Metro heard from thousands of riders in the past few months as it has considered how to plug an $189 million gap in next year’s operating budget. Nothing has been finalized yet, but some of the apparent winners and losers are listed below:
WINNERS
» Late-night partiers and service industry workers who may be able to continue riding trains until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights for peak fares instead of paying proposed $4 flat fees for service that would end at 2 a.m.
» About 300 current MetroAccess riders who may be allowed to continue taking the shared-ride trips beyond a 3/4-mile corridor along existing rail and bus routes.
» Yellow Line riders whose service likely won’t be eliminated in sections that overlap with Green and Blue line service.
» Shaw residents who petitioned not to have a station entrance closed at nights and weekends because of safety concerns.
» Suburban train riders who park at Metrorail stations, as parking fees may not increase 50 cents as proposed.
LOSERS
» Commuters who ride trains from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. as they could face 10- to 50-cent surcharges for traveling during those “peak of the peak” times.
» Bus riders who would pay 20 percent fare increases, face a shortened transfer window and shoulder the bulk of the remaining service cuts on the table.
» Tourists and riders without SmarTrip cards, as bus riders paying cash would pay 10 cents more and rail riders using paper farecards would pay an extra 25 cents per transaction.
» All future MetroAccess riders who will likely be asked to pay more and be restricted to trips within 3/4-mile of existing bus and rail routes.
» Bikers who use bike lockers at Metro stations, as fees are slated to rise from $70 to $200 a year.
» All riders may lose out by having the agency potentially borrow $30 million more of capital dollars to pay for daily operating costs, says the Sierra Club’s Dennis Jaffe. “If you don’t have new equipment, if you don’t have better cars, if you don’t have good lighting, it affects safety,” Jaffe said.
