No fare hikes this year for Metro but affordability an issue for some

Metro escalator

Metro commuters from Maryland to Virginia will be affected by scheduled track maintenance and station renovations, and while they saw no fare increases this year, several said it’s still too expensive and doesn’t take them where they need to go.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the agency that oversees Metro, is spending $1.5 billion on renovations in Fiscal Year 2020, part of a larger $9.2 billion effort to get Metro back on track, according to public records on its website.

Metro escalator
People take the escalators to the metro metro, (Photo by Joel Lev-Tov)

Those expenses and long-term sustainability were called into question by a 2016 master’s thesis in economics by Jasmine Simone Boatner who wrote that Metro was not economically viable, and that increased fares were leading to decreased ridership.

“In its current form, the Washington Metrorail system does not seem economically viable,” Boatner wrote in her thesis for Howard University. “With steadily declining ridership, continuing fare hikes to address the budget deficit is bad economic policy.”

Metro did not respond to two phone calls and four emails seeking comment for this story. In response to one of the emails Ian Jannetta, Metro spokesman, wrote on June 21, “Got it, thanks.”

Christopher Tyree, 32, lives in Fort Washington, Maryland near National Harbor. Tyree, a security contractor who was working at American University, drives rather than taking the Metro because, he said, the Metro doesn’t get close enough to home. He said he drives even though traffic in the district is “hell.”

“It’s very rare that I use public transportation,” Tyree said.

American University in Washington, D.C. tries to help its students with transit affordability.

Metro began offering in 2016 what it called a U-Pass, a program to make transit more affordable for students. WMATA says students pay the equivalent of $1 per day.

Prince Hyeamang, 20, uses public transportation daily, but said he would “definitely not” use public transportation without the pass.

Hyeamang, who graduated in May with a master’s in public policy, just bought a car. He said planned to use it in places where it is inconvenient or impossible to use the Metro, like in Maryland and Virginia.

“I would take the metro where I can’t drive, for example, the middle of the city,” Hyeamang said.

Kyle Cleary, 17, disagreed.

He said that Metro’s cost was not an issue for him. He said he uses Metrobus to commute to his high school and takes Metrorail to commute into the district.

Cleary said that it was “amazing” that one could get from New Carrollton to Tenleytown for $5 on Metro, which bases its fees on distance and time of day.

Cleary uses Uber, only “when I don’t have any other method of transit.”

Quincy Arrington, 37, said that Metro was “really trying to oppress poor people” with its pricing. He compared the district’s rail system with others in New York City and Chicago that use a flat-fee system.

Boatner’s thesis noted that average fares for one ride in Washington, D.C. are $2.48. She noted in her thesis that low income riders often are pushed toward Metrobuses, which she wrote are more affordable, but which also are “raising concerns of a classist system.”

 

Gender neutral bathrooms part of creating inclusive spaces

gender neutral

Students and staff interviewed this week in Washington, D.C., shared their thoughts on gender neutral bathrooms, which have become common at American University.

Tiffany Speaks, senior director for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, said bathrooms are mainly being installed for everyone to feel welcomed.

Speaks quoted from American University’s website saying: “The university is committed to having safe and accessible campus restroom facilities.”

Violence against the transgender community mostly happens in public restrooms, according to a 2013 Williams Institute report. Derrick Clifton wrote that “roughly 70% of trans people have reported being denied entrance, assaulted or harassed while trying to use a restroom,” according to a 2013 Williams Institute report.

gender neutral
A gender neutral bathroom at American University. (Photo by Joel Lev-Tov)

Mumina Ali, an incoming first year student at American University, believes the school is doing a great job by installing gender neutral bathrooms.

“This campus is about being inclusive and embracing diversity,” Ali said. “Not everyone has the same identity. So I think that’s the main reason is to create a safe space where people feel as if they’re wanted, rather than anywhere in the rest of the world, they can feel like that.”

Donna Femenella, 40, Course Reserves coordinator at American University’s Bender Library, believes that the gender neutral bathrooms create a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community.

“It’s not creating a barrier where a decision has to be made in terms of kind of what a person identifies as,” Femenella said. “So I think just being able to know that a bodily function you can just do without any barriers.”