LANCASTER – Local residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on a combination of proposed service changes and fare modifications being considered by the Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA). The transit agency is seeking public comment through outreach efforts that will take place in the next few weeks at Lancaster City Park and the Palmdale Transportation Center.
All of the public input received will be incorporated into the final recommendations to the AVTA board of directors at its May 26 meeting. If approved, the fare and service changes would go into effect June 29, 2015.
Proposed service changes
AVTA has developed service change recommendations with the focus on improving route directness, reducing travel time and improving service frequency.
The most notable proposal would realign local Route 1 from Avenue S to Palmdale Boulevard in preparation for a future Bus Rapid Transit project. The proposed service changes also include adjustments to Routes 2, 3, 5 and 7, as well as the expansion of service on Commuter Route 786.
Scheduled pick-up times during the evening commuter service have also been modified to every 20 minutes for most trips. All proposed local changes would maintain schedule frequencies and connectivity along current corridors. Service change details can be viewed by visiting www.avta.com.
“Throughout the year, changes occur to roads, businesses and communities that can impact transit networks,” stated AVTA Board Chair Marvin Crist. “AVTA is committed to responding to these changes by adjusting and modifying services to ensure the transit system runs as effectively and efficiently as possible.”
Proposed fare modifications
The transit agency is also studying the possibility of restructuring the current fare schedule.
AVTA ridership has grown by 30 percent since 2011, and the number of customers who ride for free has increased from 38 percent to 50 percent during that same time period. Despite the significant increase in ridership, AVTA fare revenues have decreased by about 1 percent on the local transit service.
A half-fare rate for seniors and disabled passengers is under consideration, along with eliminating TAP card discounts. To assist those who cannot afford the added cost, AVTA is proposing to implement a Rider Relief Transportation Program, which will offer discount coupons toward monthly bus passes based on income eligibility.
The proposal also calls for adjusting the Day Pass from $3.75 to $5, as the price has not been changed in over a decade. The pass is intended to provide customers with a significant discount should they need to take four buses or more in one day.
Two fare adjustment scenarios are also under consideration for AVTA’s Commuter Service.
The first scenario proposes to reduce the cash fare by nearly 35 percent and eliminate the TAP fare discount. The second proposal would reduce the cash fare by up to 40 percent and implement a $10 flat one way fare for every commuter route. The second proposal would also eliminate the TAP fare discount to reduce fare structure complexity. Both proposals adjust the monthly pass pricing from between 20 percent and 30 percent, depending on the base fare under consideration.
The fare adjustments are necessary to cover increased operating expenses that are connected to the addition of three new commuter runs, which were added in October 2014 to reduce overcrowding.
Finally, the fare restructuring proposal seeks to adjust the North County Transporter’s one way fare from $4 to $5. The service was created in August 2012 through a grant from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The grant funds are no longer available, and a fare adjustment is needed in order to maintain service levels.
Residents are encouraged to visit www.avta.com to view all the proposed changes and to provide feedback by emailing planning@avta.com.
[Information via news release from the Antelope Valley Transit Authority.]
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Commuter says
Raising the rates for people who pay & commute daily w/tap pass and lowering the rate for your occasional riders. How much sense does that make. More commuters would load their tap cards if you had more places to load them at. online takes up to 24-48 hours. thats to long..
Stop buying electric busses, Re-evaluate your transit routes to make them more rider friendly / add more busses to transit routes so more people wouldn’t mind taking the bus but having to wait 45 min to an hour for the next bus is extreme.
S
Mike says
If the busses are losing money because 50% of the riders aren’t paying, the solution is to raise the fares for the people who do pay? Is this a joke?
How about making the freeloaders pay?
This seems to be how the government works now – go after the people who do what they’re supposed to and make them pay for all the bums and losers who are getting a free ride. I guess if they tried to enforce the rules the bums and losers would raise a stink while the people who do pay just go along with the program.
Ike says
And while their at it why not order electric busses that cost twice to three times as much without the infrastructure in place to support it. Who’s going to pay for that? Not the “freeloaders” as you call them. The people who pay taxes. #lancasternepotism #dowhatrexsaysnomatterthecost
AV Truth says
I hope he is cancer free. I would never wish cancer on anyone. He may be a bully and rotten, lying, corrupt, twisted, strange, and nepotistic megalomaniac, but I hope he lives a good long life———-somewhere else. Maybe near the beach. Anywhere far from here so he can leave this valley alone.
Marie says
I appreciate that Veterans can get a free pass to ride the AVTA buses. I hope that does not change. Let’s keep supporting our veterans.
Son of the Anti Rex says
Lancaster……………..
Worst. Neighbor. Ever.
William says
We really need to build a real cactus curtain. And, a moat with crocodiles in it but first I have a doctor’s appointment in L-town today.
moll flanders says
Thank goodness for the good people of Lancaster, Palmdale, and the surrounding areas. It is a real blessing to see people making a positive difference in any community they live in. Of course there will always be some people that focus on the negative side of everything, but pay no attention, because they are the problem, not the solution. As usual, those people will counter with more negative, because that’s all they know.
William says
What an amazingly arrogant statement to make!
moll flanders says
Thank you for realizing that your comment was an amazingly arrogant statement to make. I guess it’s finally sinking in, after I pointed out that many of your comments are amazingly arrogant. Finally, a break through!
William says
@moll
How could you get my comment so backward, as usual?
I was referring to your comment using you own silly words.
You didn’t reply to the content of my comment, just your usual silly rant. Do you have a problem reading more than one sentence before you go off on a tangent?
You wouldn’t know a ‘breakthrough’ from a ‘breakfast’. “breakthrough”???? I can’t believe you used that word.
What about Lancaster and its representatives doing all that I wrote regarding the college, the medical center, the power plant and so on?
What about Lancaster being a bad neighbor to Palmdale and Quartz Hill? The ‘good people of Palmdale and Quartz are the recipients of Lancaster’s tactics. The people of Lancaster seem to just sit back and let it happen.
Don’t bother answering if you’re going to spew the same old same old.
Think, moll, think, for a change. You just react, react, react like a reaction machine.
AV Truth says
I am glad that there are people who point out the people and activities that are dishonest and corrupt. There are many good people in Lancaster, Palmdale, and the surrounding areas, but there are some power hungry bullies that think they own the place. They don’t. They try to control people through fear, money, scare tactics and to a large degree they have been successful. But the truth can’t be buried any more. Rex may own the paper but there is social media now, and blogs, and Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram that he doesn’t own. It’s only a matter of time before someone in a high place connects with all the dirt here and then lookout.
Tim says
So much for that nationwide search to find a ‘seasoned professional’ to handle the job.
abula says
Norm Hinkling resigned as chair of AVTA, to not so secretly apply for the Executive Director position. Not exactly sure what makes him qualified other than sitting on the Board (tacky, tacky). So he is not yet staff nor is on the Board then why are my tax dollars, compliments of antelope valley transit paying for him to attend an APTA conference?? Looks like the efforts to clean up the corruption at AVTA was short-lived.
William says
Aside from rex, most things coming out of Lancaster are pretty rotten. .
-AV College took money from the bond issue that was to go to a Palmdale campus and spent it on their new audtiorium.
-Antelope Valley Hospital tried to stop Palmdale, which was without a hosptial for several years, from building Palmdale Regional Medical Center.
-Lancaster wanted a Walmart right across the city limits from Quartz Hill High School. Lancaster gets the sales tax revenue and Quartz Hill gets thr trafffic and other problems.
-Lancaster tries to stop Palmdale from building its own power plant.
-Lancaster is useless when it came to supporting the High Speed Rail project that will benefit the enitre Antelope Valley because there won’t be a station in Lancaster.
and so on.
Have you ever seen or heard of a worse neighbor than the city of Lancaster?
Tell us. Why does Lancaster have such a high opinion of itself because “It ain’t perfectly clear.”
If you ever listen to their council meetings, it’s ‘paradise on earth’. Some paradise. Even the mayor spends much of his time at the beach in his other residence. I wonder where he’s registered to vote.
As for the council meetings, there are maybe 4 or 5 residents in attendance. A Suburban can hold more people.
ERIK says
Great point about Parris’ voter registration.
My distrust of him started after he first took office. I was driving south on 10th Street West near J-8 when he passed me in an Audi going about 70 mph or more. It gave me the feeling that he figures that it is “his city and he will do what he wants.” Bad vibes.
The Audi mentioned also had a Santa Clarita dealership logo on the license plate frame. This was after the mayor and the City of Lancaster had campaigned in radio spots to “buy local”….especially concerning the purchase of vehicles from local automotive dealerships. Again, bad vibes.
And that was just the beginning for me……
AV Truth says
Keep your dial tuned here and to places like Get Parris Out of Lancaster on Facebook. They’re the only places where you’ll get the real story behind his antics—unfiltered. They can’t be bought and that’s so refreshing.
moll flanders says
Is Rex Parris cancer free now!
William says
Don’t forget rex’s grandiose, megalomaniac braggadocio. (Gee, I’ve never put those 3 words together to describe anyone on earth before)
When he was boasting about the Lancaster Auto Mall in the same way he boasted about the blvd, he said people from all over California would come to the Auto Mall to buy their cars.
Never mind the cost a driving or getting to Lancaster from Modesto or Eureka, Los Angeles County’s 10% or more sales tax rate on auto purchases is higher than most California counties and would add hundreds of dollars to the most moderately priced cars.
I have local friends and neighbors who bought cars in the San Fernando Valley and even in Ontario since then. I bought in Santa Clarita only because they had the model and equipment I wanted. And, that was before he became mayor.
He’s such a brilliant businessman. He doesn’t seem to know how things work in the world………except for lawsuits.
Raise your hand if you thought the blvd was going to be a roaring success when it was first built, y’know, the ‘heart of the Vallley’ and a ‘world class destination’ like the Eiffel Tower or the Vatican. Maybe more like the La Brea Tar Pits.
Anon says
remember when Ron Smith said he believed in his heart that people would come up from LA to visit the BLVD? According to Rex he was right. Rex claims that the homeless are flocking to the BLVD from LA at a rate of 67 a day. What’s in the water on Fern Street?
rollotomasi says
Yeah I saw his Facebook it says he is in Texas partying it up. So why does a non-elected official get to go to a professionals conference? So the Hickling doesn’t work for AVTA, isn’t a board member and still gets to go to transit related conferences? Sounds like cronyism to me. I thought we were done with these, I scratch your back you scratch my back scandals. I guess we will see how AVTA or LA county will spin his travel. Not cool man, totally not cool. Get a clue AVTA stop letting this sorta stuff keep going on or you’re probably get more bad press.
ERIK says
Anon-
Your observation on the irony of Los Angeles tourism on the boulevard is beyond classic. Good stuff, buddy.
I picture Mr. Smith reading it on his iPhone at some community event and letting out a hearty “Do’h!”
Gotta admit, though, the guy does paint a pretty good bird.