CA: A fare deal for seniors: transit rides are as low as 35 cents

My first perk from turning 62 was qualifying for senior pricing on some public transit. Not Metrolink, which puts the limit at 65, but on most local buses.

This discount came not a moment too soon, because my car is in the shop. Since March 30, I’ve had to rely on transit and hoofing it.

That’s a story for another day. Today, I’ll tell you about claiming the senior discount.

My talk in early January to a men’s group at Temple Beth Israel, the synagogue in Pomona, was, if you’ll pardon the expression, the genesis.

A train-lovin’ senior bragged that he’d been riding the new A Line light rail from Pomona to Hollywood and other points for 35 cents. This bargain pricing was news to me.

My next time at Union Station, I examined the fare schedule posted at the ticket machines.

Sure enough, while regular fare — for Metro subways, light rail and buses — is $1.75, for seniors it’s 75 cents during peak weekday hours and a mere 35 cents the rest of the time. That kicks in at age 62.

Suddenly my mid-March birthday couldn’t come soon enough.

On Foothill Transit buses, which serve the Inland and San Gabriel valleys, it’s similar: $1.75 regular fare, 75 cents for age 62 and up. Ditto for Riverside Transit Agency buses, although senior fare starts at age 60. On Omnitrans, which serves the San Bernardino Valley, the standard $2 fare is 90 cents for age 62 and up.

My friend David Saw of Diamond Bar clued me in further after my column about taking the A Line from Pomona to eat a French dip at Philippe. He’s not a senior, and he’s an honest man, but he’s assisted seniors at the Pomona station on several occasions on how to claim the senior fare.

That’s by selecting “passes” on the ticket machines, “senior pass” and then “peak” or “off-peak,” he explains. Peak is weekdays 5 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. Any other time, including weekends, is off-peak. Such a pass is good for the day.

For L.A. Metro and Foothill Transit, a senior TAP card is a simpler way to go if you expect to ride more often.

The Transit Access Pass is a reusable, reloadable electronic card. For the senior version of the card, one of the two agencies has to verify your age. ( Omnitrans and Riverside Transit Agency don’t accept TAP but have their own systems and ways to get passes.)

You can go to Foothill Transit’s West Covina or El Monte customer service centers to apply. I got a card from Metro by going to Union Station — on Easter Sunday, no less.

I take transit to L.A. some Sundays. Over a coffee and pastry, I read the morning papers, post my column on social media, reply to some emails, eat lunch, get in some steps and stair flights, and return home from Union Station. It’s relaxing.

I didn’t expect the Metro Customer Center to be open on a Sunday, much less a holiday. But it was.

The center is in the East Portal. I filled out the short application, showed an employee my driver license for verification and spent $3 at the photo booth.

A senior TAP card is a photo ID. Otherwise, cards might get passed around like Netflix passwords.

Seated inside the booth, I positioned myself so that my face appeared inside the oval on the screen, as requested, and adopted a friendly expression. Click. The photo was then displayed on the screen. Did I want to reshoot it or print it out?

It looked fine to me. In fact, it’s the best photo of me in recent memory. Pleased, I printed it, held up the grid of four photos and took a closer look.

My eyes were closed.

It wasn’t worth another three bucks to shoot it again. I took it to the customer service window and handed it over, mentioning my blink.

The employee chuckled. “It’s only your face that’s important,” she said, using scissors to snip out one of the photos and handing back the rest.

It’s still one of the better photos of me.

My card should arrive within three weeks. In a pleasant surprise, a temporary card, sans photo, was handed over on the spot. Like I said, not a moment too soon, given my involuntary car-free lifestyle.

The employee said she could preload the card. I started to hand her a $20 bill. She said most people put on $5 or $10, which is a lot of rides.

“Oh yeah. I’m getting senior pricing,” I said, the light dawning. “That’s the whole point of this.”

I put on $10. That’s about 13 rides on Foothill Transit. That might be too many or it might be too few, depending on when my car is fixed. (As of noon Thursday, I’d used three.) Any balance can be transferred to my new TAP card once it arrives.

Before this, I’d already taken a ride on Foothill Transit, from Claremont to Pomona, a week ago, asking for the senior discount — my first — and paying three quarters.

On my return ride that day, I was prepared to use a dollar bill, which would mean overpaying by a quarter. But the farebox was broken. “Rides are free,” the driver said.

The best discount of all.

Road tripping (or not)

My drive to and from Tempe, Arizona is already a pleasant memory, not only of the vacation itself but of driving.

If I’d had wheels, I’d have gone to Joshua Tree last week, or this week. That would be for my annual March visit, which some years is delayed until April. We’ll see if I can get up there before it’s unbearably hot. That might be any day now.

Anyway, I recounted how my last visit to Tempe was in early March 2020. I saw a Dodgers spring training game that March 5. After baseball season was canceled, I could brag to my Dodger fan friends that unlike them, I’d seen their team play that year, nyaahh.

Janet Cerswell of Alta Loma reports that she and husband, Norm, were in Arizona at about the same point in 2020. “We were at an Angel game, which got rained out, and the next day, they canceled the rest of the season,” Janet laments.

Speaking of which, this time I saw the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim get clobbered by, as I wrote, the San Diego Padres of San Diego.

That reminded Steve Gray of Riverside of a T-shirt he’s seen. His cousin volunteers with the Anaheim Fire Department. Firefighters there sometimes wear an official-looking shirt whose front declares: “Los Angeles Fire Department of Anaheim.”

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