WMATA service and fare changes for FY2020

WMATA has done extensive communication about proposed fare and service changes for FY2020, printing a brochure with a survey in English and five other languages, and collecting these results at stations, and online survey and comment forms.

... one problem I do have with the new methods is that they are now anonymous, unless you choose to identify yourself.

Comments are due today by 5pm.

Anyway, by and large, the proposed changes are excellent:

• changing Yellow Line service to Fort Totten all the time
• reducing the price of the 7-day bus pass
• adding free bus service to the 7-day rail pass
• a flat Metrorail fare of $2 for weekends (which is kind of like something I've suggested in the pass, based on special evening and/or weekend fare programs in Melbourne, Hamburg, and Montreal)

One I am indifferent to:

• making all Red Line trains end at Glenmont

And one I have serious reservations about:

• expand weekday peak service times, changing the hours of peak service to 5am to 10am -- 30 additional minutes -- in the a.m. and from 3pm to 8:30 pm in the evening -- 90 additional minutes.

1. It's not that I don't favor more frequent service.

2.  It's that in the past, WMATA has charged peak service fares during these time periods, while at the "shoulders" of each period providing less than frequent service.

3.  Charging more for less service is unreasonable.

4.  For WMATA to add peak service fares, by extending rush periods in the morning and evening, they should be required to guarantee they will provide additional service.