Photo by bradtothebone

The Metro board has voted to approve a temporary 10-cent, across the board fare hike.

The 10-cent increase will last only from the beginning of March through the end of June, and applies to Metrorail, Metrobus and MetroAccess.

Metro’s next fiscal year begins on July 1, and the budget gap for 2011 is expected to be much, much larger: current estimates put it at $189 million. So even though this 10-cent hike is temporary, it’s likely another fare hike will take its place in July. How much that might be remains to be seen.

This decision ensures that there will be no service cuts through June. Whether service cuts end up being part of the picture starting in July also remains to be seen.

This 10-cent hike is estimated to bring in an additional $9.6 million. Another $6.4 million will therefore be need to be borrowed from the capital budget. As the Examiner’s Kytja Weir explains, the board actually voted to slash administrative costs by another $6 million rather than tap into the capital budget. Board member Christopher Zimmerman introduced the change, and the board voted unanimously for the cuts. No details yet on how those cuts will be made.

The fare structure between March and June will look like this:

Peak Metrorail fare: $1.75 minimum, $4.60 maximum
Off-peak Metrorail fare: $1.45 minimum, $2.45 maximum
Regular Metrobus with SmarTrip: $1.35
Regular Metrobus with cash: $1.45
Express Metrobus with SmarTrip: $3.10
Express Metrobus with cash: $3.20
MetroAccess: between $2.60 minimum, $6.60 maximum