According to the transit agency, seven in 10 people are not paying their fares when riding Metrobus, despite the service seeing spikes in ridership after the pandemic.
D.C., Maryland and Virginia all pay a piece of the Metro funding pie, and a more than two-decades-old formula determines how big each payment is based on how many people from each jurisdiction ride the system.
A new formula aims to give all three places credit for the number of paid riders they have and reduce their total bill.
“I think by essentially crediting paid ridership, we help incentivize paid ridership, and therefore disincentivizing fare evasion,” said Metro board member Matt Letourneau during a board meeting Thursday.
In the last fiscal year, Metrobus saw more riders than Metrorail but only saw revenues of just over $50 million, compared to the $301 million brought in by rail riders.
The current Metrobus formula was put in place in 1997 and the Metrorail formula was implemented back in 1977.
“They were really created at a different time, a different region, a different service system overall,” said Allison Davis, vice president of planning for Metro.
The reductions for each jurisdiction would be based on how many riders pay on both Metrobus and Metrorail.
“What this formula change does is at least give us the ability to have that discussion and reap a benefit or a cost, more fairly and equitably,” said board member Joe McAndrew, who represents Maryland.
Riders skipping out on fares has been a problem for Metro that surged after the pandemic. In September, Metro Transit Police reported writing more than 10,000 citations for fare evasion this year alone.
Metro installed taller fare gates at stations last year, and credits those for an 82% drop in fare evasion at rail stations.
Metro also installed new fare boxes in buses so riders can pay more easily once on board.
The Metro board of directors is expected to vote on the new funding formula in November.
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