September 26, 2006
What Metro Needs: Monthly Passes
There are many types of Metro riders out there. The Weekend Warriors who bring their kids in to the city for museums and monuments. Empty Nesters who come to see a show and have dinner. Students who ride three days a week to classes. City dwellers who ride to the grocery store and to visit friends. And of course, the intrepid commuter, who braves the rails every day to keep the federal government and all its hangers on chugging along from 9-5 each day.
While D.C. is not unlike many other cities in the nature of the people who ride its transit, it is different in the way it charges them. Many other cities such as Boston, San Fransisco, and Chicago each have some sort of monthly pass to reward the most regular users of transit (yes, we know New York has one too, but it's wicked expensive, as they say in Boston). While the cost of such a pass varies from city to city, it usually averages out to around the cost of 44-56 rides. That is about the number rides your average commuter will take each month - two rides a day for 22-23 days.
While infrequent users would not see a discount under such a program, others might be encouraged to ride Metro into and around the city a few extra days each month, rather than drive. The program would not hurt Metro's bottom line much either. The number of people who do ride Metro more than twice a day should be relatively small, and a discount for certain commuters might increase overall ridership. It would also give Metro more financial certainty - cash would come it at the beginning of each month, rather trickling in over the course of 30 days.
Other cities have had success building their ridership with a monthly pass. While our Orange Line friends might question the need to grow ridership any further, we still love to see more people riding Metro.
|
Funny that you use an image of a SmarTrip card, since the card is incompatible with passes.
Also note that there are two types of weekly passes.. I'm not sure why this piece acts like they don't exist.
Only problem i see with this is the varying fares. I know my daily 3 stop downtown commute is a lot cheaper than say a Bethesda - Rosslyn commute? How could that be handled?
I think the biggest improvement in getting higher ridership, with weekend usage isn't tied to cost (savings from a monthly pass) but to more frequent trains. That cost of course needs to be offset, so why not weekend fares? I would pay an extra dollar to get trains running more often.
Regular use on metro $20-30 per week.
What bollocks that Metro hasn't introduced monthly passes. In NYC, you can get a monthly for $70-80 bucks for unlimited use. For the distance it covers, all five boroughs, it's a sweet deal. Wake up WMATA, commuters need you and your backwardness is showing how screwed up the capital is!
I, for one, support our WMATA Overlords. Who are we to doubt their expertise in the transportation world. It's just all too confusing, it's good that we have somebody to think for us instead of doing it ourselves.
Passes would be nice, but since we're not a system based on a single fare, I can't see that working.
For frequent commuters, many companies offer Metrocheck which is paid pre-taxes, so you do save a fair amount of money.
I have lived here too long...
Metro used to have something like this. I had a metro/bus combined pass. I remember it being pretty pricey - maybe $100 p/month? This would've been 1998ish.
DC really needs a single fare system. If a monthly pass reduces the cost of commuting from the outer reaches of the system, that would mark some improvement.
Some urban dwellers may cringe over this example, but add up a round trip fare from Rockville to Downtown, tack on metro station parking, and the economics do not provide much of a cost or time savings to metro vs. drive.
By comparison, NYC is a single fare system within the 5 boroughs. Including transfers between bus and rail, a round trip costs $4/day max. Rockville to downtown costs $7.20/day. Reserved parking costs $45/mo. plus $4/day for the daily fee (average total cost = $6/day). Granted, ride sharing, biking, shuttles, etc. to the Metro could cut the cost, but $11-13/day to ride will not dissuade too many commuters from driving.
I too think DC could learn from Chicago's CTA. Their week pass (which was maybe $15? I can't remember) Worked on both buses and their El. it was brilliant.
Actually, chicago's bus system on the whole is pretty brilliant except for their "night owl" schedule which begins at 7 pm which is kinda dumb.
I know Metro used to have a monthly bus pass available. It was fantastic.
The Smart Trip card is absolutely NOT incompatible with a monthly pass. I lived in DC and now I live in Chicago. Chicago has a "Chicago Card," which is exactly the same as a Smart Pass, that supports montly passes. My work pays for it, but I believe that an unlimited monthly pass on both the "L" and the bus is $75.
I remember the monthly pass too - around 1997. If I remember correctly (and I may not), it was worth it for commuters living far out - but not for the in town commuter using it only 1-2 times more a week.
I was just thinking about this last week and wondering why the got rid of it - I was also missing the extra $2 on a fare card when you bought a $20 card.
Actually I think the NYC pass is a good deal, while the Chicago one is not. Both are $75, except a fare in NYC is $2, while in Chicago it is $1.75. If I were to commute in NYC, I would definitely utilize public transit more than I ever did in Chicago. But still... a monthly pass would be awesome... although unlikely.
How can DCist call NYC's monthly pass "expensive?" $70 for an entire month of unlimited rides? You're alreaady saving $10/month off the regular fare even if you only take the subway back and forth to work each weekday. And since very much unlike DC, in NYC you're never more than 6 blocks from a subway station AND a bus stop, you are far more likely to ride often, making the unlimited pass an even better deal.
A montly pass should be able to be worked into existing SmarTrip technology. If they can't or don't do it, I imagine it's on purpose.
How about bus-to-rail transfers? It made sense not to have them before smart trip, but now there's no excuse, except the loss of revenue. That loss is easily recovered by cutting the discount in half.
I get screwed by this because I take a bus to the metro in the morning, but I often skip the bus ride on the way home.
What I meant was that you cannot currently load a pass onto a SmarTrip, not that the system isn't theoretically capable.
Anyway, why is no one talking about the weekly pass? What makes the month so special as a unit for a pass? The weekly pass deals with the different fare issue. It is a little unfair for people who solely use $1.35 trips. You have to do 17 trips to make the pass worth it, more than a work week of trips.
I find that I don't always get to this number, especially if I'm not in town for the weekend. But it's less hassle and I get a tax break (This likely does not make up for any fare difference). My main problem with the pass is that is doesn't work for buses and can't be put on a SmarTrip.
While San Francisco's city-only MUNI system (consisting of light rail and buses inside the city limits only) has a monthly pass, BART, the regional subway system that most closely resembles Metro-rail does not. And the rest of the region's bus systems are not linked in any way. Comparing San Francisco's system, which is very geographically limited and doesn't provide access to any suburban commuter areas to Metro is comparing apples and oranges.
MTA in Baltimore has a monthly pass that gets you on buses, light rail and their Metro for $64 a month ($39 for students.)
MARC isn't included.
Why fix somthing that aint broke. Metro riddership is up, revenue it up. Why take on an addional cost to entice more riders?
One reason most people probably aren't mentioning the passes is that most (if not all) of them only function at certain hours.
A daily pass that is invalid before 9:30am is useless for commuters; and even the Weekly Short-trip pass only allows on to ride from 5:30-9:30 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. on weekdays. To get full MetroRail usage, you'd have to buy a $32.50 7-day Fast Pass, which works out to $120+ per month. And I don't think that even covers the buses!
Cat is right, BART does not have much of a monthly pass system (they have a pass that offers like a $3 discount if you buy in large quanities), but there is a monthly pass for AC Transit, including Transbay options.
The Muni FastPass works on BART within the city limits (this is great if you live in the Mission District, as BART is the fastest way to downtown and the financial district). The District and Metro could use a system like that I suppose. Although SF is going to have trouble with it once the region institutes TransLink (like the SmartTrip). As more people use transit inside the city of San Francisco than anywhere else (in terms of population), Fastpass is largely related to this me thinks. Although the astronomical cost of parking downtown and in the financial district or South of Market doesn't hurt for boosting ridership either, as it should as that's how its designed to work.
I believe CalTrain and Golden Gate transit also have monthly passes.
Part of the problem here is the way funding works. SF and Chicago both have regional sales taxes that support transit. It's a pay to play system, you don't have transit if you don't pay the taxes. So the Chicago Card works for the CTA as well as the suburban Pace buses. (Although, not for Metra, which is comparable to VRE or MARC. Metra does have unlimited ride weekend passes, which was a great way for me as a kid to get into Chicago on the weekends.)
I think passes of some sort (creating something unique to our regions transit system) would work. Metro has a little farther reach than other systems, although not by much. And other cities have figured out ways to do this.
This is a pretty silly posting. With record ridership and crowded trains, what incentive does WMATA have to introduce a monthly pass that it would ultimately lose money on.
Duh.
wjp, the weekly short trip pass doesnt ONLY allow rides during the rush hour. during the two rush hour times, you can only go a short trip (hence the name) and if you go farther, you just have to add twentycents at the exit fare. during the other times of the day, you can ride it to and from anywhere without an additional charge.
i found it convenient for me when i was working two jobs, but now that that's over, it's not very reasonable for your average short trip daily commuter.
J - Thanks for the correction! I've never used the Short Trip Pass, and didn't read the description correctly. Still, it worth noting that at $22/week, the Short Trip Pass is still more expensive per month than monthly passes that cover both bus and rail in other cities without limitation.
how about we first figure out how the system can keep from being brought to a halt by a single "sick" passenger and handle the mass of commuters and then we'll worry about passes.
Is it really possible for someone to say they "have lived here too long" by referencing something from 1998? I know for a lot of people DC is transient, but really? 8 years?
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES to the monthly pass!
(Although it's not much more expensive in NYC than in Chicago - why so harsh on the Metrocard?)
Huh WJP?
I purchase the weekly short-trip pass all the time, and I've never had it restricted to specific times of day. What are you talking about?
Jason -- from the WMATA webpage: "Valid for seven consecutive days for Metrorail trips costing up to $2.20 between 5:30-9:30 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. on weekdays. Pass is valid for any rail trip at other times. If trip costs more than $2.20, you must use the Exitfare machine to pay additional fare." As J clarified, it's not that you can't use it during the rush hour times, it's just that it's only good for $2.20.
The daily pass is still not usable during the morning commute, though--which sucks for us local commuters who are planning a day of frequent travel.
DC absolutely needs monthly or yearly passes. Besides the convenience aspect, the prices charged are some of the most expensive in the world, due to Metro's refusal to give regular commuters a break. Compare Metro prices with the London Underground (certainly not a cheap city):
Fast Pass $32.50 week x4 =$130
London UG zone 1+2 pass (this is comparable to a long metro trip) 85.30 GPB (about $160). One can buy a year pass which will knock it off to $140/mo. Plus consider that a monthly or annual season ticket in the UK is good on bus, docklands, and national rail in the same area.
And consider that a general rule of thumb is if it costs $1 in NYC or Washington, it costs 1GBP ($1.90) in London.
Also, in London users of the Oyster cards get a small fare break—not sure why one wouldn’t want to reward smar card users…
Comparisons with other places in Europe will yield similar results to comments about the prices in NYC etc.
I’m not sure why metro is so expensive. Perhaps driving/parking becomes so expensive that metro becomes the only great option… No expectations of reform here.
DC HAS monthly passes, and I'm not sure why so few people are aware of them. Yes, they're $165 a month, so they're not much good for the casual metro user -- but for those of us who are transit-dependent and regularly run upwards of $250 a month in public transit trips, they still offer a worthwhile deal.
Transit Link cards. Look them up.
Wow, so a DC monthly pass is more than DOUBLE the cost of a monthly pass in NYC? Wouldn't Boston refer to that as wicked retarded?
"I’m not sure why metro is so expensive."
One reason is that the metro is much newer than London, NY and Boston; hence the cost of construction was much much higher in the mid 70's than it was in the early 1900's. In addition Metro has had some major extensions in the last 10 years (green line & Blue) and future (Silver). So basically the reason why is because we have a ton more debt to payoff than these other cities. And I won't ever go into the cost of maintenance either.
What I miss is the old system where you got a 10% bonus for whatever you put on your card - $20 = $22 - basically a free ride. Why did they get rid of that?
Coming from Boston recently, I have to say, I miss my T pass there, but the T is a single fare system ($1.25), so it's easier to do. I paid $44/month for my subway-only T pass and it was great - you never had to worry about how much was on it. (Also, Boston is transitioning to a SmarTrip-like system, not sure when, but soon, so it must be doable here.) The combo pass (subway and bus) was like $76 a month, I think.
I believe someone mentioned the Tube in London. Fares in London also differ based on distance, and the entire system is divided into 6 zones and even more zones if you take into account regional rail links. If WMATA were concerned about losing money on commuters coming from long distances, they could also create a tiered system dividing the meto area in zones. The price of the montly pass would vary based on which zones the commuter would need to travel in. Of course, I'm biased because I'd likely be in the central most zone. I travel 7 days a week at least twice a day and I would undoubtedly benefit from a monthly pass. Being the nation's Capitol, maybe our public transportation could be on par with London's. (Don't get me wrong, the tube definitely has it's problems.) Just a thought. Also, if we can't incorporate a monthly pass with the SmartTrip technology, then we have some other serious problems.
Please write in to Metro's Rider's Advisory Council and the WMATA board and lend your support for putting weekly passes on SmarTrip!
Write to:
ajohn@wmata.com (WMATA staff RAC contact), and
boardofdirectors@wmata.com
Come on, do it now, before you put it off, it'll only take a second.
Yes, weekly passes exist already, but they're inconvenient. Imagine if all you had to do was buy a weekly pass using your SmarTrip card and the card "knew" you got unlimited rides for the week!
Thanks,
Michael Perkins
Commuters taking MARC or VRE commuter rail can purchase monthly passess, which have significant discounts compared to purchasing tickets for every trip. A Transit Link Card is also available from MARC and VRE which allows unlimited trips on MARC/VRE, Metro Rail/Bus, Ride-On, and other DC area services for one month. Its expensive but if you take MARC or VRE, and Metro everyday you save a lot.
Claire - Note that the Transit Link card is also a pass on MARC or VRE. It's only a worthwhile deal if you regularly use one of those systems, imo. Since they don't operate on weekends, I have no use for such a pass.
The 10% bonus was nice, but you have to think of the costs. Imagine if you will that we still had said bonus, and then imagine that the fares were raised every year. Then you'd bitch about that ad nauseum, and I doubt I'd be the only person on Metro getting sick of that whining.
Other cities' systems are heavily subsidized in a way WMATA isn't. Riders pay over 70% of the costs directly, with the rest supported by the governments that make up WMATA. When you stop grousing about your "sky-high" taxes out in suburbia and instead direct your representatives to put money into the system, then we can take into consideration those requests. The last time WMATA actually made a little extra money, Fairfax demanded a rebate on their next annual allocation! As it stands DC and MD have both met the requirements for Tom Davis (R-VA) bill to give WMATA federal funding, if it is matched. VA is still sitting on its hands.
Amen, amen. When I first moved here, I looked around in vain for such a thing.
I realize it's more difficult because of the distance-based fares, but they could implement a zone system and you could buy a "Zone 1 Monthly Pass" that allows you unlimited rides within the city center, etc. Zone 2, etc....
Joclyn,
I think I will now start using the phrase "wicked retarded" with a horrific Revere accent (i.e., "wicked retahded") forever and ever.
Thank you.
So, in other words, if we kicked Virginia out, we could get a monthly Metro pass?
Sounds like a good trade to me. Anyone else on board?
"So, in other words, if we kicked Virginia out, we could get a monthly Metro pass?
Sounds like a good trade to me. Anyone else on board?"
I am!...However the monthly pass will now cost $3,000/month
Hmmmm... $3,000/month, or the opportunity to rid ourselves forever of a backwards-ass, Christofascist canker on the skin of the mid-Atlantic.....
This is one tough call, actually.
No, we just need to find a way to either convince the state of Virginia that they need to get over their Luddite fixations and understand that NoVa produces much of their wealth and taxes. Or NoVA will somehow have to bear the cost themselves, without the state. The problem with the latter is that only "cities" (in quotes because Arlington County is a city for taxation purposes) in VA can tax residents in taxes which flow to the city first, rather than being scooped up by the state and then re-apportioned. Salex taxes are being offered as a solution, as DC has decided to meet Tom Davis' challenge with an allotment of I think it is 0.5% of the current sales tax, to go to WMATA.
They tried to pass a sales tax increase a few years back in WMATA's NoVa feeding area, to guarantee funding for roads and transit. It went down in flames, largely because of Fairfax. Prince William & Loudon skate along the system for free, dumping passengers onto Metro, but not paying their way. There's not much we can do about that either.
Jason,
You're welcome!
In Tokyo, they have monthly passes you can buy for one, three, or six months at a time. They're valid between two stations -- you can get on/off at any place along a designated route between those two stations as much as you want without any extra charge, but if you stray outside that route you must pay the difference.
Metro's "monthly passes" are just unlimited farecards. That's a waste of money for people who just ride between two stations every day. Metro can easily institute the above pass system, since the ticket gates keep track of when and where you've been. Then they could just raise regular fares for non-commuters without monthly passes, keeping fares lower for people who commute every day. But I'm sure people would whine and complain about some other problem with the passes, this being America, after all...
They stopped the monthly passes about two years ago, at the same time that they made a massive hike in the prices overall (and around the time they extended hours). It was a conscious decision on Metro's part--the program was great until they shut it down.
Regarding the TLC:
http://www.mtamaryland.com/fares/specialprograms/marctransitlink.cfm
I had a transit link card for commuting from downtown out to greenbelt. If you include a daily commute of Bus + a center-to-end metro ride -- the TLC will be about the same cost. But then all weekend night riding is free! I know of some poeple who commute to dulles from arlington via the 5a bus, and i think it would work well in that kind of commute (though it doesn't cover the full express bus cost).
These passes did exist before the base fare was increased above $1.10 -- which I believe was in 2001.
These were the prices back then, as I remember them.
Base fare
Bus
Regular: $1.10
Express: $2.00 (both single rides--but with a option to get a free transfer slip valid for 2 hours)
Daypass: $2.50
Weekly: $10.00 (covers $1.10 of each bus fare -- express bus passengers had to pay the difference)
Monthly: $40.00 (covers $1.10 of each bus fare).
Monthly Express: $70.00 (The ONLY bus-only unlimited pass...)
Rail:
Fares started at $1.10 -- maximum rush hour was $3.25, maximum off-peak was $2.10
Daypass $5.00 -- couldn't be used before 9:30am weekdays
Weekly Short Trip: $17.50 -- then limited to $1.75 of rush hour fare, but with unlimited use all other times.
Weekly "Fast Pass": $25 -- Unlimited use at all times.
Monthly "Fast Pass":$100
Bus/Rail combined
Weekly Bus/Rail Short Trip: $20 -- Covered all buses (regular and express), but still limited to $1.75 for rush hour rail.
Weekly Bus/Rail "Fast Pass": $30 -- Covered all bus and rail trips, anytime. (I used to pick these up at Franconia-Springfield for $20, as VDOT was subsidizing them at the start of the Interchange project).
(There existed no monthly combined Bus/Rail pass. Strangely enough, buying the $30 weekly was more cost effective than buying the $100 rail and the $70 bus pass if you used both express buses and traveled long distance on the rail.)
Just a bit of info for everyone waxing rhapsodically about transport in London:
A monthly zone 1/2 pass ISN'T equivalent to a long Metro trip - and it's $160. A zone 1/2/3 pass is over $200, and some commuter rail fares are $500+ every month.
For the privilege, you get unbelievably overcrowded trains, incredibly unreliable service, and regular closures (NOT delays, closures) on nearly all lines. Sure, you get bus travel too - the only benefit of a disastrous system.
Metro need only look at Transport for London to see what happens when you let years and years of underinvestment accumulate....
Check out this letter to the editor on this topic in today's Washington Post:
Give Commuters a Pass, Metro
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201083.html