December 14, 2006
-
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (aka Metro) is proposing a substantial and potentially confusing change to fare prices. I’m not too sure how popular or effective this is going to be. Metro is supposed to be a mass transit system like the ones in New York, Boston or Hong Kong (I’ve actually ridden these). Our Metro system maybe cleaner and not littered with ads but that’s about it. Metro is considerably slower in terms of the time between two trains servicing a station, inefficient if something breaks down and much more costly. If Metro continues to raise prices at this rate, the masses will not be able to afford taking it. If I were to park at the metro and take a round trip during rush hours (i.e. going to work and back home) it currently would cost $12. With this rate increase it’ll at least be $15 a day if they don’t increase the parking charge (which I’m sure they will but they haven’t announced it yet). That’s $300 a month on Metro costs which how many people could afford to spend that much on transportation? I know I’ve been blessed and right now it’s not a major concern but for those who barely get by (ok it’s a bad example but still the average DC metropolitan person makes about $45-55k a year) what will their alternatives be? Will this force more people onto the roads as it’ll be more cost effective to drive to their destination? I know Metro is trying to solve their budget issues (and I’ll include I’m ignorant of any budget issues the other three cities may have with their transit system) but I really think they need to look at their long and short term plans to improve their in house cost efficiency. Something does not make sense if they need to raise rates for what the third time in three years?
Comments (3)
yikes oh yikes. maybe i should be thankful that i take the bus.
Hey, are transmit fees and mileage deductible? I’m pretty sure those folks who use their car (aka POV — Personally Owned Vehicle) for business they are either reimbursed or able to take a deduction. How about just getting to & from work? Know any good, honest accountants?
I think they’re raising the rates for the buses too. Especially if you don’t have a smartcard.
Mileage can be deductible depending on the case. Most of the times the total cost has to be over 30% of your AGI. That’s a huge chunk of mileage so unless you’re a door to door salesman I doubt it’ll apply to us.