AM Peak of the Peak Starts August 29, Smartrip Cost Reduction Delayed

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Anyone have a guess why not being able to have a negative balance on a Smartrip is an issue for the reduction?  My guess is they are concerned people will go into the negative and then buy a new card, which will cost Metro money in the long run.  I did notice some exitfare machines now have targets over the past few weeks.

Morning peak-of-the-peak pricing takes effect on August 29  For immediate release: August 25, 2010

                   
20-cent fee applies to Metrorail trips taken during busiest weekday hours   Metro will begin charging a peak-of-the-peak fee on August 29 for  Metrorail trips taken between 7:30 and 9 a.m. weekdays, completing the  phased implementation of peak-of-the-peak pricing.

A  20-cent peak-of-the-peak fee for trips taken between 4:30 and 6 p.m.  weekdays has been in place since August 3. The fee is based on the  starting time of a trip, or when a customer enters the fare gate at a  Metrorail station.

Additional programming changes are being  required to implement the reduction of the cost of a SmarTrip® card  from $5 to $2.50 to encourage customers to take advantage of SmarTrip®  savings and convenience.

In order to introduce the change,  Metro must make technological upgrades to implement a new fare gate  exit rule requiring SmarTrip® card users to have full fare value on  their cards when they exit the Metrorail system. Those upgrades are  expected to be complete by early fall, at which time the price of  SmarTrip® cards will drop.

The new exit rule for SmarTrip®  card users will mirror the current requirement that paper farecard  users must have sufficient fare to exit the Metrorail system. SmarTrip®  card users will no longer be able to exit the Metrorail system without  sufficient fare when the rule is enacted later this fall.

Customers  are encouraged to have sufficient fare for their trip on their cards  when they enter the system, however, Metro is installing SmarTrip®  targets on all Exitfare machines so customers will be able to add the  necessary value to their SmarTrip® cards at the exit gates. Payment to  add value at Exitfare machines is cash only.

Currently, about  85 percent of Metrorail riders and 68 percent of Metrobus riders use  SmarTrip® cards. Metrorail riders who pay their fare with a SmarTrip®  card instead of a paper farecard save 25 cents per trip. Metrobus  riders who pay with a SmarTrip® card instead of cash save 20 cents per  trip.

Customers who use SmarTrip® cards also receive a  discount of 50 cents when transferring between Metrobus and Metrorail.  Bus-to-bus transfers with a SmarTrip® card are valid for free,  unlimited Metrobus connections within a two-hour period.
       
News release issued at 2:00 pm, August 25, 2010.

[79MetroExtraMD]

Alot of the exitfare machines have had targets on them for a while. They just haven't activated them as of yet.

[Scrabbleship]

The exact fare Smartrip requirement is Exhibit who-knows of "Metro Being Greedy". If they're that hurting for revenue, end rolling bus transfers and make it a solid two-hour block transfer. Of course, anything pertaining to Metrobus is a race-sensitive issue.

And add insult to injury, there are still no credit/debit Exitfare machines in the system. What number in the WMATA oversight book is this, two short of infinity?

Naturally, the Tweeple of the DC area aren't happy (thanks TBD-TV!).

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I don't understand why WMATA wants to eliminate one of the perks they advertised as a reason to get Smartrip.

How is not having credit/debit capabilities on the exit fare an issue?  Unless the farecard machines are no longer denying entry to people on paper farecards with less than a full fare, the most you can possibly be needing to add is under 4 dollars.  If a similar restriction can be added to Smartrip cards, and if they can get auto-reloading capabilities installed and launched (ideally on schedule, meaning before the Jerusalem Light Rail, Dulles extension, and SAS are all open), then this really shouldn't be an issue.

[Scrabbleship]

I don't understand why WMATA wants to eliminate one of the perks they advertised as a reason to get Smartrip.

They're putting the cart (ending the perk) before the horse (auto-reload) in terms of upgrades, just like when they got rid of transfers for those without Smartrip without a fix for passholders. Typical WMATA, a (jobs and political) advancement program that happens to provide transit which now is doing legalized extortion.

I think auto-reloading happens before Dulles only because they're years late already. This is what happens when you don't put penalties for missing a deadline in your contracts.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Even when contracts include those sorts of penalties, WMATA and other agencies often find other ways to settle those differences...

[Scrabbleship]

Even when contracts include those sorts of penalties, WMATA and other agencies often find other ways to settle those differences...

There's a big difference between "we're late but let's wink and push it under the table unless we're really late" and "we don't give a flying fudge if you never meet the goal". WMATA seems to trend towards the latter.

Somehow this was such a big deal, GGW editor David Alpert ended his self-imposed month hiatus to blog on this. The money I'd pay to replace the Metro board with bloggers, somehow I think they'd do little of what they propose.

[Scrabbleship]

Metro defends its position of wanting Smartrip and farecard customers to "play by the same rules" (TBD)
"We Love DC" says that the new rules will make delays even worse and put a greater strain on Metro
Channel 4's article is titled "Negative Reaction to Metro's No Negative Balance: Metro SmarTrip Change angers riders".

Metro pulled a total fast one with this rule change and here is where all the anger lies. Never did Metro propose such a role in a public forum, never did Metro suggest that a rule one day could come into place. Moves like putting rules into place on a whim without any public input just add fuel to the fire that Metro has no transparency or regard for their customers at all which is why I see zero support for this. I don't think any of their peer agencies would do such a thing.

And this is why people want the Metro board gone and the whole thing federalized. At least the feds would run Metro like a democracy and not a banana republic.

[SchuminWeb]

I figured it was coming the moment I spotted SmarTrip targets go onto the Exitfare machines like a year or so ago.  After all, the reason for allowing negative balances was because the Exitfare machines didn't support SmarTrip.  What gets me now, though, is how WMATA basically snuck this one in hoping no one would notice.

[Scrabbleship]

What gets me now, though, is how WMATA basically snuck this one in hoping no one would notice.

Someone on another board said that sudden changes with no public input or warning were par for the course at NJ Transit under Sarles. Heaven help that WMATA picks him for the sake of having a GM since it seems that things are exploding in his face which are largely Catoe's doing.

Sarles looks more and more like the David Paterson of WMATA. Replaced someone heralding change but is taking all the consequences on change that are making things far worse.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

The agreement with Sarles is that he is NOT under consideration for the GM position on a permanent basis.

I didn't cross post this from Subchat, but here is my opinion on the issue: 

It seems to me as if many of the people bitching about this never rode Metro before 1999.

Honestly, while I'm not pleased with the way this change was announced and I'll miss the perk of being able to go into a negative balance (what transit systems allow that BTW?), I understand why they are doing this and frankly, if people are too lazy or full of themselves to check their balance or carry small bills/change, then there isn't much that can be done for them. Soda machines don't take credit cards, and generally you aren't allowed to go into "negative balances" on your credit line, checking account, or when you go to the grocery store.  If you don't have enough money to buy what you want' you can't buy it. Given a choice between having a loophole that could be a money loser for Metro if exploited and not being able to run a negative balance, I'll take the latter first.

[Scrabbleship]

Given the growth of the DC area over the last 10 years, I would not be surprised that few if any of the people complaining rode Metro before 1999. I can count the number of people I know who rode before then on this board on both hands and have fingers left over.

The number of people I know who don't own cars (even if they can drive) and choose to only ride Metro, or of people who own cars but never drive to Metro-accessible points, are far larger. This is yet another divide.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

The number of people I know who don't own cars (even if they can drive) and choose to only ride Metro, or of people who own cars but never drive to Metro-accessible points, are far larger.

What a representative sample.  Clearly this indicates what the majority of people in DC do or think.

Any thoughts on the idea that people should be responsible for checking their balances and having cash to manage in their day to day lives?  Because once you set aside the issue that the policy was changed without public input or notice (and BTW, there was no input from the public when Smartrip was launched on this policy), most of the "problems" with this change are avoided that way.

[WayneNYC]

I can agree that people should keep track of their Smartrip balances.  IMO, it is understandable that WMATA would not want to have/continue allowing balanaces to go into the negative.  However, WMATA seems to be on a roll with doing things to put a bad taste in the rider's mouth.

Just saw a segment on Channel 7 news about the AM peak of the peak fares.  One riders said: Whatever it takes while another rider said exactly what I've been saying which is: When you're paying $5.00 for one ride, it's already too much.  I'm really interested in how this was pan out over the next few months, especially when WMATA starts to seek another fare increase.  Also, WMATA usually has a representative at our benefits fair.  If they show up this year, I plan to present them with my commuting scenario as ask them how is using Metrorail more beneficial to me than driving to/from work. 

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Wayne,

If you get the chance to ask that question, I'd love to hear what the answer is.