WMATA Delays PM Peak of the Peak, Farecard Surcharge Until Tuesday

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Funny how when there is something very legitimate to gripe about, no one posts it here.

WMATA announced late last night due to concerns over paper farecard users not realizing that the fares on the new tables are Smartrip fares, the fare increase scheduled for yesterday will only be implemented tomorrow.  Apparently, there was no indication on the fare tables that paying with a paper farecard will cost extra.  Incidentally, someone on this board suggested that the fare differential should be considered a discount for Smartrip users and not a surcharge for farecard users, and I am afraid many tourists and occasional users are not going to realize how this new system works, resulting in trips to the Addfare machines.  As it was some people didn't realize how the 10 cent surcharge worked since the fare tables were not updated for that.

One of the keys to success for public transit is making it easy to use and part of that is making the fares easy to understand and to have fare changes be well publicized and implemented on time.  In my opinion, WMATA has failed to do that with this fare increase by needing a third phase to implement AM peak pricing and by not implementing the second phase on time.

[WayneNYC]

I was listening to the segment about this on News8 this morning.  I probably would've posted about this, but at this point I'm (admittedly) so anti-WMATA that I probably wouldn't give the agency it's due fairness.  I get that they're weathering a storm, but it's got to be the mother of storms. 

That said, I can see where many riders would simply be shaking their heads.  I'm simply hopeful that they'll get it resolved soon.

[Scrabbleship]

Even the critical rider websites aren't making a big deal of all this. It's like everyone assumed implementing such a complex (and, to be honest, unchartered) fare increase was going to backfire to begin with that there's no surprise.

Had WMATA been able to hike the fares fully back in March rather than diming everyone and hadn't gone into a territory nobody should have gone into, this would've never been a question. Thanks Jim!

[Scrabbleship]

On the tangent of WMATA and fare, it looks like their little delay will be overshadowed by another huge debacle if the below tweet is true (no official word as of now):

hunteronthehill: Entire #wmata Smartrip software down. No stations taking smartrips. #epicfail @metroshutsdoors (12:33 PM)

To be fair, they might have had to reboot it regarding the unnecessary extortion of greed fare increase, but who reboots a system in the middle of a weekday!?! No wonder people want the Feds to come in, they'd bring some semblance of order.

Update: The problem was resolved in under one hour

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Things like this is why I don't pay much attention to the blogosphere.  As I heard on a radio commentary in response to the Sharrod controversy that was going on a few weeks ago, with "new media", anyone with a computer can post anything to the Internet, and if enough people take note of that posting, it becomes "news", even if it isn't an accurate story.

Even the critical rider websites aren't making a big deal of all this. It's like everyone assumed implementing such a complex (and, to be honest, unchartered) fare increase was going to backfire to begin with that there's no surprise.

The fact that the "critical rider websites" as you call them don't make a big deal out of big deals but rather choose to turn molehills into mountains says something about their prerogatives and supposed missions. 

Had WMATA been able to hike the fares fully back in March rather than diming everyone and hadn't gone into a territory nobody should have gone into, this would've never been a question. Thanks Jim!

I don't think a "full" fare hike was ever on the table for the mid FY increase.  The goal was simply to cover the higher than expected deficit for FY10.  Since fares are coupled to the entire budget package, it would be impossible to establish fares for FY11 without the rest of the budget.

On the tangent of WMATA and fare, it looks like their little delay will be overshadowed by another huge debacle if the below tweet is true (no official word as of now):

hunteronthehill: Entire #wmata Smartrip software down. No stations taking smartrips. #epicfail @metroshutsdoors (12:33 PM)

To be fair, they might have had to reboot it regarding the unnecessary extortion of greed fare increase, but who reboots a system in the middle of a weekday!?! No wonder people want the Feds to come in, they'd bring some semblance of order.

Update: The problem was resolved in under one hour

Again, another reason to not pay too much attention to twitterers or whatever they are supposed to be called.  Glad to see you noted this was "unofficial" news.  The Washington Post (a far more reputable source IMO) reported this morning that there were issues yesterday with SmartBenefits (but not all Smartrips from what I understand) and some faregates were malfunctioning, probably as a result of changes to the fare tables that they use to calculate fares.  See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/02/AR2010080204590.html for the full story.

[Tritransit Area]

Are they still using the term "reduced fare" for standard off-peak fares and regular fares for peak fares?  I found that incredibly confusing when I started using the system by myself, as "reduced fare" usually implied "senior/disabled" fare everywhere else in the country.

[79MetroExtraMD]

Are they still using the term "reduced fare" for standard off-peak fares and regular fares for peak fares?  I found that incredibly confusing when I started using the system by myself, as "reduced fare" usually implied "senior/disabled" fare everywhere else in the country.

Yea. The terminology does imply there is a regular fare and a disability fare and not a peak or an off-peak fare. I think they should change the terminology to better suit how the fares differ.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Brandon, here is a bad photo of the fare chart from the WMATA site:



If you look closely, you can see they are using the terms "Regular", "Reduced", and "Peak of the Peak", but they aren't even putting "Regular" and "Reduced" next to each other which would seem logical to me. 

Personally, I suggested in some other thread that they should scrap the current nomenclature and call the fares Fare I, Fare II, and Fare III, and have the PIMS display indicate which fare is currently in effect, and maybe 5-7 minutes before a change also have a message informing riders of that.  I could also go for the terms "Peak", "Peak of the Peak", and "Off-Peak" or "Reduced."  But the current nomenclature is quite flawed, especially since the "regular" fare is now charged far outside of rush hours in the wee hours of the morning. 

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Live on WTOP right now:  More issues with faregates at Foggy Bottom.  Passengers with Smartrips are having trouble entering and exiting at that station, with exiting passengers using the emergency gate at last check by the WTOP reporter on the scene.  The cause of the problem is unknown, though I got the sense from the report that the problem only cropped up at the start or during the peak of the peak fare period.

[79MetroExtraMD]

From what I've been seeing, Metro upgraded the fare collection hardware and software to NexFare 4 (on par with MTA) and with the added capabilities, it'll take a little bit more time to read the information from the card so you might have to hold the card to the target for the gates to open than just a quick swipe. It's the same way for the faregates in Baltimore. People will just have to be a little patient (if they even have any).

[WMATAGMOAGH]

WMATA has always suggested holding the card on the target until the gate opens.  This isn't exactly new...