METRO plans to raise its fare

In anticipation for the fare hike scheduled to take place next month, I am starting to keep my ears open as I ride the metro on my daily commute to and from work. Since the first I heard of the possible fare increase a few weeks ago discussion on the bus has been pretty nil, but since the scheduled increase has started to be broad casted on the local news, the discussion is heating up.
Yesterday morning, I heard a high-school-er idly listened as she complained about the fare going up to $3. She then went on to mention that if it did this, that she would not ride the bus at all.

First of all, I seriously doubt that the far will increase 200% in just one month. She must have been catching the tail end of telephone-tag. Secondly, I was working under the impression that Cincinnati Public Schools have designated certain buses which students ride for free. Meaning, that if the fare were to sky rocket to, let’s say, $10 a pop, theoretically, she should not have a problem getting too and from school because the powers that be in the school district have paid off Metro so that their students can get to and from school.

In my opinion, I don’t feel that raising the fare is such a bad idea. TANK buses raised its fare to $1.25 several years ago and not too many people made a fuss about that. If you read the Cincinnati Enquirer article chronicling the raise, you can see how METRO compares to other cities’ transit operations.

This would all be fixed if we just bucked up and tried to implement a light-rail…but who am I to say.