Photo by Chris Tank.

It’s safe to call the petition to get the pope to bless the Metro so “it actually works” a failure. But Orange line riders are now appealing to a rather less holy higher power: WMATA itself.

More than 100 people have jumped on board a petition calling on Metro to eliminate peak fares for customers going to or from the Stadium Armory station, since it is currently only being served by the Blue Line during rush hour. The limited service, along with speed restrictions, was put in place after a transformer fire last month and is slated to stay that way until a new substation is up and running.

Metro previously said it would take at least six months to rebuild the substation and return to full power. But officials indicated today that the repairs might actually be completed by the end of the year if the two surviving transformers are serviceable, according to several reports.

Regardless, riders who use the Stadium Armory station say it is unfair that they are paying for a service that they aren’t receiving. The Blue Line now serves the station every 12 minutes, as opposed to the 6 minutes between Orange and Silver Line trains (of course that 12-minute headway during rush hour is always the case for the Blue Line, and a source of much complaint). And that’s according to Metro’s timetable—riders regularly say that they experience longer waits throughout the system.

Austin Graff, a social media manager at Honest Tea, says he was once a huge fan of the Metro but “they now cause stress to its riders daily.” So he’s put his name on the record in an attempt to pressure the agency to at least change the fare for riders affected by the latest service changes. “I have doubts it will work, but it at least makes an official, collective statement to the DC Metro,” he said. “Then they can choose to act or not act on record.”

Indeed this very issue was on the WMATA Riders’ Union’s list of possible solutions. “Riders implore Metro to work with riders and do everything in its power to ease the inconvenience while we all endure the next several months of service repairs,” WMATARU Chair Ashley Robbins said last month.

But according to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel, any such decision about changing the fare for Stadium Armory customers would have to be made by the Board of Directors. “All fares and associated policies are set by the Board. In other words, Board action would be required to authorize any change in fares,” he said.