Metro listens on inauguration fares and parking fees

Transit

Metro listens on inauguration fares and parking fees

by David Alpert • December 16, 2008 1:53 pm

We've been beating up on Metro a lot lately, so it's nice to have some good news to report. According to the Post, WMATA staff will recommend a fare modification to the board to charge peak fares during inauguration, and to charge regular rates for parking.

Photo by JamesCalder on Flickr.

Metro is already planning rush-hour service all day. They expect jam-packed trains and completely full parking lots. Given the high demand, it makes sense to charge—especially since most riders will be tourists. Metro should cover its costs for the weekend, and hopefully even come out ahead, earning revenue to help plug its budget gaps and make it possible to improve service.

"These are going to be very high expenses for the Metro system," Catoe said on WTOP radio. "We shouldn't minimize the impact."

According to the Post article, Metro will hire a private contractor to manage the parking, addressing the problem of casual users not having SmarTrips to get out of the parking lots.

Good for Metro. I've set up another petition where you can thank General Manager John Catoe and ask the Board to support his recommendation on this issue.

13 comments — Share	— tags: free parking, inauguration, WMATA

Metro: Inaugural champion and economic casualty? (Feb 5, 2009)
Do more riders cost Metro more? (Jan 12, 2009)
Metro Inauguration prep mixing planning and prayers (Jan 9, 2009)
Free Metro parking for inauguration? (Nov 21, 2008)
Is Metro selling SmarTrip at a profit? (Nov 8, 2008)

Comments

I can't help but think that Metro's handling of the Inauguration crowds could have a major impact on future funding (especially with the new administration). This is a great way to put our great subway system on the map!

by Dave Murphy on Dec 16, 2008 3:26 pm

"Good for Metro. I've set up another petition where you can thank General Manager John Catoe and ask the Board to support his recommendation on this issue."

Maybe you could use your pull with google to get them to develop a tool so we can vote up or down on all WMTA's decisions. They could call it "Google Governance". The only thing they need is a properly formatted feed from metro.

by Tom on Dec 16, 2008 3:34 pm

Wmata could make huge amounts of money if they sold smartrip card at the entrace to the parking lots and then say this is the only way you can park here.

Has WMATA changed anything regarding the MetroBus because it hill be havic for downtown routes and for people who use monday-friday service because of the detours and the Saturday service or are they going to do what they always do; wait until the last minute provide no type of info on detours and people searching for where to catch buses since there are no signs and buses traveling on streets they dont normally and dont stop at the bus stop on those streets.

by kk on Dec 16, 2008 4:21 pm

@kk

It occurs to me that this is one of the reasons rail is so much better than bus service: you can't reroute a subway at the drop of a hat, if you enter the system you can be fairly sure that the train will take you where you need to go; it's not like they can re-dig the tunnels.

by Steve on Dec 16, 2008 4:37 pm

Sell SmartTrip cards at higher prices and profit off the deadweight loss of unused fare.

by Tim on Dec 16, 2008 4:43 pm

@ Steve

The rail may be better but that doesnt mean WMATA should do basically nothing for bus service there are lots of areas which have no rail service for miles, WMATA may not have funds for new rail routes or lines but they have they ability to reroute or change bus routes during detours and they still have a lack of communication and getting info out to passengers it takes them forever to do stuff.

Just look at the bus detour and service changes on their site its a mess planned changes dont appear on their site until after changes have been made and other times the stuff is just wrong like the schedules, maps on the site how much time/money does it take to change a pdf file for routes that have been changed or discontinued. Why is old info still up on there site if they dont have money to print new schedules thats fine they could however put up new pdf's on the site and let passengers print them. Or about bus signs stating bus routes that dont exist yet like the 43 and not finding anything about it or there site.

It doesnt take a company weeks or months to update a site unless they have a policy of updating their site every so and so amount days or weeks they could have few people for just updating info every couple of hours on their site to keep passengers informed or is the website outsourced.

Actually in some places you could reroute subways at the drop of a hat; some places have more than two rails on a route and more switch tracks availble some they could change the route if need be; its highly unlikely but they are able to do it. As you said you can be fairly sure about the trains taking you where you want to go thats not true there have been a lot of malfunctions, and fires in tunnels that have closed stations, cause detours etc over the past year so you are not fairly sure you will go where you want.

by kk on Dec 16, 2008 5:05 pm

Wait - isn't this totally insane?

I've only recently moved back to DC after several years over seas, but didn't they used to just open up the fare gates and put giant barrels that you were supposed to put a dollar into on high traffic days like july 4th?

How on earth are several hundred thousand people buy fare cards and get through fare gates?

by bdh on Dec 16, 2008 10:21 pm

@bdh, The fare gates won't be the bottleneck. Metro will carry, at most, only about one-third more passengers per hour than it already does during any morning rush. The trains run full at their maximum frequency and that's that.

The idea to charge rush fares is a no brainer. What Metro needs to do is increase the rush fare every day. When demand exceeds supply, why are taxes subsidizing rides people will pay for?

by Turnip on Dec 17, 2008 4:45 am

I'm with bdh. This is going to be a nightmare. Does anyone have reliable estimates for how many people are going to attend the innauguration? Because I've heard everything from one to three million people. Going through turnstiles. All at the same time because Metro isn't opening early. In addition to the normal workday rush hour crowds. And this is assuming we don't have the usual track closures and tunnel fires and escalator shutdowns. And you can't use the toilet, either. And they're all paying rushhour rates for the privelege.

This is going to be very, very interesting.

by monkeyrotica on Dec 17, 2008 8:46 am

Sure it'll be crowded, but I don't think it's going to be any worse than leaving a Nats Game or trying to get on the Smithsonian metro during a torrential downpour at the Cherry Blossom Festival (bad experience with that one).

Plus, I don't think the regular rush hour will be much of a concern considering that Federal employees will have off that day. I just hope nothing major delays metro like a track malfunction. That could be really bad news for metro.

by Missy on Dec 17, 2008 12:31 pm

Plus almost all of these people are going to be from out of town - so none will have smart trip cards - the fare machines will be overwhelmed, and the old magnetic cards are slower than smart trips to scan at the gates.

Maybe WMATA should sell $25 commemorative smart trip cards that are good for unlimited rides, bus or rail, for the 3 day period around the event and then never work / charge again. That would speed things up a little - plus make more money than rush hour fares.

by bdh on Dec 17, 2008 6:40 pm

bdh, the most commemorative cards WMATA could get on short notice (i.e., starting after who we knew the president-elect would be) was 35,000, and there won't be enough time after delivery for the cards to be pre-loaded with any software at all. The card purchaser will have to load fare onto them at a vending machine. Also, the smartrip cards don't currently support any feature (such as unlimited pass) except stored value and regular fare calculation.

WMATA didn't get the Smartrip upgrades in time, and they didn't think to design and approve both an Obama card and a McCain card with an order ready to go the day after election day. They waited at least two weeks after election day to present the design and request Board approval.

Oh, yeah. And the commemorative cards are going to sell for $10.

by Michael Perkins on Dec 17, 2008 7:20 pm

The Feds may have the day off, but contractors don't. Then there's the K Street and Georgetown crowd, and everyone who can't afford to take the day off.

And I think attendance is gonna be A LOT bigger than just what you'd find at a Nats game. It's going to be Fourth of July levels of Mall chokiness, and not over a few hour span but ALL AT ONCE.

This will not end well.

by monkeyrotica on Dec 18, 2008 8:53 am