One more thing about the possibility of WMATA fare increases

Taking the High Road
Originally uploaded by Grundlepuck.

I do want to say that while I do believe that WMATA needs to do cost cutting in significant ways as mentioned before, it's important not to cut the capacity and capability of the system and its workers.

Costs of diesel have gone up significantly.

And the cost of riding is pretty low, compared to other systems. Buses are 50 cents to 75 cents cheaper per ride, compared to other regions in the country. (Pittsburgh is $1.75, although they do have a small fareless section downtown.)

I don't have a problem with pricing on the subway being time and distance based. Why should the shorter trip people subsidize the farther out people? We're already paying for their parking lots...

Someone commented in email or a newspaper quote about the NYC system not being distance based. Don't think the system managers don't want to go to that kind of system. But the cost of introducing the new equipment required to do so is so high initially, that they are stuck with the single rate.

That being said, my previous comments about system pricing stand.