Looks like us Metro riders are gonna be forking out even more money, the board just overwhelmingly passed some significant increases for fares and parking. People who take the bus are also affected. I think this is all part of some grand scheme to put even more traffic on our roads. More cars = more car repairs= more taxes for our roads.

Sorta ridiculous to think I spend about 180 bucks a month- just to take a freakin SUBWAY!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/metro13.html?hpid=topnews

Why can't they put up more advertising to generate revenue? There is plenty of space, particularly in the trains. Half of the advertising they use themselves. It seems to me that the metro would be a very good place for businesses to advertise, especially for food. After sitting staring at the ads on the ride in the morning you would have that image in your mind when lunch came around.

Metro is the mode of trnasportation for poor people. These fare hikes only make the poor poorer. If I were to ever get on metro, I would demand a full body hazmat suit.

It never ceases to amaze me. The monthly cost of taking bus/Metro downtown is as much as a car payment. Gouge, gouge, gouge is all I see. They should be lowering
fares to gain more ridership. Ive ridden on subways in Atlanta and Montreal
that were nearly identical to Metro, but the fares are a fraction of what we pay.
I think what we need to do is replace the current Metro Board with "real" people
who have to use it to get to work. Even if you replaced them with cab drivers,
they couldnt perform any worse than the current board. BTW, I didnt support any
of the development around the Vienna Metro either. Didnt believe a word of their
nonsense about how "this will help alleviate traffic problems and increase ridership". Has anyone noticed a decrease in traffic as a result?

Even if you replaced them with cab drivers, they couldnt perform any worse than the current board.

LOL

In response to the person who mentioned using ad space to generate revenue... it's been proposed in the past, but the common argument is that it will ruin the 'aesthetic' of the metro. Granted, it's a pretty nice system and it presents a distinct image for tourists and business travelers. But at some point they gotta stop treating riders like they are the problem, and start thinking of some better ways to make or save $$. Frankly I could care less if it were plastered with ads if I could save a little.

Ihatemetro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why can't they put up more advertising to generate
> revenue?

And even w/o advertising theres plenty of ideas around - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/12/10/2007-12-10_subway_pole_dancers_enrage_mta.html

Price Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ihatemetro Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Why can't they put up more advertising to
> generate
> > revenue?
>
> And even w/o advertising theres plenty of ideas
> around -
> http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/12/10/2007-12
> -10_subway_pole_dancers_enrage_mta.html


Excellent suggestion. If they also had at least a couple of cars on every
train with private rooms. Lap dances discounted during off peak.
You may be on to something.

They need LCD screens inside metro cars, showing ads and other info

With our friend Marion Barry on the Metro Board, no wonder they need more money.

http://www.wmata.com/about/board_gm/boardbios.cfm

I read one article where some bus drivers make $125,000 a year. Since they are union they cannot be fired and of course year after year they demand and receive raises regardless of the economy.

bender Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I read one article where some bus drivers make
> $125,000 a year. Since they are union they cannot
> be fired and of course year after year they demand
> and receive raises regardless of the economy.

I found this on the DC Examiner. There are plenty of articles about problems
that need to be addressed.

http://www.examiner.com/a-753983~Metro_pensions__A_taxpayer_rip_off.html

Anyways, people will still ride the train. Not a big deal

Its still cheaper then driving to the city and park there.

"Metro receives no federal dollars for its operating costs. Unlike other major transit agencies, it has no dedicated revenue source. Its operating cost is paid by fareboxes, revenue from advertising and parking, and subsidies from local jurisdictions that Metro serves".

I didn't know that, but still they get money from Montgomery, Prince George, DC, Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax, they have a monopoly and yet some of the trains are very old (with the faded orange carpet), delays and maintenance problems are rampant.

I especially liked this part of the DC Examiner article:

"The Examiner has also heard from lower-level Metro employees who bitterly complain about the “buddy system” that lets highly paid senior supervisors and their favored underlings hog overtime, arrive late and leave early, and spend much of their “work day” talking and hanging around station kiosks. Since they’re supervisors, nobody monitors their time-and-a-half behavior. “It’s like being the king,” a disgruntled Metro employee told The Examiner. It’s time the kings of Metro are held to account."

As a retired Fed department manager, I can certainly offer solutions to this problem and it has to start from the top down. Once I was "given" a section that had the same above problems. (no union though). I was also given a mandate by my superiors to "go in there and clean that mess up!". It took several years due to the protections built into the system, but I was able to bring them up to speed on
attendance, performance, and accountability. Looks like Metro needs a more
dictatorial management style.

Imagine $150,000 a year just to drive a bus, be rude to people and splash water on pedestrians.

Anytime I have taken the subway I see three or four people in Metro uniforms just standing on the platform talking. They don't get on trains and they don't answer questions. I have no idea what their job is. I do remember one time the guy in the booth was fast asleep while some tourists were trying to wake him up by banging on the glass. When he finally woke up he yelled at them to look at the maps before bothering him. I have heard it is next to impossible to fire a Metro worker unless they just stop showing up for work altogether.

My biggest complaint with the buses is the city will have a spot on the curb lane for the bus to pull over and pick up passengers. I have never seen them pull over they always stop in the street blocking traffic.

Earning six figures to drive a bus is completly absurd. I wonder what the drivers make in other cities?

Metro staff are usually pretty awful but I have encountered some decent ones (mostly in the past year). I still don't understand why they need someone to sit at the parking lot exits. I thought the whole point of "mandatory SmartCard" was to automate the parking fees... why the heck do they still need someone sitting in that booth?

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Earning six figures to drive a bus is completly
> absurd. I wonder what the drivers make in other
> cities?
>
> Metro staff are usually pretty awful but I have
> encountered some decent ones (mostly in the past
> year). I still don't understand why they need
> someone to sit at the parking lot exits. I
> thought the whole point of "mandatory SmartCard"
> was to automate the parking fees... why the heck
> do they still need someone sitting in that booth?

From my experience, its to justify their own existance and to
allow their bosses to further their careers through "Empire Building", a
common phenonemon in govt. There is no problem in finding
employees who are happy sitting on their duffs all day and watching
the world go by.

thats fuckign gay

Only niggers and liberals ride the metro

Castros Chicken Wrote:
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> Only niggers and liberals ride the metro


mostly people with jobs that pay well ride metro, that excludes you. There aren't that many metro accessible ditch digging jobs for troglodytes

> $1.65 per trip

IS A LIE. when you get there and need to get anywhere other than next-door...

$5 or more round trip at least

they are continually trying to put in the news that their fares are reasonable.

infact their fares cost more than the cents/mile of operating a car

and that also means: they are less green

if you have employees funding families all using fuel to heat homes fuel to get to work and the system is wasteful

yes you can easily cause a train CITY SYSTEM to waste more fuel and money than putting each person in a car