Poll Center: A Suburban Burden for Metro?

AT TODAY'S MEETING of Metro's board of directors, Jim Graham, who represents the District on the board, is scheduled to introduce his plan on how to restructure transit fares to close a looming budget gap — a counterproposal to a plan previously introduced by General Manager John Catoe. While Catoe wants to increase rail, bus and parking fees to close to gap, Graham says low-income riders who depend on Metrobus would take a big hit and is arguing that bus fares should remain the same at $1.25. Instead, Graham thinks that parking rates should be subject to a higher increase.

Most of Metro's parking facilities are in suburban Maryland and Virginia, whose representatives on the Metro board say that long-distance rail commuters already pay their fair share. The Post's Lena H. Sun reported on Wednesday:

At $1.25, bus fares are already among the lowest for major U.S. cities. Suburban board members argue that rail users, who pay close to 80 percent of the cost of their trips, already heavily subsidize bus riders, whose fares cover only about 35 percent of the trip.

But Graham cites statistics that indicate that only one-third of suburban Metrorail riders who live inside Metro's jurisdiction actually use Metro parking facilities; the other two-thirds come from outlying jurisdictions such as Prince William County that don't contribute a cent to Metro's operating budget.

So a city vs. suburban battle is a brewin', which isn't new to Metro, but when there's ever talk of a fare increase, every jurisdiction fights for its own interests. What do you think?

For today's Poll Center question, we ask: Is it fair for Metro to shift a greater share of rate hikes to suburban riders?

Go vote (and comment) here, and see how your fellow commuters weighed in, station by station, line by line.

» "No Metrobus Fare Hike Under Graham Plan" [Free Ride/Express]
» "D.C. Counters Catoe's Fare Plan" [WaPo]

Photo by Larry Morris/The Washington Post

Posted By Michael Grass at 7:41 AM on October 11, 2007 Tagged in Free Ride , Maryland , Metro , News , Poll Center , The District , Top Stories , Transit , Virginia

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