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Metro's biggest fare hike in history
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(Examiner file photo)
The higher fares are expected to raise $107 million for Metro’s fiscal 2009 operating budget and almost erase the estimated $109 million revenue shortfall that system officials identified several months ago. Passengers will begin paying as much as $10 more per week to park and ride Metrorail next month under a fare-increase package the system’s board of directors approved Thursday. Though the increases are smaller than originally proposed, they represent the largest boosts in Metro’s 31-year history. Opponents said the increases place too heavy a financial burden on rail riders. “This fare structure continues to foster a separate-but-equal segregationist transit system that pushes the working poor, limited-English riders and senior citizens off of rail and onto buses or roads,” said Michael Snyder, who resigned as chairman of the Riders Advisory Council on Thursday to protest the increases’ approval. The minimum rush-hour rail fare will increase 30 cents to $1.35, while the maximum will grow 60 cents to $4.50, effective Jan. 6. Nonrush-hour fares will not increase. Daily parking fees also will grow 75 cents and could increase 25 cents more in July if ridership levels decrease. Boosting the rail fares and daily parking fees will add up to $1.95 to the amount riders pay each day. Passengers wanting to pay to reserve a parking spot at a rail station will be charged an additional $10 a month as well, to $55, but the number of reserved spots at each station will not change. Fares for bus riders paying cash will increase a dime to $1.35, but fares for riders using SmarTrip cards will not change. “Nobody wants higher fares, but we have tried to constrain the increase for the long-distance riders,” said Peter Benjamin, the board member who developed the fare-increase plan. The higher fares are expected to raise $107 million for Metro’s fiscal 2009 operating budget and almost erase the estimated $109 million revenue shortfall that system officials identified several months ago. Dana Kauffman, a board member from Fairfax County, doubted the increases would generate that much revenue. Ridership dropped slightly during fiscal 2007 and likely will decrease further because of the higher fares, he said. “This still balances the budget on the backs of the long-distance riders,” said Kauffman, the only one of the six-member board to vote against the increases. “We are saying our long-distance riders are sadomasochistic drones who not only will take this hit but will continue coming back for more.” |