DART announces proposed fare policy

Those who use tokens to ride the buses on the various services provided by the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority, take heed. Change is coming.
Those who pay in cash or use passes—you should take heed for that change is coming as well.
Not immediately—some work remains on the new fare policy which DART is planning to implement from late next year to early 2016—but it will mean changes big and small to many of the transit services offered by DART throughout the Des Moines area.
The proposed fare policy intends to encourage use of options which speed up travel and cost less to maintain, such as smart cards and employee IDs. On the same line, the policy intends to reduce of fare payment options which slow down service and are costlier to produce. The new fare policy ties in with DART’s plans to install new fare payment systems on buses.
No changes to fares are planned at this time, noted DART authorities at a public information meeting held on November 11 in Des Moines.
Do you use a bus pass or employee ID card to pay for your current rides? When the new fare policy is implemented, you should be using the new cards, called “smart cards”. Plans call for two types. One would be for unlimited rides, whose use can begin at any time selected by the user. Some of the time periods might include a 30-day period, a week or a full day.
The day passes, which might cost $4.00 and would only cover a single day, would be activated on the first use and cover full fare on all local, express and non-flex trips on flex routes, although there would be a charge for on-call trips and flex trips with flex routes, according to the plans announced at the November 11 meeting. The day passes are intended to replace the bus tokens.
The other type of smart card would come with stored value—in which the value of the rides is stored on the account and deducted every time you use the card. It will be possible to add value to the cards as need be—perhaps online or at a place which sells smart cards.
In addition, you can earn bonus trips by using these cards. For example, if you have enough fare for ten rides, you can earn a free ride after the tenth ride. As opposed to the monthly, weekly or daily passes, the stored value passes would have no expiration time.
Plans also call for provisions which would allow employers, colleges and universities and other organizations and agencies to partner with DART to provide fare payment by allowing the use of their own issued identification cards, if possible, to function as DART smart cards for use their employees, affiliates, students and others who ride DART. It might be also be possible for those organizations to attach stickers with chips with their own IDs which would allow them to function as DART smart cards.
That said, if you want to pay for your rides with cash, you can continue to do so, but there will be no free transfers, according to the proposed fare policy. A payment will be required for each boarding whenever cash is used.
The presentation at the November 11 meeting noted that using passes as opposed to cash would save money. For example, the use of a day pass for four rides is projected to cost $4.00. With a smart cards, those four rides would cost $3.50 for a single day and $17.50 for five days; in cash, those four rides would cost $7.00 on a single day and $35.00 for five days.
The discontinuation of the free transfers for those using cash would be a “disproportionate burden” on low-income riders, according to the presentation made at the November 11 meeting. However, DART plans to carry out a variety of measures to mitigate that burden. These include distributing free smart cards to all riders during a planned promotion period for the new fare policy, offering smart cards for free on a continual basis for low-income readers who receive transit passes from social service agencies, providing a ride for riders with insufficient fare so they can reach a pass-sales outlet to refill their cards, conducting additional outreach to educate low-income riders about benefits of using the smart cards, and introducing the day pass fare on smart cards along with bonus trips on smart cards with stored value.
Those measures intend to ensure that DART complies with the United States Department of Transportation’s Title VI regulations under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Finally, the “Loop Zone, which is located in downtown Des Moines, bordered by Interstate-235, Cherry Street/Court Avenue, and 15th Street and East 14th Street, will be abolished. The cost of a ride entirely within that zone was seventy-five cents.
The “Loop Zone” is difficult to enforce, noted officials at the November 11 meeting. The fares for the D-Line and LINK services, which serve the downtown area will remain free.
A draft of the proposed fare policy can be found here: http://www.ridedart.com/new-fareboxes-and-fare-policy-project-page

There will be several opportunities to discuss the proposed fare policy changes this week. Other opportunities include:

Wednesday, November 12
• 5 – 6 p.m., Ankeny City Hall, 410 W. 1st St., Ankeny
• 7 – 8 p.m., Johnston City Hall, 6221 Merle Hay Road, Johnston
Thursday, November 13
• 2 – 3 p.m., DART Central Station, Multimodal Room, 620 Cherry St., Des Moines
• 5 – 6 p.m., North Side Library, 3516 Fifth Ave., Des Moines
Monday, November 17
• 5 – 6 p.m., West Des Moines Community Center, 217 5th St., West Des Moines
• 7 – 8 p.m., Forest Avenue Library, 1326 Forest Ave., Des Moines
Tuesday, November 18
• 4 :30 – 5 :30 p.m., Urbandale Library, 3520 86th St., Urbandale
• 6:30 – 7:30 p.m., East Side Library, 2559 Hubbell Ave., Des Moines
Wednesday, November 19
• 5 – 6 p.m., South Side Library, 1111 Porter Ave., Des Moines
• 7 – 8 p.m., Jordan Creek Town Center, Community Room, 101 Jordan Creek Pkwy., West Des Moines

Those who are unable to attend a meeting and would like to provide feedback should visit www.ridedart.com, call 515-283-8100, email dart@ridedart.com, or mail to Attn: Fare Policy, DART Central Station, 620 Cherry St., Des Moines, IA 50309.
Free language, visual, hearing services are available at meetings upon request. Transportation services are also available. For requests, please call DART at 515-283-8100 with as much advanced notice as possible.