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Elmer Smith: SEPTA fare hearings are routine, but being a squeaky wheel sometimes pays off

SEPTA wouldn't think of raising transit fares without hearing from you first. Not that hearing from you will alter the outcome much. In fact, public hearings will have as much impact on the size of the fare hikes as a New Year's Eve party has on the coming of the New Year.

SEPTA wouldn't think of raising transit fares without hearing from you first.

Not that hearing from you will alter the outcome much. In fact, public hearings will have as much impact on the size of the fare hikes as a New Year's Eve party has on the coming of the New Year.

Hearings are part of the pageantry. But they have little effect on how much SEPTA must raise at the fare box.

The fare hike has become a hardy perennial or triennial for SEPTA, which plans fare raises every three years. The fare hike of 2013 is already anticipated in its long-range budgets.

SEPTA does it that way, SEPTA General Manager Joseph M. Casey said, so it won't have to hit us with huge hikes every five to 10 years or so.

I'm not so sure whether you lose more blood from a series of paper cuts or the occasional gaping wound. But that's SEPTA's story and it's sticking to it.

The proposed fare hike this year is about 6 percent over the basic transit division fare of $2. You won't get villagers gathering with torches about a 6 percent hike.

So, the side benefit for SEPTA is that there will be less organized opposition this year than there was to the doomsday scenarios of 2006, when it proposed service cuts and fare hikes.

But there is a value in showing up.

"If you look at the history of these hearings, you do see success," said Lance Haver, director of consumer affairs for the city.

Before being hired by the Street administration, Haver was a consumer advocate and a pain in SEPTA'S back seat. He hasn't lost his chops or his memory.

"When SEPTA tried to eliminate night-owl service," Haver recalled, "it was defeated when a large contingent of third-shift workers showed up."

When riders in large numbers protested the elimination of transfers in 2007, SEPTA had to come up with other ways to raise fares.

"We're very interested in the public feedback," Casey told me yesterday. "You get your special- interest groups, folks from the chamber of commerce. But we always expect to hear from John Q. Public."

Hearings will be the week of April 14-20. The public hearing for city transit division riders is on April 19 at SEPTA headquarters at 1234 Market St.

A hearing examiner, hired by SEPTA, will conduct the hearings and issue a report to the SEPTA board, which will then adopt its staff recommendations, the hearing examiner's report or some combination.

SEPTA's recommendations must also pass muster in a "Title 6 review" to ensure that fare hikes do not affect one community disproportionately.

"They make sure we spread the pain," Casey explained.

Haver will have only a rooting interest this year. But he has some suggestions.

"Casey and this new board have really improved the system," Haver said. "But I think there are things we ought to question them about.

"People should be asking if it's possible to get some company to install a wifi network that people could use to find out when the next bus is coming,"

"Why shouldn't the SEPTA Web page link stops to stores and restaurants and attractions like Google maps does?

"They could generate some income and improve service.

"They should be asking if this is really the time to put the burden on transfer users. I understand they want to push people toward weekly or monthly passes but with unemployment high, is this the right time to do that?"

Transfer users would bear the brunt of this hike. The price of a transfer would go from 75 cents to $1.

"We wanted to keep it simple," Casey said. "If we raised transfers to 83 cents, you would have people fumbling for change. We wanted to keep the base fare."

If you use transfers or if you would be affected by a proposed elimination of off-peak discounts, you need to show up.

Don't expect SEPTA to make a U-turn. But you could force a slight detour.

Send e-mail to smithel@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2512. For recent columns: http://go.philly.com/smith