OCEANSIDE -- A half-dozen Coaster riders on Friday protested a plan to begin charging them to take a shuttle from the Sorrento Valley train station to their workplaces.

Dubbed the Sorrento Valley Coaster Connection, the shuttle service has been in place since 1997.

Over the last 11 years, it has expanded to 10 buses that circulate every half-hour along nine routes serving major employment centers in the Sorrento Valley-Torrey Pines area. It provides 500 rides a day. And after buying Coaster tickets, riders don't pay any extra to hop on the shuttle bus.

That's about to change.

In a desperate bid to save the service after the region lost more than half the $1.1 million it spends each year to provide the shuttles, the San Diego Association of Governments proposed introducing a $1 one-way fare Sept. 1 and charging $40 for a monthly pass.

"Now, out of the blue, it is going from zero dollars a month to $40 a month, which is $480 a year," Susan Franke of Oceanside said at a public hearing Friday at the North County Transit District's office.

Franke, who works as a legal secretary for a state agency, said the increase could not have come at a worse time, given the struggling economy.

"We're watching our grocery bills go up," she said. "Our cost of living is going up. This is outrageous. Where do you get off proposing a $480 a year increase?"

Franke and other regular Coaster riders who work in Sorrento Valley warned the association's Transportation Committee, which presided over the hearing, that their shuttle rescue plan could backfire.

Donald Betts of San Marcos said ultimately the move could wind up slashing ridership on the Coaster train, which carries 3,000 commuters daily on its 41-mile run between Oceanside and downtown San Diego.

"I thought the point of public transportation was to get people out of their cars," Betts said.

Ann Balancio, a research technician for a biological research institute in Sorrento Valley, said, "This will drive a lot of people back into their cars."

Dan Levy, senior transit planner for the association, said something has to be done to shore up the service.

Levy said the shuttle this summer will lose more than $500,000 in funding from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, which is trying to shore up its budget, and nearly $200,000 in temporary funding from the California Department of Transportation that was awarded as a result of the Interstates 5-805 merge construction.

Levy said the proposed fare would recoup almost half the money. He said the association has applied for a federal grant to help close most of the remaining gap.

The Transportation Committee is scheduled to consider giving preliminary approval for the new fare and changes to existing fares June 6. The association's full board is set to take up the matter June 13.

The association has authority over North County bus and train fares under a 2003 reorganization of San Diego County transportation agencies.

The agency proposes to increase Coaster fares by 50 cents in July, to a maximum of $6, and by another half-dollar come January 2009, to up to $6.50.

The price of a monthly pass would rise from a maximum of $154 to $182.

Levy said that most of the riders getting off in Sorrento Valley would pay $170 for a monthly pass, or a total of $210 with the $40 charge for the shuttle. While that may seem high, he said it is reasonable, given that Metrolink riders pay $235 for a monthly pass that allows them to ride trains and transfer to buses. Metrolink is a six-county commuter train system that takes Southern Californians to jobs in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Levy said the association is proposing to increase fares for North County's Breeze buses and the new Sprinter train from the existing $4 to $4.50 in July and $5 by January 2009.

The price of a monthly pass would rise from $54 to $59 in July; the charge for college students would go from $44 to $49.

Renee Stanton, an imaging manager at Sharp Mission Park in Vista, urged the committee to put all increases on hold.

"I am requesting that we don't change any fares until we fix what's broke," Stanton said.

Stanton said that every day, she takes the Trolley, Coaster and Sprinter from her home in El Cajon to her Vista job, and the trip takes more than three hours. It wouldn't be as bad, she said, if an eastbound Sprinter wasn't leaving the station the moment she arrives in Oceanside -- at 7:33 a.m. -- and she didn't have to wait a half-hour for the next train.

Karen King, North County Transit District executive director, said that the trains cross at the same minute because the agency's priority is to coordinate Coaster runs with Amtrak and Metrolink schedules on the coast. King said the lack of a second track along much of the coast and the inability to operate the Sprinter more often than every half-hour prevents better coordination.

"It is a system flaw, and it really can't be corrected with the current infrastructure," King said.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.