More than 100 riders and workers converged June 29 on the Columbia Heights Metro Station to protest. Despite the displayed anger at Metro’s move to raise fares and cut some services, Metro officials say flat fares and some of the protestors’ other demands are not up for discussion.
The protest demonstration came four days after Metro raised the fares on both the buses and the trains. Bus riders now pay an extra quarter, bringing the base fee up to $2. Most fares for rail riders went up between 10 and 25 cents.
Metro riders and workers converged at the Columbia Heights Metro Station to protest fare hikes and service cuts. (Courtesy Photo)
Moreover, trains now arrive less frequently during rush hour. Metrorail system hours were adjusted to provide an additional eight hours of track access weekly to improve safety and service reliability, according to Metro’s website. Metro also eliminated low-ridership bus routes.
Officials say the changes are necessary to close a budget gap, right size service and offer time for additional preventative maintenance to improve both safety and reliability.
Dan Stessel, a Metro spokesman, said, in a statement, it is possible Metro will expand service hours and reduce the wait time between trains in the future. But because the new hours went into effect relatively recently, Metro is in no position to say when or how.
“Average income increases with distance from the core in the Washington region, so a flat fare would result in the highest per-mile fares for those groups who are the least able to pay them,” Stessel told the AFRO in an email. “In other words, under a flat fare (which would need to be $3.05 per trip to generate the same revenue as today’s fare structure), those riders with lowest incomes would pay more, while riders with higher incomes traveling longer distances would see a massive fare cut. Metro’s Board of Directors understands this and has emphasized fare equity as one of its top priorities.”
Stressel also said Metro won’t consider implementing free bus to rail transfers, but Stessel noted the system offers a 50-cent discount for any bus-to-rail or rail-to-bus transfer. He pointed out that riders can make free transfers between Metrobuses — within a two-hour period.
Raheen Anthon, an organizer with Organizing Neighborhood Equity in D.C. (ONE D.C.), said the fare hikes are a slap in the face in light of Metro’s ongoing woes. He called on Metro General Manager and CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld to resign.
“He needs to get out of the seat so we can take over,” said Anthon, who lives in Silver Spring, Md. “We need people power and we need people to understand that we have the power to tell each other what we need to do.”
Anton said ONE D.C. will continue working with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 to support workers and advocate on behalf of the ones who lost their jobs and had their health benefits cut. The union represents Metro workers.
A Metro train operator demonstrated against the fare hikes and service cuts with other union members. The operator, who declined to give her name out of fear of retaliation, said the service cuts and fare hikes hurt the people who help keep the city going – hourly employees who work in the malls and shops, sometimes at night.
“We want them not to continue to raise fairs and cut services because this is supposed to be for the public, and you’re out pricing the public,” the operator said. “You don’t have to take it all from the working man and woman.”
David Thurston, a street artist and coordinator for the National Alliance of Mental Illness, said he relies on Metro daily and spends between $40 and $60 a week on Metro. He lives near the Ft. Totten station. “When you’re facing an enormous crisis with climate change and we need to drastically, dramatically reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, nothing does that better than public transportation that is ample and fully funded,” he said. He called on all relevant jurisdictions to fully fund Metro.
Stessel pointed out that Wiedefeld put out a proposal in May that called for $500 million in dedicated funding for capital needs. But the specific method for funding Metro is left up to D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, he said.
However, southeast D.C. resident Barbara Flint said she doesn’t have a problem with Metro raising some fares and cutting some service. “We need to take a closer look because Metro is being, across the board, damned, and that is not fair,” Flint, 79, told the AFRO. She said she praised Metro for investing in new trains and for implementing Safe Track, a year-long program to fix dangerous spots along the rail system to make it safer for riders.