Agency yielding on parking fee hike, late-night changes
Metro’s rush-hour commuters may have to fork out 50-cent surcharges on top of already hefty fare increases under a new proposal, although riders who park at rail stations or take trains late on weekends may get a reprieve.
A Metro board committee asked agency staff on Thursday to begin lengthy programming and marketing preparations for a June 27 fare hike, the largest fare increase in its history.
It wasn’t a final vote, but it showed consensus for the plan that would raise rail fares from the current minimum of $1.65 during peak hours to $1.95 and as much as $5 for the longest trips. Bus fares would rise from $1.25 to $1.50 for SmarTrip farecard users. The full board is expected to vote on the fare increases May 13 as a first step in closing a projected $189 million budget gap.
But committee members also asked staff to analyze what it would mean to cut a proposed 50-cent parking fee increase, plus keep Friday and Saturday night trains running until 3 a.m. with peak-level fares, not a proposed $4 flat fee per trip for service that ended at 2 a.m.
The tweaks brought up Thursday represent board members showing their jurisdictional interests: Fairfax County representatives sought to eliminate the proposed parking fee charges, and the District asked to preserve the late-night hours.
To counter those changes, Metro is analyzing an increase to proposed “peak of the peak fares.”
The agency is looking at charging riders at least 10 cents extra if they take trains from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m., regardless of where on the train system they ride. The congested pricing model, which would not take effect until Aug. 1, is intended to encourage riders to spread out their trips.
But now officials are looking at charging 20 cents to cover the difference from the parking fee waiver and late-night service change. They also are considering raising it as high as 50 cents for riders passing through the busiest stations. It was not clear on Thursday which stations would make up that congested core.
For some commuters, the surcharge would be substantial. Some riders already hover outside fare gates to wait until peak fares end. But federal employees, who make up an estimated 40 percent of rush-hour commuters, likely wouldn’t feel the pain of such a fee as more than 100,000 of them locally currently receive up to $230 a month directly for transit.
