70% of WMATA bus riders don't pay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can we make the toll roads free too?

Like the Dulles Toll road which was supposed to be free years ago after tolls paid for it. Ever gonna happen. Government never relinquishes control.

The Dulles Toll Road is privately owned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/transportation/nearly-70-of-metrobus-riders-evading-fare-wmata-says/4105890/?amp=1

Metro plans to have operators quote the fare to ride the bus as a reminder to riders to pay. But the union worries it could lead to bus operators getting involved in altercations.

Might as well make it free at this point if few customers are paying.

If the union's worried about it, then put undercover metro police on the buses with the highest numbers of violators. If there's an altercation, police deals with it. Do that for the first few months of rollout and get the troublemakers sorted out.

It would be cancelled within a week for being “racist.”

LMAO "racist"

Why, because being black somehow makes you incapable of paying fares just like anyone else? The racism I see with that is the soft bigotry of low expectations.

People calling things like that "racist" need to be called out as being racists, themselves. Seriously. CALLED OUT LOUDLY.

[Anonymous]

I'd be fine with making the buses free but there needs to be a coherent, solid, sustainable revenue source to pay for it.

Right now there isn't one.

Until there is, people need to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buses are already free. Everyone in DC knows that you can just get on without paying because the driver won't stop you. It's just that certain people are choosing to pay, and often it's because the employer is subsidizing the payment anyway. If there was no metro subsidy, then no one would pay the fare.

I don't get a metro subsidy and I'm pay the fare. Because I'm supposed to. What is wrong with you people?

We live in Virginia, but DC at 10 schools in DC. Even though students who live in DC can ride for free, we still purchase passes for them. It is about ethics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be fine with making the buses free but there needs to be a coherent, solid, sustainable revenue source to pay for it.

Right now there isn't one.

Until there is, people need to pay.

When the Circulator was free it became dirty and unsafe, like a rolling shelter. The $1 feet was reinstated before service was later cancelled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buses are already free. Everyone in DC knows that you can just get on without paying because the driver won't stop you. It's just that certain people are choosing to pay, and often it's because the employer is subsidizing the payment anyway. If there was no metro subsidy, then no one would pay the fare.

I pay fares and am not subsidized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don’t collect transit fares. We don’t collect speeding tickets. We house homeless people in market rate apartments in wealthy neighborhoods. And the Council is somehow shocked we are broke? Now CM Frumin wants to raise my taxes. I just can’t anymore with these people.

Actually the rents paid by voucher are well ABOVE market rates. And the money is likely kicked back, thus the zeal for protecting fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did read the whole thread, but I recently learned that you can just tap your credit card to pay on buses, like you can at metro. My smart trip would run out and I wouldn’t pay because it’s hard to add fare, but now I just tap my credit card.

My kids both qualify for kids ride freee but rarely have their cards on them, and say the drivers never ask for them. We actually got into a fight about this when they insisted their metro rides to Tyson’s from dc was free due to their being DCPS students.

My suggestion to whomever wins for mayor: make buses free.

But who pays for the buses, the diesel and the drivers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/transportation/nearly-70-of-metrobus-riders-evading-fare-wmata-says/4105890/?amp=1

Metro plans to have operators quote the fare to ride the bus as a reminder to riders to pay. But the union worries it could lead to bus operators getting involved in altercations.

Might as well make it free at this point if few customers are paying.

If the union's worried about it, then put undercover metro police on the buses with the highest numbers of violators. If there's an altercation, police deals with it. Do that for the first few months of rollout and get the troublemakers sorted out.

It would be cancelled within a week for being “racist.”

LMAO "racist"

Why, because being black somehow makes you incapable of paying fares just like anyone else? The racism I see with that is the soft bigotry of low expectations.

People calling things like that "racist" need to be called out as being racists, themselves. Seriously. CALLED OUT LOUDLY.

It's about equitable outcomes. If a white person doesn't pay the fare, are they shot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/transportation/nearly-70-of-metrobus-riders-evading-fare-wmata-says/4105890/?amp=1

Metro plans to have operators quote the fare to ride the bus as a reminder to riders to pay. But the union worries it could lead to bus operators getting involved in altercations.

Might as well make it free at this point if few customers are paying.

If the union's worried about it, then put undercover metro police on the buses with the highest numbers of violators. If there's an altercation, police deals with it. Do that for the first few months of rollout and get the troublemakers sorted out.

It would be cancelled within a week for being “racist.”

LMAO "racist"

Why, because being black somehow makes you incapable of paying fares just like anyone else? The racism I see with that is the soft bigotry of low expectations.

People calling things like that "racist" need to be called out as being racists, themselves. Seriously. CALLED OUT LOUDLY.

Or maybe the black people of DC are correct? Why should WMATA be allowed to bilk the populace filling its coffers of corporate greed?

WMATA receives money from three jurisdictions --DC, MD, VA + plus the Feds.

So why are fares also needed ? Sounds like a scam. WMATA loves crying poverty and moving the goalpost. The DC council was more than willing and ready to cover FREE bus fare but the GM of WMATA is from Texas and said no!

Bring back Paul Sarbanes or a WMATA GM from the DC Region, who understands local culture and public benefit to society.