Agenda - Council - 02/26/2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE # CONSIDER REDUCTION OF RAMSEY STAR EXPRESS FARE TO $2.75 PER RIDE By: Tim Gladhill, Management Intern Background: Since starting service on January 22 2007, the Ramsey Star Express has had a gradual increase in ridership. Staff continues to believe that a major barrier to increasing ridership numbers is the cost of the fare. Only two transit stops in the Metro Transit scheduling system have a fare in excess of $2.75 per ride. These include the Elk River stop on the Northstar Commuter Coach and the Ramsey Star Express. Both of these fares are $4.50 per ride. With the Elk River stop being outside the seven - county metro area, the Ramsey Star Express is the only fare within the seven - county metro area at the $4.50 fare. Observations: Figure 1 shows average daily ridership numbers per month from January 22n 2007 through January 25 2008. The highest number of riders in one day the Ramsey Star Express has seen is 187 on December 4 d ', 2007 (a large snow event occurred on that date). Numbers indicate a general trend of increasing ridership through the end of January of this year. Potential for Fare Changes: The Northstar Commuter Coach stop in the Riverdale development in Coon Rapids provides service for $2.75 per ride and is located approximately six (6) miles from the Ramsey Municipal Parking Ramp. Other comparable services include Plymouth Metro Link, Maple Grove Transit, multiple Metropolitan Council Regional routes, Southwest Transit, Be Line, Blue Xpress, and Minnesota Valley Transit Authority. All of these services have fares of $2.75 per ride (or less for local routes). Additionally, the Metropolitan Council recently added a new Regional Route using coach busses from Forest Lake to Minneapolis with a fare of $2.75 per ride. Furthermore, other Metro Transit service lines exist in even closer proximity, most notably a stop at Anoka Technical College in Anoka. This is neither an express nor a commuter coach service, however. The fare of $4.50 per ride was chosen for the Ramsey Star Express to remain consistent with Elk River's stop of the Northstar Commuter Coach. Ideally, a fare between $2.75 and $4.50 per ride would be favorable, however, Metro Transit fare boxes do not allow for any additional fare schedules between CC: 2/26/2008 —151—