THE FARES CHARGED by Virginia Railway Express are about average for commuter rail lines, I discovered after checking on the fare structures of 15 commuter rail systems nationwide.
I looked for routes of 54 miles or thereabouts--the same as the distance from Fredericksburg to Washington's Union Station. Some commuter rail systems don't have any lines that long--Trinity Rail between Dallas and Fort Worth is only about 34 miles long, for example. Others, notably the Long Island Rail Road in New York state, have routes that run much longer--in the case of the Long Island, upward of 100 miles.
For a one-way ticket, VRE charges $8.10, or 15 cents a mile. This put VRE in seventh place, with the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro North system in New York and Connecticut (operated by the same transit authority) charging a whopping 27 cents a mile for a 54-mile ride. At the low end is the Trinity system, which charges only $2.25, or less than 7 cents a mile, for a trip over the whole line. The average fare per mile for the 15 systems I investigated is 14.5 cents, making VRE just about 3 percent above average.
Interestingly, the Trinity system is captained by Pete Sklannik, lately of VRE, and he worked at the Long Island Rail Road before coming to Virginia.
In monthly tickets, VRE fares are also right about in the middle. A monthly ticket between Washington and Fredericksburg costs $227.90, or 9.5 cents per mile, based on 20 working days in October--or rather 20 days on which VRE operates. VRE ranked eighth-highest out of 15, with the New York state and Connecticut services again the most expensive, charging $315, or 14.5 cents a mile, for a monthly ticket. Cheapest is the Tri-Rail service between West Palm Beach and Miami, charging only $80 for a monthly ticket, or 3.7 cents a mile.
Where VRE is on the high side is with 10-trip tickets. As VRE riders know, the biggest jump in this year's VRE fare increase was in the price of the 10-trip tickets. VRE charges $72.90 for a 10-ride ticket between Washington and Fredericksburg, making VRE fifth-highest out of 12 (three of the 15 systems I investigated do not offer 10-ride or 12-ride tickets). Priciest again were the New York lines, offering no discount at all on a 10-trip ticket, with a resulting fare of 27 cents a mile for a 54-mile trip. Cheapest again was Tri-Rail, charging $42, or 6.5 cents per mile, for a 12-ride ticket between West Palm Beach and Miami.
The highest fares are on the commuter railroads serving New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, with ticket prices consistently higher than VRE's. The lowest fares are in Texas, Florida and Washington state. Interestingly, the commuter rail systems serving San Diego and San Francisco charge much lower fares than the Los Angeles system, so commuter rail is generally cheaper out west, with the exception of Los Angeles.
The systems that are much more expensive than VRE also offer much more service, however--seven days a week and, in the New York area, almost around the clock. Off-peak service is generally hourly or better.
However, the cheaper systems also tend to offer a lot more service than VRE, typically running seven days a week and offering substantial midday and evening service in addition to rush-hour trips. Also, while VRE is cutting the use of its tickets to ride Amtrak, the trend among smaller systems is in the other direction: Sound Transit in Seattle and the Coaster system in San Diego are now supplementing their limited offerings with rides on Amtrak trains that run over their routes.
With VRE fares up this year and maybe next, it is some consolation to know that the ticket prices are about average nationwide. However, it's also true that riders elsewhere tend to get more service for their dollars.
STEVE DUNHAM of Spotsylvania County chairs the board of directors of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons. Write him c/o Commuter Crossroads, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401. Or e-mail literalman@aol.com.