Was Steve Eldridge's column today irresponsible?

I am as cheap as anyone, and I would agitate for not increasing transit fares and I am not happy about gaming the personnel system for overtime--something I wrote about many months before the Examiner did their special series--but the reality is that:

1. Serving customers during peak periods costs exponentially more (it's not just a matter of marginal cost increases) due to the necessity of purchasing more cars and having more personnel;
2. With farebox recovery of about 50% for bus and 80% for subway, technically every new rider comes at a slight loss;
3. Besides the fact that farebox revenues only cover operations, not capital investment and improvement; and
4. Increases in the cost of oil and utilities (electricity) means that WMATA pays more for the fuel that moves both buses and trains.

Sure there are efficiencies that can be wrung out of the system. But it's irresponsible to imply that WMATA is so awash with funds and waste that fare increases shouldn't be considered.

As I have pointed out, for buses, WMATA's rates are less expensive than any other major system and the current bus-to-bus transfer system--free, for two hours, in both directions--is the most beneficial to passengers of any transit system in the United States.

Sure the subway costs more because pricing is distance and peak period based, but why shouldn't people from farther out pay more? After all, it costs more to service them.

See "Metro may have fooled us again," from the Examiner.