Seven Metrobus fareboxes are breaking down per day while buses are picking up passengers, according to a new Metro report, likely losing the transit agency untold numbers of fares as it struggles with reduced ridership and flagging finances.
Metro logged 924 work orders to fix or maintain fareboxes in the month of May, out of 1,479 buses, the report said. That would mean 62 percent of fareboxes needed repairs, unless some broke down more than once.
The fareboxes are supposed to be inspected before the buses roll out each morning and checked at the end of each day. But they break during service as well. The report said 127 work orders were submitted during bus service in May, which translated to an average of seven failures per day on weekdays and four per weekend day.
Buses with broken fareboxes are supposed to be swapped out as soon as possible, but a bus loaded with passengers often continues its route rather than dump all its riders for a new bus. That means a common phenomenon for riders: a free ride.
Metro is grappling with a current budget deficit of $49 million, according to its latest financial report. And it likely will ask riders to pay major fare hikes starting later this month to help cover a $189 million shortfall in its next budget.
Meanwhile bus ridership has dropped 9 percent this budget year compared with the same period last year, according to the agency’s latest finance report. Ridership was also a full 13 percent below what the agency expected in its budget, leading to the current shortfall that prompted the 10-cent fare surcharge enacted in late February through June.
Metro’s online archive of daily ridership shows 426,000 Metrobus trips for each weekday, regardless of the day, though in reality those numbers vary from day to day. Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff called them an average number used as a placeholder. Exact rail numbers, though, are provided each day.
Some of the Metrobus uncertainty and ridership declines could come from riders getting on buses without paying because of the broken fareboxes. Metro could not provide an estimate on Wednesday of how much fare money is lost because of the flawed fareboxes.
Still, even when riders can pay their way, Metrobus fares cover only about 30 percent of the cost of riding the bus. The rest is subsidized.
A solution for the fareboxes is coming, but it may not arrive before Metro gives up many more free rides: The transit agency plans to upgrade the fareboxes in a three year phase-in process starting in 2013, the report said.
