OCEAN CITY, Md.-Riding the bus in Ocean City can be a good alternative to driving in the heavy summer traffic. The bus was also an affordable option at $1 per ride or paying $3 for an unlimited all-day fare.
But the fare system is changing. At Monday night's Ocean City council meeting, council voted to eliminate the $1 per ride fare. Hal Adkins says Ocean City spends more than $1.5 million a year to subsidize the bus system and eliminating the $1 fare will help lessen that cost.
"To have a $3 ride all day fare, yes it in fact brings in more revenue," said the public works director. "$492,000 is what's projected but at the same time it maintains a system of mobility."
Eliminating the one dollar per ride fare had some residents worked up at Monday's meeting.
"I like to be able to go up to work a dollar and come home a dollar and go about my day because I usually don't go anywhere in the summer because it's too packed," John Zigler said.
Others are ok with the change, if it only affects tourists and visitors. "$3 all day for a tourist is a bargain you cannot beat," John Adkins said. "They will ride the bus, you can go as many times as you want, all up and down the beach, it's a bargain.
But John Adkins says if you can prove residency the dollar rides should still be an option. "If people who are under age 60 could have an ID card that say, 'I'm a resident I pay a dollar' because a lot of people who work here, would ride to work and back to work," he said.
Hal Adkins with the city, acknowledges the change will be hard for some people but believes the new system will still be affordable. "When you look at what a 3 dollar ride all day brings you and you try to compare that to a loaf of bread, a gallon of gas, you quickly realize how extremely cheap the rate is," he said.
The fare system change goes into effect at 6a.m. Friday morning in Ocean City.
