The mayor said he’d like the TPC to raise the fare rather than have the City Council overrule and impose it.

The continuing pressure to increase the cash fare by 50 cents to $2, plus corresponding increases for passes and packages, is eroding the morale of TPC citizen members, Chairman Carl Durocher said Monday.

"It does make people question why we work so hard, why we study the issues so hard and why we put in so much uncompensated time to listen to the public," Durocher said. "What’s the point if there’s a predetermined decision?"

Durocher wasn’t sure if he would place a reconsideration on the TPC’s Feb. 10 agenda.

Ald. Brian Solomon, 10th District, a TPC member who wants to keep fares at $1.50, said, "The TPC has acted twice. Maybe it’s time to put it before the council."

Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway, 12th District, who opposes a fare increase, is concerned about the mayor’s persistence.

"On the surface, it almost looks like a temper tantrum," she said "It seems really disrespectful and poor public policy.

The mayor and a council majority included fare increase revenues in the 2009 budget to improve Metro Transit service, add security at transfer points, boost marketing and cover shortfalls.

But the TPC, which decides fares and service, in December voted 7-2 against an increase over concern about loss of ridership and impact on low-income people.

At the mayor’s urging, the TPC reconsidered last month, and it voted 5-4 to approve a compromise offered by Solomon to raise the fare to $1.75.

But the mayor wasn’t satisfied and in a rare move, a citizen, Lisa Subeck, appealed the TPC’s decision to the council, which has set a hearing for Feb. 24.

The mayor said he now believes a majority on the TPC would approve the $2 fare and wants it to reconsider to avert the appeal to the council, where Cieslewicz believes he has a majority.

"I’m trying to make peace here," he said.
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