I don’t disagree with this proposal, but I feel like $1.85 isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about using the metro. Most of our complaints are about ease/accessibility to our destination via metro and headways, not the price.

Paying an extra $30 for a family to make a roundtrip during a holliday under the new proposal would change people's minds.

Not sure there's 8 people in the average family buddy!

How is their "a dangerous driving situation" at present with the current fare structure?

The new metro proposal will do away with off-peak fares, making a round trip $13 per person at max, rather than $4 per person. For 4 people, that's $52 vs. $16.

How should WMATA pay for that out of interest?

Is it just the 10 federal holidays you want or is there more?

Just the 11 federal holidays (juneteenth was added).. We do this for all 104 weekend days and any day after 9:30 pm.

But again, how is it going to be paid for?

The Metro increasing off-peak weekday fares would more than cover it. Also, during holidays, we get weekend service, with longer headways due to lower ridership. Why should we have to pay weekday rush prices for weekend service?

I'm on board with this, however I view it as a service issue and not really a fare issue. If you're going to run weekend service, then charge weekend rates. Full stop.

But you would have to do something about Fourth of July. I point this out because think about the crowds coming and going to the National Mall and how you have to pay for staff, operators and MTPD to handle that demand. I guess they could try splitting it up so the morning was weekend rates and afternoon was full fare, but the simplest/easiest thing to do would be normal fares for that day.

Metro isn't really a moneymaker, the same that roads don't make money. Fares pay for some, but taxes pay for the rest. Quality, inexpensive service takes cars off the road. I'm happy for my tax dollars to go to reducing the number of cars I have to deal with, especially those from Maryland.

So you're proposing to increase fares for regular commuters? To be clear: you want the actual lifeblood of the system to subsidize casual users on the weekends?

I'm not. WMATA is.

Isn’t your typical family of 4 or more from the distant burbs going to prefer driving anyway?

Yah, I can't imagine most families using the metro for leisure travel from the burbs into the city. Everyone I know out here uses the metro for work, airports, and a safe ride home after drinking.

I take my family of 4 to the city, see 1 site, metro to lunch, metro back it’s something like 2x more expensive than just driving in and parking. It’s kind of pricey for what metro offers.

WMATA is a service. Not a for profit company. You don’t complain about paying for FireFighters/Postmen/Police/Military or VDOT? Ok… maybe complaints against VDOT are valid.

You don’t understand how public transit investment work. It’s okay.

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I wish there were a dedicated, compete tax payment for metro. Metro being free would do so much good for this area.

I'm kinda frustrated with the proposal for two reasons:

1. I think the vast majority of riders will experience some type of fare increase under the new scheme, but Metro isn't really being upfront about it. For example, an off-peak fare between Petworth and DCA is now $3. The peak fare is $3.55. The new "all day" fare will be $3.65. The current off-peak fare between McPherson Sq and Tysons is $3.85. The peak fare is $4.80. The new "all day" fare is $5.40. I get that inflation has increased operating costs (and fares have to increase as a result), but Metro just isn't being 100% honest when they say they say the new fares will "improve the customer experience."
2. I'm so sick of them flip-flopping the terminus of the Yellow Line every few years...it's a giant pain in the ass for those of us who live north of Mt Vernon Sq and regularly take the Yellow Line into NoVa or go to DCA...we now lose our one-seat ride. I understand that they want to essentially increase service on the Yellow Line bridge (as it has been historically under-utilized) and I understand that it isn't possible to turn trains at Ft. Totten and still increase service levels, but it's incredibly frustrating as someone who frequently used the Yellow Line.

Number 2. Absolutely. It makes no sense that every other northbound train will stop before hitting Ward 1, the densest part of the city. I currently take green/yellow from U St to orange/blue/silver for my job, but if I have to take *three* trains I'm just gonna give up.

The audience this is aimed at…it’s immaterial because they still wouldn’t use it if the service was free.

The family of 3 or 4 coming to DC for the day or the weekend, don’t have time to waste parking at some far off metro station, waiting for off peak trains every 20 minutes to get downtown (and then back).

As I type this (just checked on Google) it would take you 38 minutes to drive from Shady Grove to the Air and Space downtown. It’s 59 minutes on Metro. Add in all the time for folks to fumble with metro cards for their kids, missing trains, not understanding how to use Metro, what lines to take etc, you are losing a minimum of an hour of your day, and that’s if the system works perfectly.

Now add in the cost. Family of 4, $4 bucks per trip. That’s $16 each way, or $32. That’s not going to break anyone’s bank but people would rather just drive downtown, pay the $20 it costs to park for the day and not have to worry about Metro.

It’s just not a great set up for tourists and we should stop pretending it is.

Why would you have to take three trains?

The Green Line will continue to serve U Street and you can continue to transfer to the OR/BL/SV lines at L'Enfant Plaza as you do today.

For number 1 having one fare all the time does simplify use of the system. However, you inspired me to play around with the fare calculator and it looks like the only people who would be having fares reduced are traveling during peak periods and currently pay up to $3.30 per fare. At $3.45 there's a fare increase. For off peak travelers unless you're currently paying the base $2 fare, in which case it will stay the same, you will see an increase (even the $2.05 fare goes up).

Plenty of families take metro on the weekends, and I see them all the time. They also pay $2/person/trip and have for some time, it's only federal holidays where we get weekend service and weekday prices.

Sorry, you're right. I guess I was thinking of all the times when it was that way before that I'd get on a yellow train without thinking and end up having to get off at Mt V Square and wait for green. Effectively three trains there. :) It just doesn't make sense to me that they're talking about reducing intervals, but for all of us who live north of downtown it would mean just the opposite.