>Let's say all of DC was one zone. A rider could take the Red Line from Ft. Totten to Woodley Park, and just pay $2.25. A rider could also take the Green Line from Ft. Totten to West Hyattsville (just one stop), but because the trip would cross a fare zone, the rider would pay $3.25 for that trip.

Yeah, where I live, im directly between two metro stops, one in one zone and the other in a more expensive one. But the bus only goes to the stop in the more expensive zone, so even though I live in the zone that would be cheaper to travel from, it's more complicated to get to that stop and I'd pay much more for just starting one stop over.