December 14, 2007
Morning Roundup: Hikes and Housing Edition
It's Friday, Washington, and reactions are still rolling in to Metro's approval of its largest fare hikes ever. We all knew this was coming, but we're curious to hear if any of our readers actually plan to make changes to their commuting habits come January 6, when the increases will go into effect. Do you think you'll ride Metro any less, or finally make the leap to using SmarTrip? Let us know in the comments.
Free Rides from Metro?: Metro may be getting more expensive, but the Examiner reports that at least one board member thinks customers are owed something back when they experience major delays. Maryland board member Gordon Linton thinks Metro should be doling out free rides when customers experience 15 or 20 minute delays. It remains to be seen how such a program would actually work, but the board has commissioned Metro staff to work on a proposal.
Gray and Fenty Differ on Surplus Spending: D.C. Council chairman Vincent Gray has altered a proposal put forth by Mayor Adrian Fenty on how to spend a $50 million surplus. Fenty had proposed spending $47 million to start a program to provide new housing units to the chronically homeless, but Gray has changed the bill to put $30 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund and split the rest among a variety of social services. Gray told the Post he doesn't think the Department of Human Services, which would be in charge of Fenty's housing program, is up to the task of handling such a project.
Briefly Noted: MPD officer recovering after being hit by car ... AIDS education plan approved ... D.C. residents carry average tax burden, study says.
This Day in DCist: In 2006 we surveyed holiday cocktails on offer in the city, in 2005 we took apart a SmarTrip card to see if we could make a keychain out of it, and in 2004 we waited to see if the Nationals stadium would be approved.
Photo by randomduck
|
Free ride vouchers work for VRE, but I'm skeptical on how it would work for Metro.
How would a free ride on Metro work? You've already gone through the turnstile, and you've got to get back out somehow. What will they do, turn off all of the turnstiles down the line? Then the next time you try to enter the system, you get denied and you have to deal with the asshole in the booth.
"D.C. residents carry average tax burden, study says."
I don't even have to click that link to know what it's going to say. Ed Lazare's institute of one strikes again! Can something be called a study when its conclusions are predetermined?
And I think they could easily give out free rides. All they would have to do is send a message to the gates to not subtract money as people exit.
Actually, after actually clicking through, I have to take that back. Turns out this study is by the DC government. Comrade Lazare still gets a word or two in, but I was mistaken to think it was his report.
Personally, while free is nice, I'd just say that if they are delivering off-peak service (i.e. 12-20 minutes delays) then they should just tell the gates to charge off-peak (or perhaps the 1/2 price senior) rates. If they are providing even worse service, then they could just tell the gates as someone said to log you out of the system but just not charge anything (or perhaps a nominal $0.10 if they can't have 'em do zero).
DHS would f**k up a wet dream. You're better off just handing the $30 mil out to homeless people, otherwise DHS staffers will end up blowing that money on plasma teevees, gold lamé baseball caps, spinning hubcaps, and strippers. At least the homeless will be honest enough to spend it all on Velikoff Brand "Blanket-in-a-Bottle" vodka.
Can we please have a moritoreum on DC Fiscal Policy Institute press releases? Okay, okay, we need to tax everyone making more than $50k a year at a 90% rate! I get it already! Can we just go with the "People with lots of money, take baths, are evil, study says" headline?
@Reid,
That assumes the gates are capable of receiving such messages. Also, what about people exiting who hadn't experienced a delay, who could be coming from the other direction or another line entirely, they get off free as well? I agree that it's good customer service, but I'd also be surprised if it's easy or cheap to implement. Worth a look sure, but maybe not feasible to implement under the current system.
Yeah, while I have to question having DHS run it, the program would be fantastic. Similar ones have been put in place in other cities (Philly, Seattle) and have resulted in massive reductions in social service costs related to the chronically homeless.
I complained to Metro once when my train was offloaded at Arlington Cemetery (back a few months ago when there were all those rail fires) and we were all left to find our ways home from a station with no buses or taxis -- when they could have easily offloaded us at Rosslyn instead. They sent me a free ride ticket for my troubles. It's a little piece of paper -- not a farecard. To use it, you have to show it to the station manager when you enter, so he/she can open the gate for you. Then when you get to your destination, you have to get the station manager to let you out. So far I haven't found myself with an extra 10 minutes in the morning to deal with this "gift." Leave it to Metro to make a free ride much more complicated than it needs to be -- ever heard of a $1.35 farecard, Metro?
"That assumes the gates are capable of receiving such messages."
Yes, you're right about that. But I guess my point was that there is at least a mechanism in place that could possibly commute fares. Flat-fee-pay-up-front systems like NYC don't and would need to use a voucher to award free rides.
ever heard of a $1.35 farecard, Metro
Rides in peak times could be upwards of $3.50.
As great as a free-ride ticket would be, it's probably way too complicated. There are many situations where the free-ride situation would not work - i.e. waiting for your friend on the platform, not taking the most direct route, going past your stop and then having to turn around, etc.
No one should get their hopes up on this one.
A woman was hit by a car at 16th and Belmont this morning. Anyone hear any details? Just saw this message on the 3D-MPD yahoo list this morning.
"3d is on the scene of an adult female that has been struck by a vehicle.... 16th and Belmont - thus there will be street closures pending the investigation --- Major Crash will be responding"
Metro could at least letting you exit from the same station you entered for free. That should be easy to implement.
While free/reduced rides are complicated, they may still be possible. Metro should know where and when you get on and where and when you get off. They could theoretically restrict the free rides to places that actually experienced a service disruption.
I don't know how DC came up with some of those tax figures, but they seem to be assuming you don't actually own any property in the city. Property tax rates have doubled and tripled in five years.
If you figure you own your house in DC your tax burden is going to be significantly higher than that shown in these figures.
Also, they seem afraid to even mention business taxes. Again, a huge amount of that comes in if you own your business property in DC. We essentially had a massive tax hike in the past five years, both residential and commercial.
I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't know so much of my taxes were being pissed away.
Metro could at least letting you exit from the same station you entered for free. That should be easy to implement.
Maybe I'm going crazy, but wasn't this proposed by Metro about a year ago?
Will he be joined on the scene by his partner, Major Irony?
"Property tax rates have doubled and tripled in five years."
Have the rates really changed, or is it just that the assessments have grown out of control? The end result is the same, for the most part, but at least when the assessments grow really fast, they probably reflect an increase in the value, while an increase in rates would not necessarily mean the same.
Reid:
You are correct. The rates haven't gone up. The assessments did.
My apologies for the sloppy writing.