Let’s examine the typical transportation costs of the working AU student. Laden with an unpaid internship — we’ll say in Farrugut North —and working three days a week, the logical transportation method of choice would be the Metro. The benefits are clear: convenient locations, the sustainability of public transportation. But most importantly, it’s cheap.
Or so we thought. At this frequency, our AU intern would rack up more than $260 over an academic year solely for work-related travel.
It’s significant price tags like this that have fueled the effort to push the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to adopt a D.C.-wide student Metro discount. Former SG President Seth Cutter spent countless hours of time attempting to produce fruitful negotiations with officials. Unfortunately, these talks have produced little results and seemed to have stalled for good. But hope remains. Now, AU should step up to fill the gap left by WMATA by providing a university-subsidized Metro discount.
The likelihood of a city-wide discount, while certainly the more convenient and desired alternative, has faded into the implausible. Metro has been overwhelmed by controversy after controversy: multiple crashes, budget crises, raised fares, administrative resignations—to name a few problems. With all of these distractions, the cries within WMATA in favor of a student discount have dimmed to a faint murmur.
But while this door has been slammed shut, a different window has begun to slowly edge open. Through the adroit maneuvers and skilled leadership of current SG President Andy MacCracken, AU and Metro have partnered to test SmarTrip compatible AU ID cards. While the program is still in the experimental stages, it hopes to provide AU ridership numbers necessary to formulate the beginnings of a proposal for an AU-specific student discount. AU’s administration should take the initiative and pursue this idea to the fullest extent.
A university-sponsored student Metro discount would be an undisputed net positive for AU. The administration has made clear its desire to decrease the number of cars students bring to campus. What better way to incentivize this than by making Metro less expensive? By subsidizing Metro travel and minimizing student cars, AU would improve community relations, simplify the lives of students and move closer to its goal of increased sustainability in one simple move.
Some may scoff at this idea as an unrealistic endeavor. To be sure, it would not be an inexpensive undertaking. Nevertheless, the advantages cultivated from this investment would more than warrant the cost. Those of us with unpaid internships like the sound of that.
