Why Metro is, and always will be, a national failure.
Metro (WMATA) is proposing another fare increase, although this one is a bit more modest than earlier proposals. According to WMATA, the fare increase is necessary to make up for a projected budget shortfall. It doesn’t matter how much the fares increase on Metro; no fare increase can alter the fundamental fact that Metro is one of the worst designed mass transit systems in the country, if not the world.
The most glaring problem with WMATA is the management. Stories of corruption, graft, and waste from WMATA are no stranger to the front page of the Washington Post and other local papers. Metro’s management and board of directors have visions of operating that resembles a Wall Street executive instead of a civil servant. However, equally blameworthy are the governments of Maryland, Virginia, and the District for not adequately funding Metro. As a matter of policy, mass transportation’s primary concern should be to take cars off the road, not operate a profitable business. Subsidies are necessary for the proper functioning of the mass transit. It should not be looked at as a line in the budget, but as a way to more efficiently operate. A more complete mass transit system can help reduce the costs of road maintenance.
Of course, Metro suffers from several design deficiencies. First, the subway stations outside the city are not suited for the way riders come into the city. The system follows the traditional “hub and spoke” model, and the spokes only extend to a few areas. Supplemental rail systems, such as Maryland’s MARC and Virginia’s VRE, do help bring in other commuters, but this can The simple matter is that most people do not like to change transit systems. Once someone gets onto the Metrorail, for example, he will not likely want to move to a bus. He will not mind, however, changing subway lines. As someone who rides the bus, the subway, and a commuter train every day, I can verify the shear level of annoyance with changing mass transit systems.
Metrobus is perhaps the worst supplement to the system. Instead of creating a comprehensive, developed subway system, the city felt that it was more efficient (read: cheaper) to simply supplement the subway system with buses. This was particularly true for much of the western portion of Washington. This design does not make, nor should it have ever made, sense. If compared to the human circulatory system, the subway is to serve as the arteries for the city and the busses as the veins. The large difference in capacity does not serve this plan well, and funding of the subway system to detriment of the bus system has only future clogged this city-body model.
Of course, there are a number of other factors beyond the control of WMATA that are also factors to this problem. Suburban sprawl, poor planning by Maryland and Virginia counties, and exploding home prices are all driving Washington workers to, well driving. Likewise, the attitude of many in Washington is one of shear snobbery, with many a graduate of Ivy League schools one of the local “pedigree” schools — Georgetown, GW, American, Catholic — simply believing that they are in a class above those riding the mass transit. These and other factors put a strain on the city budget and quality of services by putting more cars on the road and causing substantially more wear. Since the District is not permitted to impose a tax on commuters, the cost of maintaining roads, already far below what it needs to be, will only continue to increase. Since the local governments do not understand the full importance of these systems, we are destined to see a continuing cycle of rate hikes and quality declines.
[Washington Post: Metro Board Weighing a Scaled-Down Fare Hike]
