Big Blue Bus riders: Expect a new fare system come July 1. Depending on whether you’re an avid rider or occasional rider, what you pay the Big Blue Bus per ride could change pretty drastically.

A “fare restructuring” is what the Big Blue Bus calls its proposed new fare system, which would raise single ride fares from 75 cents to $1.25 (from $1.75 to $2 for Express rides) — while introducing a 30-day pass option for $60 ($80 for Express). In addition, while the 50-cent transfer rate would not go up, these transfers would no longer work when moving from one Big Blue Bus to another, but only when switching to a ride on a different transit system.

Yes, the chart shows a “proposal B” — a simple bigger hike on single ride fares — but this clearly isn’t one that the Big Blue Bus is hoping for as the representatives didn’t even talk about them. Here are charts of what the student fares and senior/disabled/medicare fares would look like.

Why are the fares going up? If you’ve been paying attention to Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed state budget, you already know that the governator want to take $1 billion away from public transit while making gas cheaper for drivers. That, combined with lower revenues from state taxes due to the economic downturn, means that the Big Blue Bus has a projected operating deficit of $1.7 to $16.8 million over the next three years.

Closing that deficit means either cutting services or raising fares, said Dan Dawson, Big Blue Bus’ customer relations manager, at a community meeting on Saturday. And the Big Blue Bus has opted for the latter, raising most fares. The higher fares would also mean that Big Blue Bus gets a bigger cut of revenues from EZ Transit Pass sales, which are tied to fare rates.

Frequent riders, though, might actually be able to save some money by buying the 30-day passes, which would have the side benefit of speeding up the boarding process — a bonus that might help address the 4% decrease in average bus speed created by worsening westside traffic. Unlike Metro’s monthly passes that are specific to each calendar month, the Big Blue Bus’ 30-day passes can be activated any day and would be valid 30 days from then. The Big Blue Bus would also get rid of the Little Blue Card — sales and value adds would end in April — as well as tokens — which I didn’t even know existed.

Some of the 30 or so community members at the meeting were angry about the proposed fare changes — which won’t be official until the Santa Monica City Council considers them in March — while others were more angry that the Big Blue Bus didn’t offer more bus service in their neighborhoods. Considering the fact that the transit agency would basically have to cut services if it doesn’t raise its fares, clearly there’s no way to please everyone — or anyone — with the reduced state transit funding.

Going to these community meetings often makes me wish that my fellow riders were more involved with local and state politics, perhaps directing their anger at Schwarzenegger and their elected state representatives for cutting public transit funding at the state level versus the local bus system itself, which is basically dealing with the aftermath of state decisions.

On the upside, I think going to these community meetings can inspire people to get more involved politically, as they get a clearer sense of how decisions made in Sacramento — or Washington D.C. — directly affect their personal lives.

For those who’ve been waiting for Big Blue Bus’ information to get on Google Transit: You’ll be happy to know that Big Blue Bus will get all its information to Google in two months at most, according to Linda Gamberg, Big Blue Bus’ marketing and public information coordinator. After that, it’ll be up to Google to put the information in its system — which will hopefully happen quickly.

Why wasn’t Big Blue Bus’ info put on Google Transit last year as promised? Apparently the techy guy who worked on the project at the Big Blue Bus got recruited away by the Santa Monica Fire Department, causing a delay. On the upside, if you’ve wanted to work on computer stuff for the Big Blue Bus, a job listing should be going up pretty soon.

The Big Blue Bus also plans to launch its new website — complete with Spanish translated pages, an online store, and an interactive trip planner — in July. The community meeting also went over the proposed designs for new bus stops, and new plans for the Tide Ride, a now weekend-only line that’s still only attracting about 12 riders per service hour. Big Blue Bus is looking into changing the Tide Ride into an on-demand service mostly catering to local hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. The idea is to have 6-passenger vehicles available from Wed. – Sun. from Memorial day to Labor Day. That idea will go before the Santa Monica City Council in March or April, with the goal to begin service on Memorial Day.

Get all this info from the Big Blue Bus representatives themselves by attending the last community meeting, happening tomorrow, Tues., Feb. 2 from 6 pm – 8 pm at the Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Seriously, please go. Getting involved in your community can be challenging at times, since you have to make time for it after a tiring workday or during a busy weekend. Then inevitably, you’ll have to patiently listen to your neighbors — many of whom make helpful comments and ask thoughtful questions, but some of whom will inevitably launch into weird harangues.

At my community meeting, we had someone launch into a diatribe about a Metro line (totally different bus system) that no longer runs, another who felt compelled to recap the early history of the L.A. transit systems, and a few more who bickered like kids over whose raised hand got called on first. The resulting conversations can be annoying — but also entertaining, and at its best times, informative while creating a sense of community and collective purpose.

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