DCist: Early Metro Opening Cost City $11.80 Per Rider

eisenhut2000

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:45:27 -0500

To me, all of the federal government workers who ride the metro at taxpayer expense are a much bigger problem than this $27,000. Estimates are that 40% of rush-hour Metro riders are federal government employees. Federal employees who give up their parking privileges receive a $120/mo stipend toward travel expenses. Now granted, $125 doesn't go very far on Metro these days. Every work day I spend $4.50 each way for the fare and another $4.75 to park at Metro. That works out to roughly $300/month that I'm spending on Metro. Even if you figure that there are just 50,000 federal employees receiving the allowance monthly, that works out to over six million dollars in lost profits to Metro each month. So, in addition to partially subsidizing metro and paying federal government salaries with their state and federal taxes, taxpayers are also paying for federal employees to ride for free (or nearly free). I don't know about you but I could definitely use a $125/mo reduction in my Metrofare.

adamsmorgan

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:45:58 -0500

Of course it's small potatoes but you're comparing apples to oranges...the District isn't footing the bill for that and it's not only going to benefit 2,287 people who may or may live in the District and may or may not have shopped in the District. The complaint here is that the Grahamstander got Metro to open an hour earlier at a cost of $27,000 to the District with no obvious direct return to the District other than JG got his mug on TV one more time.

NattyB

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:01:24 -0500

This is small potatoes compared to the amount of money that Metro is foregoing by having free parking for inauguration weekend. http://www.wmata.com/inauguration/

badtzmaru

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:40:27 -0500

We prefer to call him Grahamzilla.

Reid

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:43:55 -0500

In terms of "making it back" there is the difficult-to-quantify-but-probably-significant value of getting people to think of places like Columbia Heights or Downtown as shopping destinations. Now, would people who would not otherwise come to Columbia Heights come at 4 in the morning? Probably not. In fact I question the whole idea of opening Metro up that early (were any stores actually open that early?). I'd rather see money go towards a free Metro or bus day. Then again, a lot of people are simply reluctant to go shopping (and certainly "all day shopping") via public transportation. So in the end: whatever.

bradzeigler

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:43:23 -0500

Shocking...I didn't see anyone with a 42" LCD TV on the Metro this morning. I will say this though: the sales tax holiday was only on clothing under $100. If each of the 2,287 people spent at least $205 of taxable goods that they would not have otherwise spent, the city will get $27,000 back in tax revenue. Add the additional income tax revenue from those Metro employees who got additional overtime pay and live in the district, and that number is even less.

guest guest

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:35:57 -0500

heh. I guess that makes me the rocket scientist.

guest guest

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:33:45 -0500

KCinDC, on closer reading, I see. I had missed the point that D.C. flipped the bill.

KCinDC

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:27:52 -0500

Guest, this isn't about costs for Metro exceeding revenue for an hour. There's no indication that WMATA lost money here. The costs in this case weren't paid by WMATA but directly by the DC government, so the question is what value DC got for that particular $27,000 expense, considering that it was a sales tax holiday and only 2,287 people took advantage of the early opening.

guest guest

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:32:51 -0500

"Anyways, if these people had all that extra money and energy to get up at 4 in the morning, wouldn't they have driven themselves." Rocket scientist, Metro opened an hour earlier for those citizens who do not have the financial wherewithall to afford a car, as there is always political controversy over the fact the poor must pay far more for retail than than the driving middle and upper classes in this car oriented box store society. A.K.A, the poor are cut off from black friday = bad p.r. for Metro => the poor are linked to black friday = bad p.r. over the cost from the amateur accounts. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I wonder how much Metro loses per rider on those free weekend days? Fact of the matter is there will be occasional days where costs for metro significantly outpace revenue. Or in this case, one hour where costs outpaced revenue. Big whop.

adamsmorgan

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:01:07 -0500

The Grahamstander really asked Metro to open early...at a cost of $27,000 to the District. We need new representation on the WMATA Board for the city, you know, someone who might actually USE mass transit or even better (and heaven forbid) walk places....

Deep

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:58:56 -0500

This falls under the "There's no such thing as a free lunch" category which I never quite understood. Anyways, if these people had all that extra money and energy to get up at 4 in the morning, wouldn't they have driven themselves. I mean, who really asked Metro to open early. To all my friends out there. I don't have any money to buy you all presents, but if you still want to buy me something, go right ahead.

adamsmorgan

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:53:20 -0500

Although this is something we probably can't ever find out, but I wonder how many of those trips ended at the Columbia Heights station? That was the whole reason the Grahamstander did this, to boost business at the DCUSA thing...