Suburban Maryland and Virginia representatives to the Metro board are expected to line up in opposition to the District’s proposed package of rail and parking increases, putting the bid on life support before it’s even considered.
“What we’re looking for is a regional solution that is fair to everybody and that’s not what this proposal is,” said Peter Benjamin, Montgomery County’s representative.
D.C.’s three representatives to the Metro board — D.C. Council Members Jim Graham and Marion Barry, and Department of Transportation Director Emeka Moneme — on Wednesday laid out the District’s proposal to bridge a $109 million budget gap with a 30-cent increase in the base peak rail fare and a $1.25 increase for parking. The cost of a bus ride and a weekly bus pass would remain the same.
Their proposal is counter to that of Metro General Manager John Catoe, who has suggested raising regular bus fares by 25 cents, rail fares by up to 40 cents and parking by 50 cents.
Metro’s finance committee is expected to take up the issue today.
The District was guided principally by equity in developing its proposal, Graham said, explaining that Metro must protect those “who are least able to shoulder this burden.” Even a nickel increase may be too much to bear for many bus riders, Barry said.
Meanwhile, Graham said, the existing $3.50 parking charge — plus $45 per month for a difficult-to-obtain reserved space — is “not anywhere near market rate.” And a “good chunk” of people who use Metro’s 58,000 parking spaces hail from jurisdictions that pay no Metro subsidy, so a parking increase is an opportunity to “share some of the burden.”
The proposals are all unacceptable in that they call for 20 percent to 30 percent fare increases, said Michael Snyder, chair of Metro’s Riders Advisory Council.
“Each constituency is trying to take money from different people’s constituency,” Snyder said. “What really needs to happen is Metro needs to go back and look at their budget and figure out where they can trim additional costs.”
Chris Zimmerman, Arlington’s Metro board representative, said he expects a couple weeks of back-and-forth negotiation before a deal is struck. With three votes inside the Beltway and three outside, “there’s going to have to be a compromise,” Zimmerman said.
