Metro says it is looking to return fares to customers who have to wait for trains.
The agency is looking to revise its guaranteed service policy that currently promises to waive rail fares when passengers are seriously delayed.
“We need to give something back to the customers,” said Deputy General Manager for Finance and Administration Carol Kissal, especially as the agency may be asking more of riders with likely fare increases looming.
Transit agencies differ in their policies on guaranteeing service to their riders:
Systems with fare rebates:
» Philadephia’s SEPTA: A free trip voucher for delays of 15 minutes off the scheduled arrival time.
» Boston’s MBTA: Free service after delays of more than 30 minutes.
» New York City’s MTA: Free rides after delays of more than one hour.
» Virginia Railway Express: Free ride certificates for delays 30 minutes or longer.
No fare rebate offered:
» Chicago Transit Authority
» Maryland Transit Administration (including MARC commuter trains)
» Atlanta’s MARTA
Source: Metro and Examiner
Metro, whose general manager announced Thursday that he will resign in April, will try to implement the new policy at the same time as any permanent new fare increases when the next fiscal year begins July 1, Kissal said.
Many riders may be puzzled to learn such a policy already exists, partly because it is applied rarely. Fares were waived about five times in 2009, Kissal said, but only for major service disruptions such as the June 22 Red Line crash.
That’s more than in past years, she said. “The year has not been very typical for Metro.”
The current policy refunds only rail fares, not bus fares. And it is supposed to waive them when riders enter and leave the same station during severe delays, meaning riders who decide not to board the train because the delays are so bad. The agency programs the fare gates to charge zero fare when the passenger leaves the entry station on those occasions.
At times, the agency has opened the fare gates to combat overcrowding, such as during last January’s presidential Inauguration or after packed Washington Nationals baseball games.
Riders also can request a refund for poor service by filling out a form available at station manager booths, Kissal said.
Riders also can request a refund for poor service by filling out a form available at station manager booths, Kissal said.
The agency is modeling its new policy on one used in the Philadelphia transit system, she said. The SEPTA service guarantees that its transit trips will arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time, offering a free trip when it doesn’t meet the standard. Kissal said the program was expensive for SEPTA in the beginning but now costs little. SEPTA could not provide any estimates of how many free rides it awarded annually.
Metro has not decided what the exact policy would be.
Local bus riders may continue to pay up, delayed or not, since buses face more variables than trains.
It’s not clear how much such a plan would cost Metro, an agency grappling with a $40 million emergency budget shortfall and an even bigger $175 million gap in the coming fiscal year.
