Metrolink Considering Counterproductive Rate Hike

After my experience with Metrolink last night I'm not inclined to use their services again anytime soon, but if they go through with this rate hike a lot of other people will quit using them too:

The five-county rail agency's board is scheduled to decide this week whether to increase fares by as much as 6%. Some worry that the move would exacerbate a drop in ridership.


Faced with falling ridership, deepening budget woes and increased expenses for safety reforms, officials at Southern California's commuter rail service are considering raising fares for the second time in less than six months.

The five-county Metrolink agency board is scheduled to decide whether to hike ticket prices for tens of thousands of daily passengers by as much as 6% at a meeting Friday.

The potential January increase, on the heels of a 3% increase that took effect Aug. 1, is needed to help make up a revenue shortfall of several million dollars in the current year's budget.

Some worry that boosting fares again -- a one-way ticket from Riverside to downtown Los Angeles could top $11 -- will only exacerbate a recession-driven tumble in ridership.

"My feeling is it's a bad idea to raise them," said Metrolink Chairman Keith Millhouse. "I'd rather be cutting service, perhaps midday trains that are not as well-utilized. With the economy the way it is, I don't want us to lose" more riders.

Local Democrats are desperate to get us to quit using our own cars and rely on public transportation as an alternate. However, public transportation in Los Angeles and Orange County generally sucks, and unless you happen to be going where they go, it's pretty much useless.

The only way a service like Metrolink makes sense is if it will take you where you want to go and will do it at a price that makes it worth the hassle. It's pretty much a fundamental law of economics that if you add costs you'll reduce usage, so it's almost assured that a rate hike will reduce ridership and exacerbate their problems.

Hey Metrolink, want to increase ridership and revenue? Cut rates. Knock 10% off and see what that does to your numbers. It costs just as much to run a train with 40% capacity as it does to run one with 60% capacity, but the added passenger revenue will make that run more profitable.

When three different presidents, Kennedy, Reagan and Bush 43, cut taxes, revenue to the Federal Treasury went up. Why? The lower taxes made capital investment more profitable and less risky and thus encouraged more activity. The same principle will work with your trains.

Oh, and please don't screw with your customers like you did me last night. That will not help.