Rider Outrage May Lead Metro to Tweak Fares
Public Encouraged to Attend Hearings and Express Sentiments to Board

By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 11, 2007

Metro board members are proposing the largest increase ever in rail fares and parking fees, but some members say they will be able to soften the blow if they hear from enough riders during public hearings this week about which increases would hurt most.

The biggest increases would affect rush-hour subway riders, who make up the largest portion of daily users. The proposal would increase rush-hour boarding charges by 30 cents to $1.65 and increase the maximum fare per trip by 80 cents to $4.70.

A $1.15 increase in parking fees would be added at Metro lots, where spots cost as much as $4. The cost to take a bus would rise a dime for cash-paying passengers, though it would remain $1.25 for riders who pay with electronic SmarTrip cards.

The increases are aimed at raising $109 million to help close a projected shortfall in next year's budget. The proposal was adopted two weeks ago after much public debate that pitted suburban board members, who want to keep parking fees and train fares low, against city members, who seek to keep bus fares low to ease the burden on low-income riders.

Board members say fares will definitely go up, with the increases taking effect in January. But they also said that the proposal would probably change based on what increases riders are more outraged about.

"No one wants a fare increase," said Maryland board member Peter Benjamin. "But given that we have to increase fares, we just have to hear from the public which portions of the proposal they object to the most."

It won't help the decision making, he said, for riders to simply say they don't want any fare increase. "There is enough wiggle room so that if the citizens do in fact come, we have room to hear what they have to say and adjust the fares to make them less onerous," he said.

Board member T. Dana Kauffman, who represents Virginia, put it this way: "I would encourage [people] to turn out and to come mad. There is a certain amount of apathy that should not be here."

Kauffman, who like other suburban members is opposed to the higher rates proposed for long-distance commuters, called one measure to increase the number of reserved parking spaces "patently nuts." He said he would refuse to support several measures in a final vote, "even if it doesn't get us $109 million."

The proposal seeks to raise the reserved parking fee $10 to $55 a month, and to increase the number of reserved spaces by 3,500, a 70 percent increase over the current 5,000. Reserved parkers pay the monthly fee in addition to the daily parking charge.

The remainder of the budget shortfall is expected to come from subsidies paid by jurisdictions served by Metro. That amount is being increased, but Jim Graham, who represents the District on the Metro board, said he could "imagine a case being made to increase subsidies" even more if not enough money is raised from fares.

Under Metro rules, the board can only reduce fare and fee increases once they have been approved for public hearing. So if they were to lower one, that would not lead to raising others.

Some riders, including off-peak subway customers, senior or disabled Metrobus users, and MetroAccess passengers, would see no increase.

Metro estimates that the plan would generate about $111 million and that some, but not many, customers would stop riding. Nearly three-fourths of the money would come from the increase in rush-hour train fares, an additional 25 percent from increased parking charges and 1 percent -- about $1 million -- from higher bus fares for cash-paying riders.

Advocacy groups such as the Riders' Advisory Council, which is appointed by Metro, and MetroRiders.org, have challenged the need for a fare increase. They have also questioned the current fare-increase process. Metro is asking for an increase in the current fiscal year, even though the anticipated shortfall isn't projected to materialize until the next year.

The package that goes before the public this week also has many unknowns because the increases are so large. In the past, when Metro has raised peak rail fares by a nickel or a dime, there has been no loss in ridership, officials said.

Backers of the proposal to raise subway fares during rush hour, when there are the greatest number of riders, say that would be the most efficient way to increase revenue. Half of all subway riders receive some kind of transit subsidy, according to the agency's latest rail passenger survey. More than 40 percent of subway riders in the morning rush are federal employees who have little flexibility to commute after 9:30 a.m., when rush hour ends.

But officials don't know for sure what riders will do because Metro has never sought to raise the minimum subway charge by 30 cents.

Some of the biggest increases would hit commuters who park their cars at suburban lots and take longer subway trips -- an estimated 10 percent of riders, according to Metro.

In Montgomery County, where daily parking fees are $4, commuters who park at Shady Grove and ride round-trip to Metro Center during rush hour would pay $14.55 a day, or $2.75 more. That amounts to $13.75 more a week.

From Vienna to Metro Center, a commuter who parks and makes a round-trip, rush-hour commute would pay $13.70 a day, an increase of $2.85 over the current $10.85. For the week, that would mean $68.50, or $14.25 more than it costs now.

District officials pushed to raise the cost and number of reserved spots to generate revenue because many stations have waiting lists. Metro has a waiting list of 1,635 people at about a dozen stations, less than the 3,500 recommended in the proposal.

If more spaces are set aside for reserved parking, there will be fewer spaces available for other parkers during the morning rush. "I don't think my colleagues know what it's like to drive in winter to a parking lot and see row upon row of empty spaces they can't use," Kauffman said, referring to the frustration of daily users.

After 10 a.m., anyone can park in an empty reserved spot. But no one knows, for example, how many people would do so.

"If you have substantial numbers of reserved spaces staying empty because the reserved parkers don't come, then your parking revenues and your rail revenues go down," board member Benjamin said.

Metro officials have said the fare increases, the first in four years, are needed to pay for boosts in service, such as running more buses and eight-car trains to improve reliability and reduce crowding.

If Metro provides a minimal level of additional service in the next fiscal year, expenses would grow by $20 million. This additional service would include operating new rail cars, extending Yellow Line service to Fort Totten during off-peak hours and ending the Red Line turn-back at Grosvenor-Strathmore during off-peak periods.