March Service Council meetings feature fare forums

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Metro is considering restructuring fares and is providing information and an opportunity to comment on the proposal at “Fare Forums” at each of the Metro Service Council meetings in March.

Public comments gathered at the Fare Forums will be transcribed and submitted to the Metro Board of Directors as part of the record of public comment on the proposal.  The Forums are being held at the request of the Metro Board to provide the public with opportunities in different regions of LA County to receive information and comment on the proposed fare restructuring.  In addition to these Forums, the public may provide verbal input on the fare proposal at a formal public hearing that the Metro Board of Directors will hold on March 29, starting at 9:30 am, at the Metro Headquarters building in downtown Los Angeles.  For more information about the proposed fare restructuring, including other ways to submit comments on the proposal, click here.

The first of our five Service Council / Fare Forum meetings will be in Van Nuys on Wednesday, March 5, at 6:30 p.m., during the San Fernando Valley Service Council meeting. The other four Service Council / Fare Forum meetings will be: San Gabriel Valley (El Monte) on Monday, March 10, at 5 p.m.; Westside/Central (Beverly Hills) on Wednesday, March 12, at 5 p.m.; Gateway Cities (Huntington Park) on Thursday, March 13 at 2 p.m., and; South Bay (Inglewood) on Friday, March 14 at 9:30 a.m. For Service Council / Fare Forum locations, click here.

Additionally, all Service Council meetings will include the monthly report from Metro Service Council Director Jon Hillmer providing previous month’s statistics on ridership, performance and other measures of Metro service. Other meeting topics currently scheduled for the March Service Council meetings include:

San Fernando Valley (6:30 pm, Wednesday, 3/5) – Vote on proposed service changes for June 2014 or later.

San Gabriel Valley (5 pm, Monday, 3/10) – Vote on proposed service changes for June 2014 or later; presentation on Goals for Division 9 Improvement.

Westside/Central (5 pm, Wednesday, 3/12) – Vote on proposed service changes for June 2014 or later.

Gateway Cities (2 pm, Thursday, 3/13) – Vote on proposed service changes for June 2014 or later; presentation on Metro’s Blue Line Improvement Project.

South Bay (9:30 am, Friday, 3/14) – Update on LAX Green Line Buses Transfer Policy (note – since no major June ’14 service changes were proposed in the South Bay region, they did not hold a public hearing and thus will not be voting on any proposed changes).

As always, the public is encouraged to attend and share their comments with the Service Councils on improving bus service throughout LA County. If you would like to provide input to a Council but cannot attend a meeting, you can submit your comments in writing through the Service Council web page or send them to service councils@metro.net. If your comments are for a specific Council, please make sure to indicate which one you are addressing in your e-mail.

Categories: Feedback, Policy & Funding

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4 replies ›

  2. The main public hearing is on a Saturday. Supposedly 11 out of the 13 board members will show up, as reported at last month’s San Gabriel Valley Service Council meeting. There is also time to come up with a proposal after the hearing since they don’t vote on it until May. Overall this process is being handled much better than the debacle that was the 2007 fare increase.

  4. Why are all these important meetings held on a weekday during normal hours in which a vast majority of the people have work?

    It’s like Metro is deliberately making these “service councils” at inconvenient times so that the vast majority of the public cannot attend so that they can to ram forward with their plans.

    Don’t they think that something important as a fare hike which affects every Metro rider should be held at more convenient times so that people can actually attend?