I think the problem is that the last rate hike wasn't high enough. Our commuting prices on a relative basis are extremely low (and it stayed at $1.10 for basic fare for close to 10 years...). I think they need to do this.
If you use metro a lot, service decreases would be a far less satisfying answer. And unlike the feds, I guess the metro can't run at continuously increasing deficits.
I wish/would have thought that the nutso ad strategies they're developing would cover more of the cost gap, though.
These are the discussions that must be fascinating to witness:
"D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who represents the District on the Metro board, refused to support the fare and fee proposals, saying he could not agree to any plan that raises fares for Metrobus riders. He said bus riders often have no alternatives to public transportation and are disproportionately poor compared with rail riders.
"I'm speaking on behalf of the single parent with five children who boards the bus," Graham said. "It's not right that the poor working mother has to go out and carry the burden. We can find this money elsewhere. . . . I don't know why those least able to pay have to shoulder this burden."
But Fairfax County Supervisor T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), who represents Fairfax on the board, disagreed. "Not everyone who parks in our lots has a Lexus, and there are some people on those Connecticut Avenue buses who have more money than those of us sitting around this circle," he said."
