On Aug. 2, the Santa Maria City Council approved fare increases and schedule changes to the city’s bus service.
The fare increases take effect Feb. 13, 2017. Regular Santa Maria Area Transit (SMAT) rider fare will rise from $1.25 to $1.50. Students will start paying $1.25 and disabled riders will pay $0.75.
Riders who utilize the ADA para-transit Service will experience gradual increases. The first increase jumps from $1.25 to $2, then to $2.50 on Feb. 13, 2018, then once more to $3 the following year in 2019. Prices for monthly passes will also increase by several dollars.
The fares will increase because SMAT experienced a drop in ridership for two straight years starting in 2010 and the current fares would eventually account for less than 20 percent of operating costs, Santa Maria Public Works Director Steven Kahn told the City Council at its Aug. 2 meeting. California requires fares to account for at least 20 percent of SMAT operating costs.
Kahn added that SMAT operating costs increased 27 percent in the last decade, which partially explains why the ratio dipped.
Times for evening routes will change as well. Where the bus routes originally ran from 7:15 to 10:15 p.m., they will run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The affected routes include routes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7.
Riders interviewed by the Sun seemed to be pleased with the SMAT service overall and said the fares won’t affect them that much.
“I don’t think it should really affect people, since it’s only a quarter,” said Laurita Marcial, a Pioneer Valley High School student who takes the bus to and from school each day. “But I can see how it would affect riders at night more.”
Santa Maria native Demetrio Alcocer, 59, depends on the transit system to get to Lompoc and back at least three times each week and he said a fare hike is needed.
“I’m happy with the system,” he told the Sun. “I already pay a discount. The hike doesn’t bother me. They need it. The buses use lots of gas, and the drivers take a lot of shit.”
This article appears in Aug 11-18, 2016.
