Posted on 12/16/2006 8:17:35 AM PST by 69ConvertibleFirebird
Metro Considers Increasing Rail Fares
Service Cuts Are Also Among Ideas to Plug $116 Million Shortfall
By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 11, 2006; A01
Metro faces a $116 million budget shortfall the next fiscal year, raising the possibility of fare increases, reduced bus and rail service and higher contributions from area taxpayers, according to budget documents and interviews with board members.
...
The proposed changes are part of a $1.2 billion operating plan that will be made public Thursday during the board's budget committee meeting. The fiscal 2008 spending plan, which would take effect July 1, also includes 5 percent raises for about 1,600 Metro managers. The proposed budget is about 9 percent higher than the current one.
The shortfall is partly the result of escalating costs and ridership growing slower than projected. In the first quarter of this fiscal year, rail ridership growth was nearly flat. Instead of the 2 to 3 percent expected gain, ridership barely increased from the same period last year, baffling officials.
Some of the budget gap is the result of management decisions made in previous years. Board members have chosen not to replenish reserve funds to pay injured workers and those who successfully sue the agency. Officials have been warning board members that the drop in reserves would have to be made up in the new budget.
Rising health-care charges for the system's 10,000 employees, union-negotiated raises, the expense of operating new rail cars and added oversight for MetroAccess, which transports the disabled and the elderly, have also driven up costs sharply.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It costs over $10 per day to use the subway to commute to and from work in the D.C. area - $3.90 fare each way plus parking fees. Of course fewer and fewer people use it.
The politicians only hope that their gridlocking the road system will force people onto the subway and/or buses.
1600 managers! Yikes!
the metro is usless unless you live walking distance to a
suburban station and commute into d.c. there are no lines
going to many useful places outside of d.c. you can't take the
subway to tysons, dulles airport and george mason university,
for example. going to those places means sitting in a
"parking lot" of ridiculous traffic.
The metro sure was a nice subway compared to the NYC subway, back in the day ...
Heh... they should try what they do in Philadelphia to gin up ridership for SEPTA... go on strike :)
Publish the wages of these 10,000 Union Employees and start a riot.
I agree. If I were to commute by Metro it would take me about 2 1/2 hours each way. Walk 1/2 mile to the bus. Take the bus to the nearest Metro (3 miles away). Take Metro downtown then back out to the end of the line. Take a bus to work. Walk 1/2 mile to my building. Repeat the other way coming home.
One year or so ago Chris Core (WMAL radio) had a Montgmery County Councilman on his radio show. The council office building is within about 1/4 mile from a Metro stop. He asked the councilman, who was pushing public transportation, not roads, as the solution to our gridlock problem, if he took the Metro to work. His answer was "No, I have to drop my kids off at their private school." LOL!!! Not only does he not use the unworkable public transportation system that he has for us he refuses to use the public schools as well.
There are a lot of valid criticisms of Washington Metro, but that isn't one of them. Ridership has been increasing for years, and only NYC's subways have more riders.
Why not stick to facts, why torpedo your arguments with a falsehood that is so obvious to most who are familiar with the Metro?
http://www.wmata.com/about/met_news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1303
For the first time in its 30-year history, more than 200 million people rode the Metrorail system during one entire fiscal year. For the entire 2006 fiscal year (July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006), 205,604,151 customers went through the faregates, a 5.3 percent increase, or ten million more customers than in fiscal year 2005. The average weekday ridership in fiscal year 2006 was 699,599, compared to 667,973 in the previous year. This marks the 10th consecutive year of increased ridership for Metrorail...
Metrobus ridership in fiscal year 2006 was approximately 131,108,085 million, which represents a 2.7 percent increase from fiscal year 2005.
Since pay is the largest expense they could get half way toward break-even by making the pay raises zero for 2008. I wonder if the 5% is on top of the cost of living increase similar to what federal government workers get - when they complain that they didn't get a raise they actually got a 3% increase.
When my fam used to live near the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Station on the Orange Line, Metro was convenient. But then we moved to Prince William and now we are in Leesburg.
The first two destinations (Tysons and Dulles Airport) will be served by the new Silver Line that will eventually extend all the way into Ashburn by 2015 (correct me if I'm wrong).
As for GMU, get off at the Vienna Metro Station and take one of the local buses.
The problem with the Metro is that unless you live close in (like Arlington or Falls Church), it IS a hassle to get to many places. You have to take this bus, transfer to the rail, take another bus, and so forth. That's why so many people just hop in their cars and go. Why bother with Metro when the time to get to the destination is the same by car (even with traffic) and by Metro?
What about that last stop on the orange line, Vienna/Fairfax/GMU? I've never been to that stop, but it would seem the stop is at least close to GMU? Or are they being deceptive in naming that station the way they do lol?
My suggestion for Metro's issues:
1. Privatize the whole thing.
2. Have the local governments offer a fixed subsidy per rider. No urban public transportation system anywhere in the world (except Hong Kong) pays for itself, so we're stuck with step #2.
According to economic theory, the problem with a monopoly is that they will produce too few goods or services at a given price as compared to a competitive market. Subsidizing a monopoly is a way to increase output. I can't think of any practical way to get more than one company operating the subway system, so we're stuck with a natural monopoly.
From: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_research8356
"While the District of Columbia has lost population or remained steady over the past three decades, its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia have experienced staggering population growth. As a result, the metro area is struggling with sprawl, crowded schools, traffic gridlock, and a rising burden on taxpayers as communities struggle to meet the increased demand for public services."
Another problem with the Metro is that its like a wheel with spokes and no rim. Most people commute from one suburb to another. If a line was created that went around DC like the Beltway does, it'd be alot more useful to many more people.
Or for most of us in the suburbs it's much quicker by car - for me it's 30 minutes by car vs. 2 hours, plus, by walk-bus-Metro-bus-walk method. I could ride my bike to work (18 miles) in half the time it would take to go by Metro. Of course since out roads aren't designed to have bikes using them I'd end up dead, or at least run over, fairly quickly. I live in Olney - work in Greenbelt.
> If I were to commute by Metro it would take me about 2 1/2 hours each way. Walk 1/2 mile to the bus. Take the bus to the nearest Metro (3 miles away). Take Metro downtown then back out to the end of the line. Take a bus to work. Walk 1/2 mile to my building. Repeat the other way coming home.
Wuss. I do that every day and it's an hour each way.
And the exercise is good.
I agree for the most part but how does one introduce competition other than the car (which is winning hands down but Metro doesn't seem to care). For privatization to work don't you have to have comparable alternatives (i.e. another metro system running comparable routes)?
Way, way, way overpriced. A miserable failure. Whoever runs it should be jailed.
Your statement was plain and simple: "Of course fewer and fewer people use it." Easily refuted with simple, quantifiable ridership numbers. You want to make other complaints, criticism, analysis, that's fine, but that simple statement was what I was posting about.
So I think I'll take your tagline advice and avoid arguing with you.
Just look at all of the high rise office buildings being built over on I-270. No Metro near them. You have to take the roads to get there.It's a great system to get one downtown and back but that's about it (pretty much as you've said).
Thank God for that. I certainly am not arguing with you (as my tagline indicates).
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