Fare Increase

ATLANTA -- Delta Air Lines Inc., the No. 3 U.S. carrier, yesterday dropped its 3 percent fare increase, raising the possibility that three rivals may roll back the higher prices, an Internet site that tracks fares said.Delta rescinded its increase on business and leisure fares, said Tom Parsons, editor of bestfares.com. The increase remains in place at UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, Continental Airlines Inc. and AMR Corp.'s American, which started the fare boost late Monday to make up for higher fuel costs.

A provision of a Senate budget bill that passed Thursday would -- if accepted by the House -- require the Maryland Transit Administration to raise fares on its core services in Baltimore to keep pace with inflation. The clause in the annual budget reconciliation bill would end the transit fare freeze on MTA bus, subway and light rail services that has prevailed for almost a decade. The base one-way fare for those services is $1.60. A provision the Senate inserted into Gov. Martin O'Malley's original bill would require the MTA to adjust fares every other year, starting in the budget year beginning July 1, to account for increases in the Consumer Price Index over the previous two calendar years.

A group of Baltimore taxi companies has asked the state Public Service Commission to approve a fare increase starting Nov. 26 that would raise the cost of the average cab ride by 91 percent, rate filings show.Meanwhile, the same taxi firms have asked the commission to approve a temporary, emergency rate increase of about 9 percent on the average cab ride effective immediately. Higher fares are desperately needed, the group said, to offset rapidly increasing fuel, equipment and insurance costs.

Raise fares on Baltimore's bus, light rail, and subway (and perhaps even on MARC commuter trains), and ridership will likely fall, particularly given the economy and the fact that so many transit riders live a hand-to-mouth existence. Cut service, and there's no doubt about it. That's why one of the smarter decisions of Gov. Martin O'Malley's time in office has been to preserve existing Maryland Transit Administration fares and routes. Anything that prevents people - particularly poor people - from getting to work, school or job training would run counter to Maryland's ongoing economic recovery efforts.

Ridership on the Baltimore area's bus, light rail and subway systems has risen more than 4 percent since March, when transit officials took the controversial step of raising fares and shortening some bus routes.Higher fares and more riders? The news defies an industry maxim that says, in essence, when you raise rates, you lose passengers."That definitely goes against the grain of what one would normally expect to happen after a fare increase," said Dennis M. Kouba, spokesman for the American Public Transit Association, an industry trade group in Washington.

Bus, subway and light rail fares would go up 15 cents - to $1.50 - starting July 1 under a plan being considered by the Maryland Transit Administration, officials said yesterday. The plan calls for even steeper increases for riders of MARC trains and commuter buses. The proposed fare increase occurs as the MTA is eliminating or reducing service on about a dozen bus lines and as new services are being postponed to deal with the state's budget shortfall. It would be the first fare increase since 1996.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Northwest Airlines Corp. rescinded a 4 percent leisure fare increase on U.S. flights yesterday, reversing a surprising move in which the fourth-largest U.S. airline had spurred an industrywide price boost.Most major U.S. airlines increased fares on tickets purchased seven, 14 and 21 days in advance yesterday after Northwest initiated the boost. St. Paul, Minn.-based Northwest had declined to go along with previous increases by other carriers.Analysts had said they expected the fare increase, the seventh such attempt this year, to hold because Northwest is participating for the first time.

With costs growing but overall ridership stagnant, the Mass Transit Administration is anticipating a 12 percent increase in the fares for bus, light rail and Metro service this fall to prevent a looming $7.5 million budget deficit.State officials have cautioned that the fare increase is not a certainty, and a decision won't be made whether to impose it until July or August. But unless cost-cutting efforts are highly successful or significantly more people start riding transit, the fare increase appears inevitable.

Despite complaints from some steamed customers, the fares on commuter trains go up on Monday.Mass Transit Administration officials announced yesterday that Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) fares will rise 25 cents for a one-way base ticket and the discount for monthly passes will drop from 50 percent to 43 percent. That amounts to a 19 percent average fare increase.To the penny, the proposal is the same one that the MTA unveiled in July -- before conducting five public hearings.John A. Agro Jr., the MTA's administrator, said the decision does not mean the MTA ignored the concerns of its riders.

Members of Howard County's public transportation board tentatively voted last night to increase base fares from $1 to $1.50, starting July 1. Board Chairwoman Andrea Paskin called for the vote after noting the low turnout - two residents - at last night's public hearing on the proposed increase. If riders were upset about the change, "I thought they would be here tonight," she said. The deadline for public comment on the proposal is May 25, when the board may take a final vote. Then the recommendation from the board goes to the county executive, who will decide on a fare increase.

A blue-ribbon commission set up to recommend ways to finance Maryland's growing backlog of transportation projects recommended Tuesday that the state raise its gas tax by 15 cents a gallon and increase public transit fares as well as protect that revenue from being diverted to other purposes. The panel, set up by the General Assembly, also urged legislators and Gov. Martin O'Malley to back a series of other revenue-raising measures, including a 50 percent increase in vehicle registration fees and doubling the emission inspection fee to $28. The increase in Maryland Transit Administration fares would affect bus, light rail, MARC and metro service.

Maryland Transit Administration fares have to go up eventually. It has been eight years since the last fare increase, the longest such stretch in the agency's history, and at some point the cost of fueling and running buses and trains was bound to force a change. A recent award by an arbitrator that is forcing higher salaries and pension contributions for transit union members didn't help, and the system is now well short of its goal to recoup 35 percent of its expenses at the farebox.

The average fare at Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International Airport increased more than 13 percent percent in the second quarter to $289.25, compared to $254.54 for the same quarter last year. Nationally, average fares were $341, up more than 13 percent from $301 in the second quarter of last year. Fares at BWI were lower than those at other airports in the region. Average fares at Dulles airport in Northern Virginia were $424.05, a 10.7 percent increase from $383.22 last year.

M aryland suffered some of the biggest employment losses in the nation last month, shedding 13,800 jobs between January and February. Given the state's recession-driven economic woes, the last thing lawmakers should be considering is to make it more difficult for low-income people to get to work. But that's exactly what a major increase in the fares charged by the Maryland Transit Administration would do - make it that much tougher to match the unemployed with jobs. Just as legislators are rightly reluctant to raise taxes in the midst of a recession, raising fares by a staggering 30 percent or more is a tax that hits the poor hardest and a policy that can only hinder the recovery.

When gas prices soar, there's only one remedy the taxi industry can pursue: Wait on local jurisdictions to adjust fare prices. But the wheels of government don't exactly accelerate from zero to 60 in 5 seconds. With the way the price of fuel has soared in recent months, by the time officials respond to one surge, they are trying to catch up to the next one. This week, the Annapolis city council approved a series of taxi surcharges that would go into effect when gas prices hit $3 a gallon, and again when it tops $4. City leaders sought to enact the legislation, which would more rapidly respond to the price fluctuations and keep taxi businesses from stalling out. Anne Arundel County is considering drafting a bill similar in scope, although details are unknown.

A day after President Bush urged Americans to get out of their cars and use mass transit, Amtrak said yesterday that it will raise fares nationwide to offset increased fuel costs and reinstate hefty increases for commuters in the Northeast corridor. In a concession to the outcry that followed its original decision to raise some commuter fares by hundreds of dollars a month, the railroad said it would implement that increase in two stages - one next month and the other in February. Then, commuters would have to absorb the same increases Amtrak announced Sept.

As The Sun reported this morning, the number of taxicabs -- legal ones, at least -- is now at a record low for modern times in Baltimore. This news comes as no surprise to anyone who has called a cab in recent months; as often as not, you could get to your destination more quickly by walking.There is little question that the fare increase now pending before the Public Service Commission is merited by recent increases in gasoline prices. But such an increase will almost certainly drive more customers to illegal cabs, which can charge lower fares because they don't have to carry insurance or keep their cars in safe condition.

Bus, subway and light rail fares would rise from $1.35 to $1.60 starting July 1 under a budget-balancing plan of fare increases and service reductions to be announced today by state transportation officials. In addition to raising fares across the board, the Maryland Transit Administration plans to eliminate one local bus line, three commuter buses and three Maryland Rail Commuter trains after years of service expansions as the state attempted to build transit ridership. But in a dismal budget climate, those days are over.

After hearing protests from Capitol Hill, Amtrak has backed away from a plan to impose steep fare increases next week on its most frequent riders. The railroad said yesterday it was indefinitely postponing a plan to charge about 2,000 commuters on the Eastern Seaboard hundreds of dollars more for a monthly rail pass, as well as to impose an across-the-board fare increase of 5 percent to 7 percent to help cover rising fuel costs. Scores of passengers in Maryland use the monthly Smart Passes to commute to such cities as Wilmington, Del., and Philadelphia.