A new proposal to add retail kiosks to some Metrorail stations could pave the way for riders to pick up DVDs, dry cleaning and even dinner on their home commutes each day.
The transit agency’s board of directors will be reviewing a proposal later this month to add retail sites to 12 Metrorail stations. The plan calls for allowing either permanent or mobile kiosks in the stations, parking areas or sidewalks as a way for the financially challenged transit service to bring in more money.
It’s not the first time Metro has considered such a plan. In 2006, the board approved adding vendors, but the agency failed to find vendors who met its requirements.
This time, though, the proposal would allow food and beverages to be sold — even though the agency bans drinking and eating.
Cynthia Jachles, who is managing the project, said transit agencies in Chicago, San Francisco and Atlanta ban eating but currently sell food — or plan to — in their systems. At Metro, a report said, the food would be “packaged to discourage consumption in the Metrorail system.”
Still, the idea rankled some riders who heard a presentation on the plan Wednesday.
“If you have the food on the subway, people will eat it,” said Carol Walker, a Riders’ Advisory Council member who represents D.C. riders.
Evelyn Tomaszewski, who represents Fairfax County riders on the council, added that the transit agency would be “giving a mixed message.”
Yet food and drinks are the most lucrative item for vendors, according to Metro officials.
That could also mean more dollars for the transit agency. Metro would earn rent from each kiosk, then earn a percentage of all sales, according to Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith. That percentage has not yet been determined, she said.
Metro officials don’t have any estimates of how much the retail kiosks would raise for the agency. Jachles said newsstands in New York City’s subways brought in thousands when she worked there, but she noted that Metro would be starting the program in a different market and economy.
The kiosks should not cost the transit agency any money, as each vendor would be responsible for trash removal and cleaning costs.
The program is slated for 12 stations initially, which were chosen because they have enough space for such kiosks without clogging walkways, but also an average weekday ridership of 6,000 to sustain the shops.
Eventually the program could expand — somewhat. “Keep in mind, we weren’t built for retail,” Jachles told the riders’ group. “We have these constraints on how we were built.”
