Vincent Orange, fighting Kwame Brown for Gray’s seat, went with a smaller Cadillac SUV than his competitor. What, he couldn’t afford an orange paint job?
Holy Huge Metro Fare Increase, Batman: Metro budget officials are meeting with the WMATA Board today to propose a radically altered fare schedule for Metrorail and Metrobuses, that could have some customers paying $2.10
more than the current fare for a single ride during peak hours. The possible fare changes are multiple and fairly complicated, but on the whole are designed to encourage passengers to make use of SmarTrip Cards instead of cash or paper farecards (many SmarTrip fares would cost less), and to travel during off-peak hours more often. Take a look at the
whole story here (there’s too many proposed changes for us to summarize in the Roundup), and of course, you can expect a separate post or twelve from us on this later in the day. For now we will say that while reducing congestion and getting Metro back in the black are admirable goals, the proposal seems somewhat uniquely designed to punish park-and-ride commuters coming in from the suburbs — the very same people we’ve long been encouraging to help us ease traffic and smog in the city by using Metro. We’re all for less crowded trains, but at the possible expense of cleaner air and less congested roads? Maybe not so much.
The End of An Era: D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams gave his last press conference yesterday before he leaves office for good on Jan. 2. The Times describes how Williams took his chance to get a few jabs in against members of the media who have hounded his every move for the last eight years. The Mayor also reflected on how much he feels he’s accomplished since taking office — and when you remember the state of District government back in 1999, it’s tough to argue he’s boasting.
Briefly Noted: Police investigating series of bank robberies in Montgomery County … First round of layoffs at AOL … Bunker Hill Elementary students break world record for reading … D.C. expects 5,000 new school-aged children in next four years.
This Day in DCist: Last year our esteemed technology director dissected a SmarTrip Card, and the year before that we were anticipating a vote on the new baseball stadium.
Photo by god hates math.
