Metro riders will have to crack their wallets open a bit wider starting Sunday to pay more for trains, buses and parking as part of the biggest Metro rate increase in history.
Some passengers will pay as much as $10 more per week to park in a Metro lot and ride Metrorail. The minimum rush-hour rail fare will increase 30 cents to $1.35, while the maximum will grow 60 cents to $4.50.
Non-rush-hour fares will not increase, which means Metrorail passengers will not start paying more until Monday’s rush hour.
Daily parking fees will climb by 75 cents, but it will remain free to park in Metro parking lots on federal holidays and weekends.
The parking fee could increase by another 25 cents in July if ridership levels drop.
Bus riders will have to carry an extra dime starting Sunday — bus rates are climbing from $1.25 to $1.35 — unless they have a SmarTrip card. The cost of the bus remains $1.25 for riders using SmarTrip.
Metro is distributing 50,000 SmarTrip cards to area social service agencies so low-income riders won’t have to pay for the $5 rechargeable cards.
The system’s board of directors approved the rate increase last month, the first since 2004, to help cover the $109 million projected shortfall in Metro’s fiscal 2009 operating budget identified early last year. The new fees are expected to raise $107 million for fiscal 2009, which starts in July.
Metro officials say the extra dollars will help the transit system keep up with inflation and pay for more eight-car trains and more buses, improving reliability and easing overcrowding.
But at public hearings in the month before the rate increase was approved, 47 percent of riders said the increases were too high, 45 percent said the quality of service did not justify an increase and 26 percent worried passengers would abandon the system.
Only 8 percent approved of the fare increase.
