Metro fares to increase 12.5 percent
Metro rail and bus fares will increase by at least 12.5 percent, according to a budget approved by the Metro Board of Directors on April 24.
The base fare will increase from $2 to $2.25. The maximum rail fare will increase from $6 to $6.25. Late-night and weekend fares will rise from a flat $2 to a variable charge between $2.25 and $2.50 based on distance.
MetroAccess fares will be capped at $4.50, up from $4. Metro will equip bicycle lockers with an hourly rental feature, with a rate of 5 cents an hour, up to $1 per day. Parking fees will not change.
The new fares will take effect for the 2025 budget year, beginning July 1.
Metro’s $4.8 billion capital and operating budget largely maintains bus and rail service levels.
Last year, Metro faced an unprecedented $750 million budget shortfall, necessitating catastrophic service cuts. Metro attributed the funding crisis to inflation, more people working from home, and the depletion of federal Covid relief funds for transit.
Metro was able to close the gap by obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars from D.C., Virginia, and Maryland; saving $50 million in cost efficiencies; and increasing fares.
Metro will continue to deliver frequent all-day, all-week Metrorail service to drive ridership. Bus customers will see similar levels of service as this year. In the next fiscal year, Metro will begin to implement the Better Bus Network Redesign plan.
The $2.3 billion capital budget addresses a backlog of overdue state-of-good-repair needs and funds the replacement of aging equipment. Metro will purchase 256 new 8000-series railcars, invest in more electric buses, replace aging bus garages, maintain track and vehicles, and develop a modern automated train control signaling system.
Great! Everyone should pay their fair fare. I stopped riding metro when it became evident that I was getting sick because of being in tight, enclosed spaces with coughing government bureaucrats. When I would drive, no colds. Ride metro, get a cold. Been driving for 10 years, it’s so nice to be healthy.
No transit system pays for itself. To cover the costs by fares would need more than a 100% increase. That’s why gasoline taxes are diverted to transit- to make it cheaper to use transit. It takes me over twice as long to get where I need to go with transit, so I drive and subsidize others. I just wish that transit riders covered much more of their costs with the fare paid, so the subsidies would be less and more of the gas tax would be used for its purpose- fixing and maintenance of the roads.
Well ya have help for people with snap, am a single person who works pay my bills bit hard for me to ride the train so I guess I be catching bus not unless have discounts for people 55& over
I don’t know… I have my own car and don’t ride the bus but I think having cheaper bus fares, more routes and frequent runs would help the community much more (less traffic, more mobility with less environmental harm, more opportunity for people to get to their jobs, etc.). Even if I have to pay more in taxes, that is one program that I support. It’s like I support my taxes spent on education even though I don’t have any children because I want to live in a society where children get good education. But I guess people have different views.
I don’t want people bussing into my neighborhood. If 99.9% of the crime wasn’t committed by DC and MD residents I would feel differently. DC and MD residents have never done anything but cause my family trouble. That is the sad reality, and it’s why I live where I do. I’m anxiously waiting to be proven wrong, but I’ve lived here since the 80s and am still waiting.
For sure. I grew up in PG County and moved to Fairfax in 1975 after college. During college I rode a bus through N.E. Rhode Island Avenue to an intern job on G Street N.W. lots of thugs once intimidating me with an steel bar.
So does this mean WMATA will have money left over to build the Columbia Pike street cars now?