Metro riders say they don’t like the transit agency’s new “peak-of-the-peak” surcharges, but the extra 20 cents per trip hasn’t changed their behavior as much as intended, according to a new Metro report. And Metro riders haven’t been as sensitive to the largest fare increases in Metro’s history as the transit agency expected, the agency said.
| Union Station riders could see 5-cent surcharge |
| Fare increases of another kind may be coming soon — to Union Station. |
| Metro is considering charging riders 5 cents extra each time riders enter or exit the Red Line Metrorail station, the busiest in the system. |
| The money would help pay for an extensive upgrade to Metro’s entrances and exits to help with emergency evacuations and crowding. |
| The board approved allowing such surcharges at two stations each in the District, Virginia and Maryland last year, to bring in an estimated $800,000 per year. None of the jurisdictions had pursued it until last week, when D.C. officials asked to add the surcharge to Union Station. |
| The agency says it still needs to work out how to reprogram the fare machines and handle the accounting. Metro officials also said they don’t know how much it would cost to update all the signs throughout the system versus how much the surcharge would raise at Union Station. |
| Board members are expected to discuss the surcharge Thursday. – Kytja Weir |
Still, ridership continues to fall below projections on both the bus and rail systems, even as unemployment has improved and higher gasoline prices are pushing more commuters out of their cars. Overall ridership is 3 percent below budget through February, according to Metro.
Metro increased fares starting in July, but the set of fare increases was so complicated that the agency couldn’t start them all at once. Some even occurred as recently as February.
In fact, the agency acknowledges in the report slated to be presented to board members Thursday that riders complain about the confusing fare structure, which varies based on distance traveled and time of day. They also don’t like the difficult-to-read fare charts.
The increases were intended to raise more revenue to fill $109 million of a budget gap. But the multipart package also featured some charges intended to work as financial disincentives to change riders’ behavior.
One key part was to add a surcharge to the busiest periods of the morning and evening commutes to encourage rail riders to spread out their trips. The agency started to charge 20 cents extra when riders enter the rail system between 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in what it called the “peak of the peak.”
But Metro says only about 3 percent of trips have moved from that busiest part of the morning and evening rush periods to less packed times, less than expected.
The small change may have occurred partly because riders using SmartBenefits to pay for their rides aren’t worried about spending extra money that doesn’t come from their own wallets. The number of trips using the full federally awarded transit benefit has risen 2.5 percent, according to Metro.
Riders have reacted, though, to additional surcharges on paper farecards and cash bus fares by switching to SmarTrip cards to avoid the fees. Use of the plastic SmarTrip farecards rose from 76 percent to 79 percent of rail trips and from 64 percent to 76 percent for Metrobus, the report says.
