Post in Streetcar Meeting?

May 03 13:19 UTC

After I sent the last e-mail, I read the street car planning financial plan,
and answered one of my own questions about fares. I'm not sure I understand
where people from the suburbs will park and then ride the street car from a
parking lot or meter to an event.

Here is the fare and parking info, just in case you didn't know and were
interested:

Fares/Pay-to-Ride

Everyone who rides the streetcar will pay. Fare revenue is based on the
assumption that approximately 30 percent

of the ridership would pay the respective fares for a one-way ticket,
round-trip ticket, monthly pass, ten-trip coupon

booklet, etc. It is believed that this mix of fares would average $1 per
ride. It is further assumed that approximately

70 percent of the ridership would ride under programs linked to the charges
in the benefit zone for paid off-street

parking and admissions. The resulting $720,000 per year expected from fare
revenues equals approximately 16

percent of gross operating costs, which is in line with other transit system
operating experience, where such

revenues rarely exceed 20 percent of operating costs.

Ohio State University Participation

Students, faculty, staff and visitors to OSU will be major users and
beneficiaries of the line. The University can be

anticipated to participate in some degree to the ongoing funding of the
line.

Charge on Paid Off-Street Parking

This item is modeled on the surcharges on paid off-street parking that are
not uncommon in other major American

cities. Examples are Cleveland at 8%, Seattle at 7.5%, Chicago at $20 on
monthly parking rates between $40 and

$100 (effectively 20% to 50%) and Pittsburgh at 50%. The recommendation is a
surcharge of four percent on paid

off-street parking within the benefit zone.

Paid admissions surcharge

A surcharge of four percent is proposed on all paid admissions to sporting
events, convention and commercial shows

in facilities that operate in the benefit zone. The holder of any surcharged
ticket would be able to use the ticket stub

to ride the streetcar the day of the event.

Rate increase on meter parking

Parking rates on 2-hour meters within the benefit zone would be raised by up
to 75 cents per hour depending on the

location of the meter. This is still less than surface lots and garages in
the area for short term hourly parking.

Meter parking

Existing annual revenues generated from all parking meters within the
benefit zone would be applied toward the

streetcar project as long as necessary to close the gap on the benefit zone
side of the partnership. The amount of

revenues that need to be used to support the project could be phased down as
other potential revenue sources come

into play over time.