The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board of directors approved a decision Thursday to add 10 cents to current Metrobus, Metrorail and MetroAccess fares in order to generate $9.6 million to help close its $40 million budget gap.
The board made the decision to increase fares instead of cutting back on services because it received written feedback from 596 D.C. residents who said they mostly preferred the fare increase, according to a statement from WMATA.
Students are already broke and WMATA’s decision to increase fares for Metrorail and Metrobus access March 1 through June 30 this year will be hard for them, School of Public Affairs junior Alexandra Lilley said.
This decision could negatively affect some students, according to Washington College of Law student Abre Conner. Conner uses the Metrorail to commute from Shady Grove every day, which costs her approximately $9 daily, she said.
“The 10-cent increase is going to even possibly make me think of alternative ways to get to school because it’s already expensive enough as it is,” Conner said. “For them to increase their prices and for us to not really see where the money is going ... is detrimental.”
While Lilley only uses the Metrorail once or twice per week, she said that a 10-cent increase could add up.
“I guess it’s not going to have a huge effect until you look at it from a yearly perspective instead of a daily perspective,” she said. “But every little bit helps when you’re a student.”
Student Government Director of Student Community Relations Sami Green said the fare increase would be a big problem for AU students because Tenleytown is outside of the main part of the District.
“We all use it all the time ... It’s a little bit frustrating because ... it does take us a little bit longer and more money to get where we want to go,” Green said. “[The SG] recognizes the need for it to be easier for students to be able to use public transportation because of parking problems and problems we have had with cars on campus.”
Shalia Sakona, a senior in SPA and the College of Arts and Sciences, works three to four days per week at the Spy Museum near the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro stop and takes the bus the other days of the week to school from Glover Park, she said.
Sakona said she did not think that 10 cents would be noticeable, and she prefers that to decreased services.
“Not a single member of this Board wants to increase fares or decrease service,” Chairman of the Board Peter Benjamin said in a statement released by WMATA. “But we need to take this temporary action to balance the budget this year.”
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