PORT ANGELES — Riding the bus in Clallam County will cost an extra 25 cents beginning July 1.
Clallam Transit also is cutting back service on four holidays — Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving — effective this fall.
The public bus service is raising its base fares from 75 cents to $1 on all fixed-route and paratransit modes of travel.
Fares for adults 65 and older will double from 25 cents to 50 cents. Youth from 6 to 19 years old and disabled passengers will still pay 50 cents per trip under the new fare structure.
A day pass will cost $3 next month instead of $2. The cost of a summer youth pass will rise from $10 to $20.
Clallam Transit’s first fare hike since 1997 is intended to counter sagging sales tax revenue.
Saddled with a $517,000 loss in sales tax collections in 2009, Clallam Transit spent $640,000 of its reserves last year.
Officials with the public entity expect to spend an additional $720,000 in reserves this year.
At that rate, the reserves will run dry in 2012.
The fare increase is expected to generate $89,000 per year.
That, combined with the elimination of bus service on four holidays, should sustain Clallam Transit’s reserves until 2014.
The system’s governing board held separate public hearings in Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks on the fare hike and the elimination of bus service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving.
Those are in addition to the holidays that Clallam Transit buses do not run now: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Clallam Transit may further reduce bus service for long-term viability.
“Just when people may need to rely more on public transit because their income has been impacted by the recession, Clallam Transit may be forced to cut service in order to maintain its core routes and basic services,” Clallam Transit General Manager Terry Weed said in a prepared statement.
No proposals have been raised for greater cuts.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
