The cost of a bus ride in the capital region is going up by 25 cents April 1.

Victoria Regional Transit Commission members have agreed to a basic fare increase to $2.50 from $2.25.

After looking at a variety of options, commissioners decided to reduce and phase in planned increases in monthly passes.

“Even though we haven’t raised [fares] since April 2007, a three-year catch-up was just too much all at once,” Causton said.

“In hindsight, we should have raised it the same time we expanded service. But we didn’t. We put it all on the property tax.”

The commission plans to hold the cash fare constant over the next three years, but to phase in increases to the cost of monthly passes. The adult monthly pass, currently $73.25, will increase to $80 this year. It will go up to $82.50 and then to $85 in the next two years.

A book of 10 adult tickets is increasing to $22.50 from $20.25.

Commissioners had been looking at increasing to $2.50 the current $1.40 discounted cash fare for seniors and youths, but backed off after consulting with the public. Instead, the discounted cash fare will increase to $1.65. A book of 10 discount tickets will increase to $15 from $12.60.

Hikes in the discounted monthly pass will also be phased in, increasing from the current $42 to about $46 this year and then to $49 and $51, Causton said.

Under new revenue measures, the transit levy on property taxes also will increase by about $7 — on top of the $85.50 transit taxes already collected on the average home.

Causton, Sooke Mayor Janet Evans, Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and Central Saanich Mayor Jack Mar voted in favour of the increases. Two members of the commission, Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard and Saanich Coun. Susan Brice, voted against them.

Leonard said the increases are out of sync with public expectations.

“I’ve said every meeting I’m going to that I’m voting for the lowest possible user-fee increase and the lowest possible tax increase — and this was neither,” Leonard said. “It just seems to be out of sync with what’s going on in the economy, in terms of people’s ability to pay.”

The commission also has scaled back service expansion plans over the next three years to about 50,000 hours from a possible 104,000 hours, Causton said.

“We cut it to 50,000 hours over the next three years in order to rein in some of the costs,” Causton said. “It’s about half of what our expansion plan was, but still that ties into the expansion we’ve already done of about 16 per cent over [the last] two years.”

Fares last jumped to $2.25 from $2 in 2007 and haven’t been increased since. However, the property-tax levy in the region for transit rose last year by about $10 per average home.

In 2008, there was also a one-cent-a litre increase to the levy on gasoline for transit, raising it to 3.5 cents a litre.

The commission is facing major capital expenditures in coming years, including bus replacement and development of rapid transit involving buses.

The commission has asked staff for a report on such issues as another increase in the gas-tax levy.

bcleverley@tc.canwest.com