Raising Fares
So just when we were all praising public transit some (I said “It really is a good, inexpensive way to get to and from the airport.”). They go and think about doubling the price from the airport.
MARTA officials have begun talks with city and airport officials to seek their support in raising the single fare for trains from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to $3.50.
The airport station would be the only one in the 48-mile MARTA rail system to charge $3.50 to board the train. All other stations will continue to charge $1.75 at the fare gates.
If city and airport officials agree, MARTA could begin exacting the higher fare as early as next year, before the system’s new fare gates are installed. MARTA expects the doubling of the fare would generate more than $2 million a year in additional revenue from tourists, business travelers and local residents who go to the airport to greet them.
Now, I’m no economist. But I’m not sure that doubling the price is a good way to get people to ride MARTA. If they think they have a captive customer (or whatever that is called) who has to ride MARTA from the airport to Lindbergh or wherever, then I think they are pretty wrong and are going to lose some customers… I guess as long as they lose less than half…
Anyway, I don’t like the idea.
I hate the idea, but I won’t stop taking MARTA from the airport if it happens.
The problem for me is, MARTA does not come up my way. Northwest. So, it’s just as easy for me to drive to the airport. To find a close MARTA station from Cobb, you’d spend more time driving there than driving to the airport.
*whistles*
Welcome to MARTA, Proud Supplier of Ways to Shoot Oneself in the Foot.
To be fair, this isn’t unreasonable in context. The London tube prices by distance from the center, so it costs a lot more to get from Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow than it does from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus. DC also prices by distance. NYC and Boston are flat rates; I’m not sure about SF.
But it’s one thing to price by distance, and quite another to single out one route as a golden egg and then try to kill it. I’m with you, Daniel; I think they’ll lose more customers than they realize.
Sigh . . .