Gary bus board approves fare hike

The Gary Public Transportation Corp. board of directors on Thursday night voted 4-0 to hike local bus fares by 35 cents and regional fares by 25 cents starting in February.

The fare hike was prompted by steep declines in tax revenue for the bus agency brought about mainly by Indiana's state-mandated property tax caps.

"It has come to a point where we can no longer function as an agency, even as we are functioning now, with the revenue we are generating," GPTC general manager Daryl Lampkins told the board.

The current local fare will increase to $1.60 from its current $1.25 in February under the proposal approved Thursday. The board also approved a boost in regional bus fares to $2.25 from their current $2.

The 15 cent charge for transfers from one bus route to another will be eliminated. The fare changes will take effect Feb. 6.

It will be GPTC's first fare increase since 1995.

The board also voted to abolish Saturday service in June, but only if other options for increasing revenues have proved fruitless.

GPTC operates four regional and six local routes. The regional routes run to East Chicago, Hammond, Merrillville, Crown Point and Hobart.

GPTC just a couple of years ago collected $2.6 million in tax revenue, Lampkins said. In 2010 it collected just $400,000. That drop was mainly due to the state's new property tax caps. Lake County's property tax freeze and low collection rates also played a role.

"We've gotten to the point where we can hardly breathe," Lampkins said.

GPTC currently has a request for $6.7 million pending before the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority to fund its regional routes for two years.

But the ultimate provider of those funds, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, is requiring that the Gary bus agency commit to merger with the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority before any money is handed over.

All summer the RDA and GPTC negotiated a memorandum of understanding on consolidation but failed to come to agreement.

Lampkins on Thursday night said GPTC had made every effort to come to agreement with the RBA on a path to merger. But he said there were several points GPTC would insist on, including GPTC's right to pick a merger consultant, assurances certain areas would be fully served, and equity in funding with other transit agencies.

RBA Executive Director Tim Brown told the GPTC board his agency did not formulate the merger memo, the RDA did. Brown said his agency did have input at times.

"We do not have a pot of money that is sitting to the side that is being held hostage to anyone," Brown said.

He also pointed out the RBA poured $3.2 million into GPTC regional route subsidies from October 2008 through September 2010.