Expect to pay more to ride Metro starting later this summer, with rail riders facing up to $5.45 per trip and bus riders paying as much as $1.70.
But riders won’t be facing less service for that money — the Metro board of directors gave preliminary approval Thursday to a budget proposal that does not cut those services, as initially planned.
After more than three hours behind closed doors during a “recess for lunch,” the Metro board passed the proposal for how to bridge an $189 million gap in the budget that starts July 1. The final budget won’t be approved until next month, but the board needed to give Metro staffers guidance so they could prep fare boxes, make signs and advertise the changes.
The deal did not appear to please board members, who offered various gripes. But their individual concerns were not large enough to kill the deal. It passed unanimously.
“This has been an awful, arduous process,” Maryland board member Elizabeth Hewlett said before the vote. “We do all have to come together as a region.”
The plan calls for raising Metro fares to bring in $108.7 million in a series of complicated steps — including a 20-cent “peak of the peak” service charge for trips during the busiest times. Rail fares will increase at least 15 percent, with the peak boarding fare climbing from $1.65 to $1.95.
It also calls for $25 million more in taxpayer-funded subsidies from local jurisdictions. It would borrow $30 million from the capital budget reserved for infrastructure projects, but Metro staff are charged with crafting a plan for how to pay it back.
The plan calls for raising Metro fares to bring in $108.7 million in a series of complicated steps — including a 20-cent “peak of the peak” service charge for trips during the busiest times. It also calls for $25 million more in taxpayer-funded subsidies from local jurisdictions. It would borrow $30 million from the capital budget reserved for infrastructure projects, but Metro staff are charged with crafting a plan for how to pay it back.
Those steps allowed them to preserve rail and bus service; yet the proposal scales back MetroAccess for future riders with disabilities to the federally mandated minimum of trips within three-quarters of a mile of existing rail and bus routes. Current riders can keep their longer trips.
The plan also keeps parking rates steady, a battle Fairfax County successfully fought, but charges an additional $10 per month for a reserved spot, up from $55 to $65 per month. Bike locker rates nearly triple to $200 per year from the current $70.
» Peak hour: $5 plus 20 cents if during the “peak of the peak” times, 7:30 to 9 a.m. or 4:30 to 6 p.m., plus 25 cents if using a paper card = $5.45
» Off-peak hour: $2.75, plus 25 cents if using a paper card = $3
The shortest rail trip:
» Peak hour: $1.95 plus 20 cents if during the “peak of the peak” times, 7:30 to 9 a.m. or 4:30 to 6 p.m., plus 25 cents if using a paper card = $2.40
» Off-peak hours: $1.60, plus 25 cents if using a paper card = $1.85
BUS
» Cash fare: $1.70
» SmarTrip fare: $1.50
METROACCESS:
» Twice the comparable bus or rail trip up to $7 per trip
It keeps late-night service until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, as the District wanted, but charges peak fares after midnight.
MetroAccess riders won a small concession: Their fares would rise to double that of a comparable bus or rail trip but would be capped at $7 per one-way trip.
