The base fare for the local Connect-A-Ride bus system that serves Laurel and Anne Arundel, Howard and Prince George's counties, was reduced by 50 cents to $1.50 July 1, but at the same time, passengers saw free bus transfers disappear and monthly passes increased by $30.

In addition, on July 5, the F route, which transported passengers from North Laurel to the National Security Agency in Anne Arundel County, was eliminated by Central Maryland Regional Transit officials, the agency that manages Connect-A-Ride. CMRT's board of directors approved the changes at a June 21 meeting.

The fare restructuring and service cut were part of CMRT officials' efforts to rein in a more than $310,000 budget deficit for fiscal year 2012, which kicked in on July 1.

"We needed to come up with ways to deal with the deficit and of the many options explored, we felt reducing the base fare and having no free transfers was the best way to go," said Traci McPhail, CMRT's spokesperson. "We didn't want to cut services, but with reduced funding, we had to come up with a way to balance the budget."

According to CMRT officials, their operating costs in fiscal year 2012 will increase by 5.4 percent and administrative costs will rise by nearly 3 percent. Expenses for the transit agency are expected to total more than $4.4 million with revenue totaling only a little more than $577,000 and funding from the state and local governments coming to $3.6 million.

CMRT CEO John Powell said funding from Anne Arundel County will drop by $62,500 this fiscal year and because of budget constraints, Laurel officials cut their annual $22,500 contribution to the bus service this fiscal year. City officials will continue to give the agency money from the special tax City Council members approved for Connect-A-Ride four years ago, which has amounted to $50,000 in the last two years.

In a press statement, Powell admitted that it may seem odd to reduce the base fare at a time when the system is facing a large deficit, but he stated, "The rationale for reducing the base fare from $2.00 to $1.50 is straightforward — we needed to eliminate free transfers and without a reduction in the base fare, individuals who are now transferring would have faced a 100% increase in their fare. Such a high increase was unacceptable to both the staff and CMRT board."

Earlier, Powell said free transfers were discontinued because they were being abused and costing the transit agency a lot of money.

Riders react

The bus system's changes that went into effect this month were included in several proposals presented to residents by CMRT officials at a June 8 meeting at the Laurel Municipal Center. Riders were told that the elimination of the F Route and the restructured fares would reduce the system's deficit by nearly $300,000.

During that meeting, F route riders told officials that most of them are disabled and have no other means of getting to their jobs at NSA. But CMRT officials said because only about six passengers ride the buses per trip, they could not justify maintaining the service.

"The F route is the most under-utilized route in the system and there were just not enough riders to sustain it," McPhail said. "We worked with the BWI Business Partnership, a transportation management association and NSA and came up with an alternative option for them (F route riders). Partners in Care, a nonprofit group, will run the route for them."

Some residents who attended the meeting raised objections to an agency proposal that would have cut service on the C route on All Saints Road between Route 216 and Pilgrim Avenue and discontinued Saturday-only service to the Castlerock community near Old Scaggsville Road. Those changes were not approved by CMRT's board of directors in June, but officials said their eliminations are still on the table and will be discussed at the agency's next meeting later this month.

Although in the CMRT press release, officials stated that they were "surprised" that more concerns were not raised at the meeting regarding fare changes, several residents, including City Council member Frederick Smalls, asked agency officials to consider raising fares to avoid service cutbacks. The local passengers said they were willing to pay higher fares if it meant bus routes would be maintained and expanded to later hours, especially at the Greenbelt Metro station.

"We already have the highest fares in the state and when we did the numbers, we saw that increasing fares didn't work," McPhail said.

CMRT officials did not predict whether the new fare structure will be sufficient to avoid service cuts in future years, but hope that for now, the deficit will be eliminated and the bus system's financial health will be stable.