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VRE proposes fare increase amid ridership woes
LATEST ON THIS STORYRelated Topics: Fairfax County
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Fairfax County (Map, News) - A proposed fare increase for Virginia Railway Express might be a tough sell for a system still recovering from major train delays and decreasing ridership.
The suggested 2 percent increase is one of the recommendations made by a VRE task force on how to bridge an expected $7.7 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2008. If approved, the increase could bring in as much as $432,461, according to the task force.
But VRE has only recently emerged from steady declines in ridership, widely attributed to frequently delayed trains. At its worst in July, only about half the trains were within five minutes of their scheduled times, according to data provided by VRE. Those delays were caused by a combination of track work on a major line and regulations that required trains to slow down on hot days, according to VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. He said ridership saw a 3 percent drop between fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
Though ridership is recovering and delays have substantially lessened in recent months, the suggestion it should now be more expensive to ride the suburban Virginia rail lines could prove problematic.
“That’s exactly what’s on everybody’s mind,” said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, who also sits on the board of one of the two bodies overseeing VRE. “You’ve got riders that have suffered through track work that has slowed the system down, and then on top of that, to hit folks with fare increases would not sit well. We don’t want to see ourselves losing more riders.”
The concern over the proposed increase, Roeber said, is justifiable.
“We’ve struggled to get ridership back,” he said. “We’re going through the process of re-proving ourselves again that we’ve really made a commitment to get service back to where they expect it to be.”
Other officials in Prince William and Arlington counties declined to comment because they had not yet seen the proposed budget measures.
In addition to the possible rate hike, the VRE task force is proposing to defer a storage expansion project, reduce station security and cut contributions to the insurance trust fund. Roeber said those changes, and others, may or may not be adopted.
The budget shortfall is a result of lower revenues from the decreased ridership, increased insurance premiums, new debt and escalation costs in contracts, according to a Fairfax County report.
The VRE Operations Board is set to vote on adopting the 2008 budget on Dec. 15.
Comments from Examiner Readers
12:27 PM MST on Tue., Aug. 28, 2007 re: "VRE ridership up; commuters likely to ask for later trains"
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3:56 PM MST on Sat., Aug. 18, 2007
re: "New VRE modifications may push price tag past $86M"
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3:49 PM MST on Sat., Aug. 18, 2007
re: "New VRE modifications may push price tag past $86M"
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3:40 PM MST on Sat., Aug. 18, 2007
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5:12 AM MST on Wed., Aug. 15, 2007
re: "VRE ridership up; commuters likely to ask for later trains"
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6:06 AM MST on Thu., May. 3, 2007
re: "Fairfax would save $1.2M under VRE restructuring"
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Examiner Reader said:
I think that we need more funding of rail. The big cost to the state is more roads. Rail is a cheaper and greener alternative and a relaxing way to travel.
242 agree | 232 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Japan? JAPAN? WHAT?, Americans can`t figure out how to keep a wheelchair from rolling? I guess it`s our great public school educational system! VRE IS NUTS! CORRUPTION! SOMEBODY HAS TO BE STEALING! JAPAN???
237 agree | 230 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
$350,000 for seat belts and a door lock? Where are buying this stuff; form the same people who charged U.S. DOD $1,000,000 for TWO LOCK WASHERS? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?
261 agree | 239 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
"cost-cutting measures"!?! What COST-CUTTING MEASURES? WHO'S RUNNING THE ZOO? ARE YOU GUYS INSANE? Usually when you CUT COSTS things COST "LESS" NOT "MORE"!!!! GOOD GRIEF!
241 agree | 243 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I used VRE, and I have stopped, by the time it got to the Rippon or Woodbridge station , they was no seats and I refused to stand, when people asked for longer trains the answer was the platform was not long enough, wrong answer!! many times I have had to walk back from the quiet car to exit the train so that no problem. the problem is it grew to fast too quick and they were not ready for the growth. So now I ride the bus I allways get a seat.
260 agree | 266 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Local Governments need to immediately initiate construction of high-density housing within walking distance of the VRE Stations. More vehicles would be taken off of the road and old commercial structures and outdated housing could be torn down and upgraded. It is time to bring Route One out of the 50's.
271 agree | 385 disagree
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