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City Council Approves Discount Bus Coupon Books
Where to Buy Bus Coupon Books
On Any Ocean City Transit Bus (cash only, exact amount)
Boardwalk Tram South Booth - South 1st Street (cash only)
Boardwalk Tram North Booth - 27th Street (cash only)
City Hall - 3rd Street & Baltimore Avenue (Cash or Credit Card)
Convention Center Box Office - 40th Street (Cash or Credit Card)
Ocean City Police Department - 65th Street (Cash or Credit Card)
O.C. Recreation Complex/Northside Park - 125th Street (Cash or Credit Card)
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The price of Ocean City’s all-day bus pass doubled to $2 this summer, but riders who buy a new 10-day coupon book can cut the daily fare to $1.50.
The City Council, which approved the coupon book, set no limit on how many people can use it. Each member of a family, for example, can use coupons from the same $15 book.
When the new fares take effect June 17, a one-day pass will be issued on buses in exchange for each coupon, said Michael Socha, Ocean City transportation superintendent.
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."
Approval of the coupon book came after a raft of criticism from locals upset by the prospect of paying twice as much.
Many passengers have complained about poor service. Others predicted the $2 fare would lead to more drunken drivers on Ocean City streets and make it hard for some summer employees to afford to ride the bus.
Mathias 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, he 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."
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. Bus service revenues, too, have soared, and projections for this year exceed $2.8 million, nearly twice last year’s total.
The addition of four four new buses this year, bringing the total to about 60, will help the city keep pace with the ever-growing demand, Socha said .
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 a day to ride a bus to and from the downtown transit center. But they will have to pay an additional $1 for a day of unlimited rides in Ocean City.
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