FREE RIDE

Should Metro Charge Weekend Riders More?

WITH LOOMING FISCAL TROUBLES and an endless supply of cantankerous commuters at the ready to voice their frustrations, Metro and its incoming chief, John Catoe, have a full plate to deal with (and that's not even counting issues like yesterday's Green Line derailment). The immediate challenge for Catoe, who will take over this month as the transit agency's first permanent general manger in a year, "will be to balance the budget while minimizing the proposed fare increases and service cuts," The Post's Dr. Gridlock wrote this weekend.

Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington PostWhile Metro's Friday LunchTalk online chat with acting general manager Jack Requa remained mainly free of specific budget chatter — which has boiled the blood of many commuters in recent weeks — it was a topic, mixed in with questions about the roll-out of new rail cars, delays and annoying doorkers.

During the chat, Requa fielded the following question:

How about increasing the fees for the day passes, weekends rates and charge for parking on weekends as a way to increase fees. Give us daily, loyal riders a break and start collecting more money from the tourists and the weekend users. Weekend parking fees would also generate a substantial amount of funding, escpeically [sic] during peak vacation times and major events.
Requa said Metro's already looking at the idea. (But will that alone close the budget gap? Probably not.)

» METRO ALERTS WORKING AGAIN: During Thursday's evening commute, massive delays mired the Blue and Orange lines, especially for Virginia-bound commuters. During Requa's online chat, one questioner wondered about the lack of eAlert messages, which are suppose to warn commuters via e-mail of problems on the rails:

There are constant alerts about 10 minute delays, which are practically irrelevant, so it is extremely frustrating to not get an alert about a major problem such whatever happened [Thursday]. If the alerts do not go out when there is a real problem, what is the point?
Requa said that there were indeed problems with the eAlerts on Thursday, problems that he says have been fixed.

» "Local Blog Log: Red Line Mysteries" [Free Ride/Express]
» "If You Could Do One Thing ..." [Dr. Gridlock/WaPo]
» "Transcript: Acting General Manager Jack Requa" [LunchChat/WMATA]

Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post

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COMMENTS (1)

  • Charge more for weekend riders? That'll make me even LESS happy to ride metro on the weekends, when I usually have to wait an average of 15 minutes. And if you have to transfer it's even worse!! Might as well take a sleeping bag and a change of undies.

    By Stephanie M , Posted January 8, 2007 4:43 PM
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