D.C. Area's Effort Against Crowded Roads a Test Case

Peak-Time Fees Designed To Alter Commuters' Habits

The Washington area is the nation's most aggressive laboratory for a transportation innovation that is designed to cut highway congestion and subway crowding but that could end up costing commuters more in tolls and mass-transit fees.

The notion of "congestion pricing" -- charging people more to travel at peak times to spread out demand -- could transform how Washingtonians travel, turning commuters into cost-conscious consumers. Instead of simply getting into their cars or onto the subway, they could be induced to consider traveling at off-times, when prices dip. Congestion pricing could also encourage others to work from home or use telecommuting centers and perhaps lead to more carpooling and transit use.

In their budget proposal this month, Metro managers signed on to the concept, introducing a congestion pricing plan for the subway as a way to close a budget shortfall and reduce crowding during the morning and evening rushes, especially at high-volume stations. A decision by Metro's board could be months away.

It comes as transportation leaders in Virginia and Maryland are quickly moving to build a network of express toll lanes -- roads on which fees increase according to traffic levels -- along the region's major commuter routes.

Supporters of congestion pricing say it would push more traffic and transit trips to "shoulder" times, freeing capacity during rush hours and improving commutes where in recent years they've only grown worse.

"If Metro succeeded in shifting only 5 percent of riders to the shoulder periods, crowding on certain lines -- such as the Orange and Red lines -- might decrease for a while," said C. Kenneth Orski, editor of the Innovation Briefs transportation newsletter and a longtime supporter of variable toll lanes. "Same thing goes for highways: When there is a small decrease in traffic in August, it is noticeably lighter on commuter highways."

Under Metro's proposal, fares would increase at all times for all subway riders, with bigger increases during rush hour. There would also be a 35-cent rush-hour surcharge for those who travel through 19 heavily used downtown stations. Rush hour runs from 5 until 9:30 a.m. and from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays. The surcharge would also be in effect from 2 to 3 a.m. Saturdays.

Congestion pricing is in place on a handful of highways across the country, although no metropolitan area has embraced it more than Washington. Virginia transportation officials have contracted with private firms to build toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and Interstates 95 and 395, and their counterparts in Maryland are studying ways to add them on its portion of the Beltway and Interstate 270. Maryland's first congestion-priced lanes are under construction on I-95 north of Baltimore.

Studies have found that what once were derided as "Lexus lanes" and a perk for the rich are used by most drivers when they're willing to pay a premium to get somewhere quickly. "Twenty percent of a typical day's users are the Lexus types who don't blink at the cost," said Robert W. Poole Jr., director of transportation studies for the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit libertarian group that supports the toll lanes.

"The other 80 percent are those who use it once or twice a week, when it is really important to be somewhere on time, such as a parent with a kid in day care who doesn't want to pay late fees," he added.

But the benefits for Metro are less clear. Unlike on highways, where drivers can always choose not to take the lanes, there is no easy alternative to the subway. And Metro's self-defined peak times last 8 1/2 hours every weekday, making it difficult for riders to adjust their schedules. Riders, for example, would have to wait until after 9:30 a.m. weekdays for prices to drop.

"I have children, and there are certain times I have to get them to places and pick them up," said Kian Smith of Oxon Hill. "Metro knows that people can't really change. They're just trying to get more money."

Unlike on highways, where the lanes provide a higher level of service -- a way around jams -- there is no additional benefit on Metro for the higher fare.

"There is a theory, of course, that higher prices will cause people to modify their behavior," said Jim Graham, the District's representative on the Metro board. "But the principal purpose is to fill a budget gap" of $116 million, he added. Graham favors agency cuts over higher fares.

Critics also say the highway plans would disproportionately affect those least able to adjust, forcing the masses to dig into their pockets or suffer.

"There is an argument that it is using the capacity better by spreading it around," said Alan E. Pisarski, author of "Commuting in America III," a national report on commuting patterns and trends. "But that is not what transportation is about. We know there is a lot of capacity on the Beltway at midnight, but people have to get to work, to school and to the hospital when they need to. In effect, you are pushing people out of the peak so others who are willing to pay can go when they want to go."

There is another reason area leaders have embraced congestion pricing: They can't afford to do much else to ease travel. Without more state money, Virginia has contracted with private companies to build and profit from its toll lanes to increase capacity, while Maryland is looking to do the same.

Some commuters say they are willing to pay -- if they get better service.

"They need to get more cars on the Blue Line and the Orange Line," said Martha Jones, a Blue Line commuter from Capitol Heights. "Then I'll pay what they want."