Around Des Moines

(Des Moines, IA, March 18, 2008) At the March school board meeting for the Des Moines Public Schools, the superintendent’s report included recognition of a team of high school students who won an award for devising a mathematical formula to address the real-world problem of determining the cost benefit of renting a car versus driving one’s own car when going on a trip. Too bad the problem was not more civic-oriented, such as creating a formula for determining which riders should pay which portion of a public transit’s operating expenses. I continue to believe that the Des Moines Area Transit Authority (DART) determines its fare system based on the source of funding rather than the consideration of the ridership. The current fare proposal is just one more example of this.

When the downtown/Capitol shuttle begins, there will be no charge to ride between Meredith’s offices at approximately 16th and Locust to the state Capitol at approximately 13th and East Grand. The north/south route of the shuttle will be limited to the area near the west side of the Des Moines River. In contrast, the downtown zone for route buses will have a fare increase from $0.25 5o $0.50. This bothers me in a couple ways. First, with health care we are told repeatedly that patients must pay a portion of the cost to appreciate the value of the service. I find this is true with public transit, as well. The second concern is that as a city and a state taxpayer, I am subsidizing those free rides while also paying increased fares for downtown zones on weekends and in the evenings. Does DART have agreements with the primary funding entities for the shuttle that DART cannot assign a fare cost to riders to help with other DART services?

Below is a comparison of fares for Ames’ CyRide, San Francisco’s MUNI, and the proposed increase for Des Moines’ DART. I also have included the size of the service area for comparison.

The chart below shows data for 2006, including how much each funding source contributes to operating and to capital revenues (source: National Transit Database). The funding sources will indicate the primary purpose of the transit authority. In Ames, the dominance of local funding suggests the priority is to provide transportation for university students. In Des Moines, the federal funding is to target air pollution and possibly to avoid building extra road lanes to handle rush-hour traffic; the local funding forces riders to go downtown to transfer. In San Francisco, the primary source for operating funds means that riders’ needs will be heard with great respect.

I disapprove of the disproportionate price of a single fare. With an economy that places many residents in part-time and sporadic jobs, it is not cost-effective to buy a monthly pass. How much more should these occasional workers be forced to pay compared to a person who is working full time?

Also, why, when fuel prices are the reason given for the fare increases, are express buses from the outlying suburbs not having their rates increased? Certainly the stop and go traffic of urban routes increases gasoline consumption. However, the sprawl encouraged in an era of inexpensive gasoline is why public transit resources are being spent on daily commuter buses today. It is only fair to increase the monthly pass fares for these riders, too.

I think that before we raise fares, we should require the DART commissioners to take the bus to their monthly commission meetings and to give up their cars for one week in favor of taking the bus.

M.R. Field writes on transit issues.