FY2010 is about to start and things don't look good. VRE is upping their fares starting the 28th and Connector is going crazy. Starting June 28th, they will charge a $7 express fare for the 380, 595, and 597.
OUCH!
I'm pretty sure alot of people will be drawn to take Metro because even during rush hour, the savings are from 50 to 75% from Pentagon or Crystal City to WFC.
Huh? I would not pay $7 no way. Id rather walk.
Wow, $7 to go from Springfield to the Pentagon? I wonder how many of those people will just drive further south to catch a PRTC bus? At least they go directly into Crystal City and DC.
This came up on Greater Greater Washington (http://"http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=2278&comp=2276#comments") a week or so ago and someone had an interesting theory about the fare hike.
Short version: Fairfax Connector is banking on the recent doubling of the pre-tax transit subsidy to fund the express routes nearly in full, especially with the routes out of Reston where it's the only one-seat ride. It also gives them a convenient way to kill the 380 if possible though that would conflict with their plan because killing it would pretty much give riders to WMATA on a platter. My theory is that they'll do this, see choice riders leave, then kill the 380 and try then to lower the fare to something more reasonable to keep riders on the Reston routes.
As for VRE, isn't this the third fare hike for them in 18 months? I'm amazed that VRE seems to hike fares too often while MARC slashed service because they couldn't raise their fares. What gives?
Quote from: Scrabbleship on May 17, 2009, 08:33:11 AM
This came up on Greater Greater Washington (http://%22http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=2278&comp=2276#comments%22) a week or so ago and someone had an interesting theory about the fare hike.
Short version: Fairfax Connector is banking on the recent doubling of the pre-tax transit subsidy to fund the express routes nearly in full, especially with the routes out of Reston where it's the only one-seat ride. It also gives them a convenient way to kill the 380 if possible though that would conflict with their plan because killing it would pretty much give riders to WMATA on a platter. My theory is that they'll do this, see choice riders leave, then kill the 380 and try then to lower the fare to something more reasonable to keep riders on the Reston routes.
As for VRE, isn't this the third fare hike for them in 18 months? I'm amazed that VRE seems to hike fares too often while MARC slashed service because they couldn't raise their fares. What gives?
The original plans were to eliminate service on all three of those lines, but to have a more than double fare increase for express is just asinine. Not even NYC charges this much for express. 5 dollars is ideal for them and they operate with motorcoaches. These are transit buses we're talking about for FFX.
Yea, VRE did have a fare increase just last year and another one this year. Not really worth riding them if they jack up the fares every year. MARC did have a fare increase only for the Transit Link Card to about 35 dollars more or so depending on the distance traveled. I looked at the TLC for VRE and zone 9 to 1 is 363.50.
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMD on May 17, 2009, 09:49:28 AM
Quote from: Scrabbleship on May 17, 2009, 08:33:11 AM
This came up on Greater Greater Washington (http://%22http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=2278&comp=2276#comments%22) a week or so ago and someone had an interesting theory about the fare hike.
Short version: Fairfax Connector is banking on the recent doubling of the pre-tax transit subsidy to fund the express routes nearly in full, especially with the routes out of Reston where it's the only one-seat ride. It also gives them a convenient way to kill the 380 if possible though that would conflict with their plan because killing it would pretty much give riders to WMATA on a platter. My theory is that they'll do this, see choice riders leave, then kill the 380 and try then to lower the fare to something more reasonable to keep riders on the Reston routes.
As for VRE, isn't this the third fare hike for them in 18 months? I'm amazed that VRE seems to hike fares too often while MARC slashed service because they couldn't raise their fares. What gives?
The original plans were to eliminate service on all three of those lines, but to have a more than double fare increase for express is just asinine. Not even NYC charges this much for express. 5 dollars is ideal for them and they operate with motorcoaches. These are transit buses we're talking about for FFX.
This came up in the GGW comments, but I wonder if on the Reston side this will push a lot of commuters from the 595/597 to do a 5A->Blue Line commute instead since the time difference would be nearly nothng and the cost would be less ($4.15 to Pentagon, $4.20 for Crystal City). Could the 5A handle it? Or is it time to borrow some more 60BRT's from Bladensburg and go possibly all-artic weekdays on the 5A?
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMDYea, VRE did have a fare increase just last year and another one this year. Not really worth riding them if they jack up the fares every year. MARC did have a fare increase only for the Transit Link Card to about 35 dollars more or so depending on the distance traveled. I looked at the TLC for VRE and zone 9 to 1 is 363.50.
I don't know who is killing themselves worse: VRE with these constant fare hikes or MARC and their non-hikes outside of the TLC? Would it really hurt MARC to, say, hike the cost for WAS-BWI to $7 or the cost for WAS-RKV to $6? Why shouldn't Maryland look at hikes?(besides, didn't the stations in West Virginia get a hike too?)
MARC has had a immense boost in ridership in the past couple years or so with either high gas prices or the economy. Many trains that usually had a good load are extremely overcrowded with folks riding in the vestibules because even the standing room on the trains is limited. The 13 bi-levels from VRE are still undergoing 100 mph testing and acceptance (which is taking a while). They should be on the Penn, Camden, and Brunswick lines in the coming months. As for a fare increase, it would have to come down to the state and maybe Amtrak and CSX. The TLC increase was in part on Metro's behalf since they raised rush hour fares.
The current fares are okay so far, but fare increases don't always result in more revenue. The state did get stimulus money from the ARRA that is going to help improve customer information, stations (such as Laurel and BWI), and other projects.
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMD on May 16, 2009, 08:39:50 PM
Starting June 28th, they will charge a $7 express fare for the 380, 595, and 597.
Wait...they're ACTUALLY gonna do it? I thought it was some kind of plan that would get rejected for sure.
Either way, this proposition is gonna fail miserably, who would pay $7 for a one-way express bus? It's guaranteed they will lose ridership.
If WMATA could, they should create a 5C from Reston/Herndon to Rosslyn, Pentagon and Crystal City. It would certainly help with capacity problems on the Blue Lines. Forget having a 5B again, this is what is needed more.
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMD on May 17, 2009, 11:19:59 AM
MARC has had a immense boost in ridership in the past couple years or so with either high gas prices or the economy. Many trains that usually had a good load are extremely overcrowded with folks riding in the vestibules because even the standing room on the trains is limited. The 13 bi-levels from VRE are still undergoing 100 mph testing and acceptance (which is taking a while). They should be on the Penn, Camden, and Brunswick lines in the coming months. As for a fare increase, it would have to come down to the state and maybe Amtrak and CSX. The TLC increase was in part on Metro's behalf since they raised rush hour fares.
The current fares are okay so far, but fare increases don't always result in more revenue. The state did get stimulus money from the ARRA that is going to help improve customer information, stations (such as Laurel and BWI), and other projects.
Amtrak and CSX do not set MARC fares, they just operate the service.
It's confirmed. The J7 and J9 will upgrade to express fare status starting June 29th.
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMD on June 02, 2009, 06:45:10 PM
It's confirmed. The J7 and J9 will upgrade to express fare status starting June 29th.
Source??? There isn't anything on the Metro website about it at the moment that I can see.
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on June 02, 2009, 07:15:59 PM
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMD on June 02, 2009, 06:45:10 PM
It's confirmed. The J7 and J9 will upgrade to express fare status starting June 29th.
Source??? There isn't anything on the Metro website about it at the moment that I can see.
Snoop around. You can find it.
Quote from: 79MetroExtraMD on June 02, 2009, 07:55:32 PM
Snoop around. You can find it.
What you said, without citation, technically counts as a Grapevine post because you haven't supplied evidence that it is actually true. You can't post a Wikipedia article and say "go find the sources yourself" and you shouldn't do the same here because, while only one person actually asked the question, other people want to know as well. It's much easier for you to just pot the link, and it's much better for the community as a whole, than to be an asshole about it.
http://wmata.com/bus/timetables/upcoming/md/j7-9.pdf
Happy?
Well we're a week away from probably the biggest local transit swap since any of these systems began. ART gets the 22B AND GEORGE (I wonder what will become of the SLFs? Falls Church bought them with an NVTC grant I think so they'd have to be titled over to ART I assume......interesting.....), Fairfax is getting all the 12 and 20 service, and the 21s are being merged into one route......and --GRAPEVINE ALERT-- that just makes it easier for DASH to take over. ATU must be crying right now.
After a year of hoping that transit subsidies would justify Fairfax Connector to charge $7 a ride on the 380, 595, and 597, it looks like that the experiment succeeded...on two of the routes.
As a part of Connector's fare readjustments, the 595 and 597 keep their $7 fares, having kept Reston commuters and their one-seat rides. The 380, on the other hand, gets cut to $5 which coupled with the Metro increase makes it only 75 cents cheaper than Metrorail.
Quote from: Scrabbleship on June 28, 2010, 04:10:10 PM
After a year of hoping that transit subsidies would justify Fairfax Connector to charge $7 a ride on the 380, 595, and 597, it looks like that the experiment succeeded...on two of the routes.
As a part of Connector's fare readjustments, the 595 and 597 keep their $7 fares, having kept Reston commuters and their one-seat rides. The 380, on the other hand, gets cut to $5 which coupled with the Metro increase makes it only 75 cents cheaper than Metrorail.
An with the 380 the route was changed as well. It no longer serves Franconia-Springfield instead going down the other way along the Franconia-Springfield Parkway to a couple park & rides.
Did anyone happen to see a rush hour 5A bus going either toward the District in the morning or toward Dulles in the afternoon? Those 5As used to be cattle cars, especially after the Connector put a $7 fare on its Reston express routes.