go to the suburbs.
Five cents a ticket may not be much of a difference, but I know that it has worked for me when it comes to whether I’m going to pay to park or pay for transit. Of course this brings up the troubling trend that the price of a transit ticket is rising faster than the price of a parking space, but that is a topic for another thread.
Yes Donna, the “short hopper” tickets do seem a bit silly to most people at this time. The price difference between a one-zone ticket and a two-zone ticket seems to be getting smaller all of the time.
The main reason for this tiny percentage difference is that during most of the fare hikes over the years, the policy has been to raise the fares by a nickel or a dime across the board, rather than by a percentage (and then rounding to the nearest nickel.)
While this makes things easy to implement and easy for people to remember, the net result is that the percentage difference between fare prices has been declining.
For example, if you (hypothetically) start with fares of: $0.75, $0.95, and $1.15, the lowest fare is 65% of the highest fare. If you ratchet those up by equal amounts over the years and arrive at $1.60, $1.80, and $2.00, the lowest fare is now 80% of the highest fare.
While all of public transit is subsidized, this type of fare adjustment, over time, adds up to a “subsidy within a subsidy” where the short distance riders take on a larger share of the overall cost than do the long distance riders.
Perhaps it is time to consider a revenue-neutral adjustment of TriMet fares, or at the next fare increase time, leaving the 2-zone alone and increasing just the all-zone, to restore some balance?
– Bob R.
Bob R.
That isn’t exactly fair either – no pun intended.
Have you considered updating the automated announcements to state “Valid fare required when riding in this area” at _every_ non-fareless stop? I know it would be annoying to many, but it could be phased out as people get the message.
That would be annoying, somewhat redundant as there is already a message when entering the square, and generally speaking most people don’t even listen. The guy you ran into that thought everything is free is basically the type of guy that Portland politicians are breeding. No one associates the real cost or the possible value associated with the Streetcar. The people won’t place an “honest” and “true” value on it until some type of price is associated with it. Otherwise it’s just as well considered the Streetcar was delivered by a fairy considering many people’s mental prowess about the matter.
If you already believe that 80%-90% of riders outside fareless square have a valid fare
Please, seriously, don’t give people too much credit where credit is NOT due. Being conservative about this estimate is much safer. I’d be amazed if 30-60% of riders have paid fare. If the highest ridership is PSU students (it is theoretically) and man are known to come from the 23rd area (which is very common) then just those two pieces of relative information, pending these people where paying at a 90% rate, would mean much higher revenues than the financial documents show.
So either the Streetcar financial documents are wrong, or the 80-90% estimate is very skewed.
Come on now. Seriously. I in my normal mode of curiosity just started asking people one day if they had fare. I got in a conversation with about 20 people on the Streetcar about how NOBODY on the Streetcar at that moment had fare.
That’s not consistent with what the fare inspectors are finding over a larger data set.
But as you point out, it rapidly becomes a question of diminishing returns. We’ve found that the ‘light touch’ fare inspection we’re doing appears to just about get enough scofflaws to buy a ticket to be self-funding. Much more inspection is going to have a negative return.
We could spend MORE of your tax dollars and make sure everyone pays, but I don’t think that’s what the citizens would want.
So short of privatizing the whole transit system, what would you suggest Streetcar maangement do?
You realize that there is only a 50 cent difference between a book of 10 “short hoppers” and a book of 10 1-2 zone tickets? I’ve never really understood the point of them.
I find that my ridership patterns tend to be either trips within zone 1 or longer trips out to zone 3, so I carry the short-hoppers and all-zone tickets in my wallet.
I feel that fare enforcement on the streetcar has been all carrot and no stick… switching to an all-day fare provides still more carrot but little to educate and enforce fare payment behavior.
Sticks are purchased at the expense of your tax dollars.
We understand the cultural problem we have with the perception that Streetcar is free, but we don’t have a good economic answer for how to address it.
The dynamics will change a LOT when we get to the Loop. Farefox will be an important funding mechanism for the Loop. Right now, farefox just isn’t meaninful.
Fare system confusion and incompatibility. [as a concern]
The reason we chose the all-day fare is that it is otherwise completely compatible with the TriMet system. The other alternative that was evaluated was dropping the fare to $1 which would have destroyed compatiblity.
The problem with implementing a “stick” to enforce fare collection on the streetcar is that the fare collection mechanism is hopelessly, utterly, and completely broken.
Here’s why: during peak hours, it is not uncommon for 10-20 people get on at every stop, and the stops are roughly 60 seconds apart. For every one of those people to use the farebox, they would
have to feed in their money, get their tickets, and make room for the next rider to do the same in, in 3-6 seconds. Even if people could actually think and move this fast, the farebox on the streetcar is itself hopelessly slow and clunky. I’ve spent a lot of time observing how people interact with it, and have observed that it takes an average of roughly 30 seconds for a rider to pay for and receive their ticket. Some do it a bit faster (though I’ve never seen anybody do so in under 20 seconds), while some struggle with the machine for over a minute before they are able to get a ticket.
Think about what this means: if the stops are spaced at 60-second intervals, then only 2 people will be able to buy tickets between one stop and the next, when another mass of people will get on the streetcar. Even if every rider has the absolute best of intentions, it is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for more than 10% to 20% of them to purchase tickets during peak transit hours!!!
Needless to say, such difficulty in purchasing tickets doesn’t exactly foster good ticket-buying habits among the streetcar riders, so it isn’t surprising that the actual ticket-purchasing rates are even lower than this. But is this the riders’ fault, or the system’s?
Under these conditions, it isn’t just silly to talk about implementing a “stick” to enforce ticket purchasing, it’s reprehensible. You can’t penalize people for not doing something that your own system actually prevents them from doing!
It won’t work to fix the fareboxes on the streetcar, either. Even if you make it fully twice as speedy to use (which would be difficult), then 60% to 80% of riders *still* wouldn’t be able to pay their fares. The only way to address this is with on-platform fareboxes, rather than on-vehicle ones.
Oh yeah, and I definitely approve of the new fare policy, by the way. Well done!
The only way to address this is with on-platform fareboxes, rather than on-vehicle ones.
10 vehicles, 30+ stop locations. That’s a lot of taxpayer dollars you want to spend on equipment when farefox collections are less than $100K/year.
By the way, when we do our ‘inspections’, part of the process is to help people use the machine to buy a ticket. We don’t ticket or fine anyone. The worst we do is escort someone off the car who flatly refuses to pay.
Oh yeah, I don’t have any problem at all with that kind of inspection. Not in the slightest. It’s just that when people talking about putting “teeth” into the inspections — with large fines or whatnot — that there starts to be a real problem.
As for putting fareboxes at platforms — I don’t think that it need be as complicated as people expect. There should be very few choices facing the user — no zones, no special fares for different categories of rider — basically just a big green “buy ticket” button, along with a coin slot and a card reader (bill readers take too long). Sound familiar? The downtown parking meters could be easily re-purposed to do the job, and they are both cheap, familiar, and very fast to use (which is CRITICAL for a high-volume system like the streetcar has become). I’m certain that a parking meter-style farebox at each stop would increase fare revenue by an order of magnitude.
Our Executive Director has actually threatened to just drag some of the Smart Meters downtown onto the cars :-)
As for putting fareboxes at platforms — I don’t think that it need be as complicated as people expect.
I think Nathan is on the right track here. This also ties in to my points about fare compatibility and confusion… Bus riders are used to paying as the driver watches, MAX riders are used to buying tickets at the platform. Why have a 3rd way for Streetcar? People had been used to at-platform fare payment for rail for close to 20 years before the streetcar came on the scene. Besides, platform pay stations give you something to do while waiting for the streetcar. :-)
– Bob R.
Not to become a mutual admiration society, but Bob has the right of it. People filter onto platforms one or two at a time, over the course of several minutes or so. Plenty of time for everyone to buy a ticket, if there’s a meter on the platform. In contrast, people board the vehicle all at once, meaning that people can’t go take a seat and get comfortable, but must queue up to purchase their tickets. Regardless of how good the ticket machines are, the queue during peak hours would be very long indeed, if people were actually able to tolerate it. Standing in line for a long time on a moving streetcar is simply not a happy experience, and nothing will ever convince a large number of people to do it. Cheap at-platform ticket machines are honestly the only solution.
How about a compromise?
Determine which are the busiest streetcar stations (the ones where 10+ people might board a streetcar at peak hours), and place simple fare machines at just those stations with signs that say “Pay here or Onboard”, and at all other stations just signs that say “Pay Onboard”.
– Bob R.
I have a better idea. Why not make people who ride the streetcar and MAX pay the true fare instead of burdening automobile owners and renters / homeowners who live next to proposed streetcar lines? I am really frustrated that the city has seemingly unlimited budgets to build these stupid trains all over town but don’t do anything to fix the massive traffic problems all over the metro area. Maybe now that they will be saddled with $250 in M37 claims they won’t be able to afford to waste people’s money any more on these Stalinist Transport Systems. Maybe property owners next to these stupid tram lines will be able to demand compensation due to the increased taxes. I rent and I chose to move to Portland so I could be closer to my work. I *WALK* to work and never use streetcar. Yet, since I live right next to a proposed line they have upped my rent almost $200 a month AND took away the $15/year parking permits forcing me to park in a structure. Not fair given the fact I don’t even use the streetcar to subsidize those who do! I don’t even use the Max to go downtown. I can usually WALK to downtown from Lloyd Center faster than the time it takes to stand around waiting for the train and go 5MPH into downtown.
Sounds like a good idea.
You realize that there is only a 50 cent difference between a book of 10 “short hoppers” and a book of 10 1-2 zone tickets? I’ve never really understood the point of them.
Originally, there was a price break for all 10 ticket prices vs. cash prices. That went out the door with the September 2005 fare increase. TriMet decided to keep the nickel difference between 1 Zone fares (they haven’t been called “Short Hopper” tickets for several years) and 2 Zone fares. It’s probably also worth mentioning you can do all of the following with a 1 Zone ticket (other than ride from a close-in destination to Downtown Portland, or vice versa):
1. MAX Red Line from Gateway TC to Portland Airport
2. East of I-205 to Downtown Gresham, Troutdale, or Mt. Hood C.C.
3. SE 45th & Harney to Pier Park on the 75 (or, transfer to 17 in St. Johns and go to Sauvie Island)
4. Swan Island to Johnson Creek on the 72
5. Much of Washington Co. is in Zone 3 – you could take 57 from Forest Grove to Hillsboro, transfer to MAX (or stay on 57) to Beaverton TC, and transfer to 76 to Tualatin
6. Milwaukie to Estacada on the 31
Speaking of C-TRAN, all of Clark Co. is one zone, and they did away with transfers in May 2005, in favor of all-day passes.
…The downtown parking meters could be easily re-purposed to do the job…
That sounds like a great idea! Or, better yet, put Streetcar tickets into existing parking meters. Unfortunatley, we’d probably hear they weren’t designed for that, and it would cost several million to upgrade the machines; which would be inflated to however many more million upon realizing the hardware can’t support the tickets, then later determine the software system must be replaced. Total cost: $$$…???
More than that, there is no need for fareboxes on the Southbound route inside the free zone, unless people are doing laps on the streetcar.
I still believe that the entire route ought to be fareless. The minority of the route that is outside the zone isn’t worth a full $1.70 (What is with Tri-Met and inconvenient prices?). The entire route should be free or the price of a 1-zone only pass needs to be substantially reduced.
Oh, lets just go back in time and make the Northwest parking problem solved. I’m pretty sure that if there was a Northwest Parking Plan and no threat of “park & hiders” (people stashing their car in the neighborhood and taking that last stretch on the streetcar) the streetcar would be free.
Maybe the solution isn’t just with Streetcar – as Chris mentions, a universal fare system is very desirable as it eliminates confusion. But Portland’s two-plus-overlap-zone (three zones, but most fares are either 1-2 zone or 2-3 zone, or all zone) is very generous to long travellers and those in Fareless Square, but those travelling short distances pay more.
Here’s an example:
City of Portland (west of I-205) is Zone 1.
The inner suburbs of Beaverton, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, southern S.E. 82nd Avenue, and Portland city limits east of I-205 is Zone 2.
The outer suburbs of Hillsboro, King City, Tualatin, West Linn, Oregon City, Gresham, Wood Village, Fairview and Troutdale are in Zone 3.
Zone 4 would comprise of the very outer areas – Forest Grove/Cornelius, Sherwood, Wilsonville (yes, TriMet still has a bus to Wilsonville), the areas south of Oregon City, and Estacada.
One would pay $1.00 for the first zone, and 50 cents for each additional zone. So a long-distance rider would pay $2.50.
HOWEVER – TriMet would then initiate true commuter bus service for all of the Zone 4 communities, so that they would have all day express service.
Further, there would be no fareless square; but a “Fareless Shuttle” that would operate limited hours on the transit mall and to Lloyd Center.
True, some ridership would drop, but more passengers would be responsible for their costs, and some of the “less desirables” would no longer be welcome freeloaders on the bus.
I’m pretty sure that if there was a Northwest Parking Plan and no threat of “park & hiders” (people stashing their car in the neighborhood and taking that last stretch on the streetcar) the streetcar would be free.
Yup… I just needed one more reasonable person on City Council and we could have gotten there.
A one zone system with no transfers would be much better. That includes removing fareless square. If downtown businesses demand a fare free transit, they can pony up the $$ to fund a shuttle.
Fares could be something like this:
Bus ride: $1/ride
Express bus (I know we don’t have them here but we should): $2/ride
Streetcar/MAX/other heavily subsided transit: $10/ride
“So short of privatizing the whole transit system, what would you suggest Streetcar maangement do?”
ok, here I go.
First, the suggestion to sync it with either the MAX method or bus method of payment is a prime idea. First and foremost I’d have to say that the bus method is far superior as there is for all practical purposes no fare evasion. Second is it adds a real personal touch to the service. I enjoy very much greeting the various Streetcar Drivers. Some of them are cordial enough to even leave the door open making a quick hello or question more accessible.
The second thing I’ve ranted about before is PLEASE just disjoin from fareless square. Really – just get rid of the concept. I’ll have another suggestion that I’d strongly pare with this notion of removing the Streetcar (or just getting rid of fareless all together). But seriously, the Streetcar is one expensive mode of transit. It’s REALLY going to need operational repairs, cost avoidance measures and other such things. Now that the precept is the Streetcars are free it will put a dent in ridership but there should be zero free section of the Streetcar.
The third thing (which should be paired) Would be to setup a .50 cent or $1 buck fare within where fareless currently is. With that buck you could afford a ticket collector (not that I actually suggest getting one, but instead going with the first suggestion and the driver can simply point at a ticket box) which would also make many people that don’t ride pubic transit give it a go whirl if they know someone of authority is on the vehicle. Seriously, the Streetcar (Something that works AWESOME on the New Orleans, Tampa, and Little Rock Cars) is the idea of having a person there to interact with.
Basically the perfect Streetcar systems have already been built – they existed from 1880-1952 and we’ll just have to go by historical record, financial docs, and other such information. Seriously though, there are a LOT of examples from those years of VERY efficient, quick, and monetarily sound business practices that made Streetcars very viable in the past, something they could do today also.
…. as for Greg Tompkins idea.
“I have a better idea. Why not make people who ride the streetcar and MAX pay the true fare instead of burdening automobile owners and renters / homeowners who live next to proposed streetcar lines?”
That would be great. So everyone in the country can start paying their direct road costs too right? Instead of people in upper brackets paying 1.2-4.8x of roadway cost while a vastly larger portion pay a mere 0-1x their roadway costs? I’m all about pay per use, but the country is so far past that we’re really kind of screwed. We gave up our real choices to buy services when we “auctioned” off the passenger transportation industry to the States & Federal Government. As for those people along the line – …
Most of the people along the lines had a choice to vote on the lines, they got voted on right Chris? Please back me up on that because I don’t really know.
and Manzell
If the ride isn’t worth a $1.70 then how much is it worth? Cuz it costs somewhere around $6-8.00 including infrastructure, 2-4 bucks of that is operations. I’m guessing about 5-15% of that is actually covered with the fare that is in place, being the percentage that it actually covers.
and for the North West parking plan, that probably would have been an ideal success. Oh well.
Adron,
I think you are confusing cost with value. because I’m going to go 9/10ths of the way in the free zone, riding from NW 17th to NW 11th is not worth $1.70 to me. Couple that with the fact that the marginal cost of me riding the streetcar an additional 5 or 6 blocks is next to 0 (compared to the cost the entire trip; which also has a marginal cost of near nothing to add me as a rider)
Anthony,
Let’s not forget that “other” service of public transportation: providing mobility to people without the funds to any other means. I used to take the MAX to work my $9/hour job, from which I could barely afford my studio apartment. at $10/trip, I’m paying $100/week, $400-$500 a month. You think anyone is willing to pay that? At that point, I might as well buy a car at which point I’m now making your commute even slower.