The largest fare increase in Metro history will put an obvious dent in your wallet, but it’s the crimp in your lifestyle that’ll hurt the most.
Penguin bean counters closely examined how the fare hike adds up for peak-hour commuters. The investigation found that Silver Spring’s rail riders would have to sacrifice some of life’s little amenities to make up for the 30- to 60-cent fare increase.
If your trip starts at the Silver Spring Metro station, expect to feel the pinch whenever you shlep to the following destinations:
Destination: Wheaton (via the Red Line)
Formerly: $1.40
Currently: $1.70
Increase: $0.30
An extra 30 cents per trip is no big whoop, right? Lump that chump change together after 8.5 round trips, and it adds up to $5 — about the price of a Charmin 12-pack on sale at the Westfield Wheaton Target. Shopping tip: Score the two-ply stuff to stretch your supply.
Destination: Brookland (via the Red Line)
Formerly: $1.70
Currently: $2.10
Increase: $0.40
Two semesters and one summer session of daily commuting to Catholic University eats your $150 registration fee for the next academic year. The good news: No registration means you save big time on tuition and textbooks.
Destination: Gallery Place/Chinatown (via the Red Line)
Formerly: $2.30
Currently: $2.75
Increase: $0.45
After a month and a half, your daily commute tosses you and a friend from two $10 nosebleed seats at a Wizards game. On the bright side, you won’t have to watch a Wizards game.
Destination: Dupont Circle (via the Red Line)
Formerly: $2.35
Currently: $2.85
Increase: $0.50
You know it’s time for a new job when your weekly commute guzzles one $5 martini at Cobalt’s happy hour — without you. There’s no silver lining to this one, people.
Destination: College Park (via transfer to the Green Line)
Formerly: $2.20
Currently: $2.70
Increase: $0.50
Twenty round trips cost you an extra $20, canceling the University of Maryland’s Climb Safe clinic for you and your rock-climbing partner. But if you’re not worried about tying a rope or stopping a fall, your climb at the university’s facility is still free.
Metro bus riders catch a small break: Use a SmartTrip card, and your fare is still $1.25 each way. Otherwise, it’s $1.35 cash money.
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The net effect of the fare increase is that more people will be using their cars more often. If you think the roads are crowded now, they are going to get worse. However, the switch to driving may be lessened if gas prices hit $4/gallon.
The bottom line- The working man gets screwed either way.
WeCanDoBetter: high energy prices affect everything. Every man gets screwed by high oil prices, sans people invested in the oil industry.
The cost of owning a car is pretty huge – insurance, repairs, and fuel, forget the actual cost of purchase. If the poor can’t afford the metro, they’re not going to be able to use a car.
Metro continues to maintain the fantasy that the Silver Spring-Gallery Place commute takes 17 minutes. If this were so, maybe my .90 round trip M-F “rush hour” fare increase would be easier to stomach.
A few thoughts for lunctime…. I’ve read in a few articles that fares haven’t followed inflation for many years, and if they did year by year it wouldn’t hurt so much when the changes came around… the metro portion of my commute, SS to Union, when from 2.20 to 2.65 which is a 20.5% increase…. Has it really been THAT many years since the last hike that inflation justifies 20%??? That’s like 10 years of inflation, it’s been on the order of 2% the last handful of years no? (i know, i know.. it compounds like interest, so 9.5 years of inflation for the economists in the room) I’ve posed this question a few hundred times in the last year…. Catao came on board and immediately was talking about ripping out some of the very costly luxeries on metro.. which I applauded… we’re no longer luring anyone out of their cars, beltway traffic takes care of that just fine… so we should function much like every other subway in the country, functional and minimal to keep costs affordable… Why do I still stand in carpeted cars that cost a fortune to clean and replace, ride escalators for an 8 foor climb, wait in overly climate-controlled stations, to board overly climate-controlled trains.. after all, you’re wearing a winter coat for the walk to the station, having to take it off cause its so darn hot in the train is just a hassle anyway… function above form folks…. that being said, 60% (or whatever the real statistic is.. its around there) of metro riders are having their ride funded by uncle sam…. so tough luck for the rest of us I guess, there aren’t enough of us who care to make up a majority it seems.
WeCanDoBetter – give me a break this will effect the working man – those prices are cheap as hell.
Where do you get the idea that they will go to cars when for the majority of those destinations you not only have to factor in the costs of owning a car that DMZ posted but the, but you also have the daily parking costs which can run from a couple dollars to $15 – 20 for a daily garage!!
TDiddy: It only costs $2 per ride to go anywhere on the NY subway system. If you buy a weekly or monthly pass, it is even cheaper. It will cost $2.70 to go from Silver Spring to College Park, a total of 5 stops. With the return ride, that translates to $5.40/day or $27/week. If you are making $100,000/year it probably doesn’t have a major impact but if one is making minimum wage, then it has a huge impact. If you factor in the increase in sales tax, which also directly affects those individuals with lower incomes more than those with higher incomes, the poor are getting hit the hardest this new year.
BTW- As far as people turning to cars, there is an article in today’s Examiner that makes reference to some individuals turning to cars because of the increase in fares. I have taken the metro from Silver Spring to Wheaton Plaza because I found it convenient, the metro fares reasonable and I wanted to do my part in reducing CO2 emmissions. Now, I will probably take the car more often.
Let’s get facts right:
1) Local and state governments are responsible for the fare increase not Metro. Metro is a interstate compact made up of the local jurisdictions, the District, Maryland and Virginia. They fund Metro and are facing budget defcits of their own.
2) Flat fares are economically inefficient. For everyone who brings up New York, both London and Tokyo use variable pricing and charge MORE and are still packed to the gills with riders.
3) Many people will face a modest fare increase. I normally ride from Pentagon City or Pentagon to Navy Yard (using bus to access Pentagon/Pentagon City) and my fare increase is more modest because I go a short distance. I certainly dont’ want to cross subsidize long distance commuters who by the way pay less per mile than I do!
4) There is a big difference between stated and revealed preference. Many more people will complain about the fare increase and threaten to drive than will.
5) The alternative is to cut service and that’s a stupid idea.
Picking up on Dharm’s comments…where the hell is the federal government in all this? They should subsidize a portion of the annual WMATA budget since so many federal employees rely on the rail and bus system in the Washington, DC region.
Maryland and Virginia need to step up and dedicate an annual budget for Metro. The fact that we are getting this price increase during an economic downturn could NOT have come at a worse time. Brown bag lunches everyday and no more coffee purchases from the YuppieHater.
Inflation has actually averaged closer to 2.5% over the past ten years – so that’s more like a 20% price increase equaling 7.5 years of inflation. However, the metro is a transportation service, and those have tended to be very sensitive to energy costs – which have really shot up in the past few years.
Hiking up the fare (versus raising taxes) gives metro riders more incentive to demand efficient operation of the system. Yeah, it sucks for the poor, but high energy and higher food prices are probably more cause for alarm for them.
Anyone who has braved the L in Chicago knows what a sweet deal we have with our metro system here. Deafeningly loud,with a ride as rough as the 100 year old rollercoaster it is. They (CTA) have also made changes as of the 1st of this year. 81 of the 154 bus lines were discontinued. (Not 81 buses, 81 lines, several 100 buses). Bus fare is now $2.75 ($2.25 w/ transit card). The train (The L) is now (flat fare) $2.75 off peak, $3.25 peak. WMATA compaired, is quiet,smooth,clean, and cheaper. If you can buy, maintain, fuel, and insure a car for less, congrats. (and don’t leave out time stuck in gridlock, parking, time spent looking for parking, and the GPS system & sound system you’ll lose when you park on the street. My bus ride to work is still $1.25, because “smart people use smart cards”. And if I want to visit a world class museum durning peak hours, well, I just don’t get a candy bar in the food court.
Agreed with Jerry – I timed that SS-to-GP trip 5 times this past month – NONE of the direct trips were under 20 minutes. Don’t get me started on the metro bus scheduling fantasy time charts!
On TOP of this bad news, we get the threat of RideOn fare hikes and cuts in service from Leggett – time to start writing those letters.
While Metro fares have increased 3 times, MD gas taxes have increased by exactly ZERO. The MD state legislature needs to take a HARD look at the facts and how much of the transportation budget is getting used to subsidize auto transit.