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Sierra Club urges Metro riders to oppose fare hike
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(Greg Whitesell/Examiner)
Sierra Club members Chris Carney, 31, and Grace Cunningham, 24, both from D.C., pass out fliers Wednesday at the Metro Center Station encouraging people to take action against possible Metro fare hikes and service cuts. Sierra Club members were out at 17 Metro stops in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, encouraging people to call their respective public officials’ offices. Activists from the Sierra Club spent Wednesday morning at Metrorail stations throughout the region urging riders to publicly oppose fare increases and service reductions. Metro General Manager John Catoe already has put the proposal to hike fares and cut service on hold while he looks for ways to trim additional spending to balance the agency’s operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Catoe needs to find about $64 million in savings to totally offset the fare-hike proposal. Chris Carney, an environmental organizer with the District’s Sierra Club chapter, said the activists want riders to pressure Metro and locally elected officials whose jurisdictions fund the system to make sure other solutions are found to balance the budget if Catoe cannot cut enough costs. “We know those things have been put on hold, but Metro needs to go further,” Carney said. “They need to aggressively look for ways to save money in their budget and take the fare increases and service cuts off the table completely.” If enough savings cannot be identified, one possibility would be to ask the local governments that subsidize Metro to increase their payments to the agency, something local officials have already voiced opposition to because they say they don’t have the money in their budgets. Another option would be to increase parking fees, which are well below market rates. Metro also has waiting lists for reserved spots and many of its parking lots. “Metro takes 580,000 cars off the road each weekday and eliminates more than 10,000 tons of pollution each year,” said Grace Cunningham, a D.C. Sierra Club member. “Riders are already paying their fair share for a public service that benefits all of us.” Under the proposal that’s on hold, riders would pay an additional 35 cents on top of the increased fare if they start or end their trips in downtown D.C. during rush hour, but they would receive a discount if they pay using SmarTrip cards. For example, the maximum daily fare would increase from $3.90 to $4.70 for SmarTrip users and $6 for other passengers. The minimum fare, now $1.35, would jump to $1.50 for riders using their SmarTrip cards and $2 for everyone else. |
