Fare increases on table at VRE

By Tracy Bell

Published: October 17, 2008

STAFFORD — Fares could soon go up for rides on Virginia Railway Express, if a proposal for fare increases is approved.

The 7 percent potential effect would take place in January.

This week, The VRE Board will take a look at its budget and make some decisions.

Earlier this year, the public was given the opportunity to provide input on potential VRE fare hikes and issues.

According to VRE, the reasons for the potential hike include increased fuel costs, up 78 percent in the past fiscal year; settled labor dispute costs for Amtrak employees — a $3 million one-time cost; improved locomotive maintenance — up to $1 million annually; and overturned legislation — a loss of $25 million per year.

Mark Roeber of VRE said this week that the first quarter ridership numbers are in and VRE completed about 1 million trips in the first three months of Fiscal Year 2009 — a first for VRE. The figure equates to a 12.9 percent growth over last year, and ridership in October continues to remain very strong, he noted in a press release.

Dale Zehner, VRE Chief Executive Officer, announced this week that the continuing trend of rapid growth puts VRE on pace for potentially 4 million trips this fiscal year, which would be another first.
Zehner said that improved on-time performance, the addition of 61 new railcars, continued improvement of the locomotive maintenance and improved conditions with freight railroad infrastructure have all lent themselves to luring people to the train.

“I think people today rely on VRE far more than in past years because it’s a viable alternative to the car and our performance is such that people are very confident in the riding experience once they try us,” said Zehner.

VRE posted 998,329 passenger trips for the first three months of FY 2009, which refers to July through September. That is 113,775 more trips than the same time last year, which saw VRE make 884,554 trips during those same months, Zehner reported.

“It’s hard to argue with the numbers when you see ridership growing by 12.9 percent…” said VRE Operations Board Chairman John Jenkins.

VRE operates 30 trains on the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines.