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King County Metro has not found peak fares to significantly alter demand, and will consider whether to eliminate peak pricing entirely or move to time-based peak fares, which would be much easier to design and implement in Next Generation ORCA. Although King County Metro is currently the only agency with peak fares, other agencies have expressed interest in keeping the option open for future consideration. While eliminating peak fares may have a relatively moderate impact on fare revenue, implementing a change from trip-based peak to time-based peak is not expected to impact revenue. Any change will require coordination with bus operators and outreach to customers. 3.2.3.Fare Innovation—Fare Capping Forum participants were asked to consider a system design for Next Generation ORCA that would replace the current ORCA passes with "fare capping." Customers under a fare capping program would pay for each trip using E-purse value, but once a pre-defined cap (or limit) is reached,the remainder of the customer trips at the corresponding fare level would be "free." Fare capping's pay-as-you-go scheme would offer customers the benefits of a) not having to pay the up-front cost of a period pass and b) being guaranteed they will pay the optimal fare for their trips.The caps would be variable based on the cost of the transit services used and could be set for both daily and monthly accumulations to match current ORCA pass discounts. The three options considered for fare capping were the following: • Do not pursue fare capping(no change to fare structure) • Adopt full fare capping • Include fare capping framework in the requirements and design of the new ORCA system Recommendation: Do Not Pursue Fare Capping in Initial System Design The consensus recommendation was to not pursue fare capping at this time. An assessment of the Puget Sound region's fare complexity was performed compared with the fare structures of other transit agency peers considering or implementing fare capping. Given the numerous fares, passenger types, and pricing levels that the Next Generation ORCA system must support, it would be complex and costly to implement as well as highly challenging for customers to understand. Fare capping would also be expected to have a large negative impact on agency revenue. Finally, including fare capping in the requirements for the new fare system would limit the number of vendors who could demonstrate implementation experience and feasibly bid on the project. While it was determined that fare capping should not be pursued at this time, the Next Generation ORCA system will be designed in a flexible manner so that it will not preclude the introduction of fare capping and other innovative fare strategies for future phases of fare system development. Regional Fare Forum Summary Report 3/21/2017 Page 15