Tourist-only Fares
Atlanta's MARTA system is considering a plan to raise fares for people boarding through the airport station, according to an AccessNorthGa.com article. Currently, the MARTA system functions like the New York subway and other similar systems, where a $1.75 fare gets you on to the system and takes you anywhere within the system. Under the proposal, people boarding at the airport station -- and only the airport station -- would pay $3.50 to board the train. The plan is designed to add $2 million to the organization's operating budget.
It's an interesting idea. The airport station is at the end of one of the MARTA lines, so the argument could be made that it's a separate 'zone', requiring a more expensive fare. But because the fare is only one-way -- and because it won't be charged to people traveling on weekly or monthly passes -- it's clearly designed to get extra money from tourists (and potentially business travellers, although they generally take cabs into the city). And as we all know, tourists aren't going to stop visiting a city just because they have to pay more at the airport. They might, however, start taking cabs and SuperShuttles, so the question is how to balance the extra revenue from fare increases with the possibilityof lost revenue from tourists fleeing to other transportation methods.
picture courtesy nycsubway.org
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amg | 11:34 AM |
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The fee schedule for the NJTransit monorail link from Newark Airport to Newark Penn Station and then on to the Northeast Corridor train line includes a pretty hefty fare hike if your terminals are Newark Airport and New York Penn Station. The fares from the airport to Newark Penn and New York Penn are $6.80 and $11.55, respectively, for a difference of $4.75. A normal ticket from Newark Penn to New York is $3.30, for an added $1.45. The monorail fee itself is $5. It should also be noted that you cannot buy a round-trip ticket that involves Newark Airport - you can only buy one-way tickets; tickets that are 30% more expensive than their round-trip counterparts.
The 'Heathrow Express' non-stop shuttle between London LHR and Paddington intercity rail station ( www.heathrowexpress.com ) is NOT integrated into the capital's integrated fare system, but has premium rates. The plans for adding a limited-stop service on the same route shortly include validity of integrated-fare tickets for all journeys EXCEPT those starting or teminating at the airport. Enforcement may pose some problems...
Regards,
- Alan
If there was ever a transit system in need of zone fares, it is MARTA. Unlike most other transit systems, MARTA receives zero funding from the state. It relies on sales tax in the two core urban counties to fund a system that runs to the edge of each county and is used by suburbanites going to work, the airport, the Braves, etc. It's nutty that a suburbanite whose county doesn't even support the system gets to ride close to 30 miles from North Springs to the airport for the same price an inner city college student pays to go 3/4 mile from Georgia State University to Phillips Arena or the Georgia Dome. Hopefully the airport double token fee will only be a temporary thing until the new smart card based fare system is in place and then zones can be put in place.
