Grant L. Gursky A bus pulls off from the South Division Street transit station.

By Jon Westman
OceanCity.com

While the price of Ocean City’s all-day bus pass doubles to $2 in mid-June, the city is considering selling a 10-day coupon book that would reduce the daily fare to $1.50.

The proposal sets no limit on how many people could use passes in a single coupon book, said Michael Socha, Ocean City transportation superintendent. A one-day pass would be issued on buses in exchange for each coupon torn from the booklet, which would cost $15, Socha said.

"We want to keep ridership at least where it is," Socha said, "and this would help do that. With this coupon book, say, a family could rip out coupons, and each person could take one and get a pass to ride the bus all day for $1.50."

Consideration of the coupon book comes after a raft of criticism from locals upset by the prospect of paying twice as much.

Many passengers have complained about poor service. Others predict higher fares would lead to more drunken drivers on Ocean City streets and make it hard for some summer employees to afford to ride.

The $1 fare for an all-day pass, unchanged for the past 11 years, has proved wildy popular. The number of passenger trips has soared from 900,000 in 1991 to more than 3.8 million last summer. Socha says the bus system will set a record in May with more than 300,000 passenger trips and is on a pace to break 4 million trips this year.

The fare increase likely will cause a short-term decline in ridership, city officials acknowledge, but Socha and other city officials predict it will rebound quickly.

"This will still be an incredible bargain," said Mayor James. N. Mathias Jr. "You can hardly buy a gallon of gas for 1.50, let alone ride all day."

Grant L. Gursky Riders exit a bus at the South Division transit station.

Mathias, however, said critics have legitimate complaints about the jammed buses and unreliable service. Buses have often sat idle while passengers endured long waits as full buses passed, Mathias said, adding that the system needs to improve service and embark on more aggressive marketing to maintain ridership and increase revenue.

But City Manager Dennis Dare defended the system.

"It is a bus system, not an ambulance system. It is not that mission critical," he said. "The service has been good. The buses are on time 99.9 percent of the time."

Bus service revenue projections for this year exceed $2.8 million, nearly twice last year’s total, Dare said.

Socha said the addition of four new buses this year, bringing the total to about 60, would improve service.

And to ease the passenger crunch downtown – a destination for more than three-quarters of all riders – the city is moving forward with plans to operate trolley-look-alike buses from 27th Street south. The trolley-style buses should begin operating next summer, Socha said.

With the growing popularity of Ocean City and its bus service, he said, "We’re trying to get ahead of the curve here so we’re not playing catch-up."

The transit system’s latest addition, the estimated $3.6 million West Ocean City Park & Ride system, proved an almost instant hit with its opening just west of the Route 50 Bridge last summer. Passengers, who can park free in the 710-spot lot, will still pay $1 to ride a bus into town.