Balancing the Next Metro Budget to Reflect Your Priorities
Notice of Public Hearing
| Proposed FY 2021 budget | Fare Proposal Calculator
The docket contains the Notice of Public Hearing and the proposed District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and Late Night bus change documents.
Proposed Fare Changes | Proposed Service Changes
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Metro's proposed budget, beginning July 1, 2020, would improve the customer experience and fare options, and manage cost.
It is important that you review these proposals and provide your feedback for Metro's Board of Directors and Management to consider before approving a final budget this spring.
Detailed information about the entire proposed operating and capital budget can be found in the Notice of Public Hearing.
Tell us your priorities and provide your feedback by Monday, March 9, 2020 at 9:00 a.m.
- The survey period has ended.Public feedback will be provided to Metro’s Board of Directors in April 2020 as part of the final decision-making process. Any Board-approved fare or service changes will begin on or around July 1, 2020.
Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, gender, religion, disability or family status. If you require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or translation services (free of charge), contact the project team at 202-962-2511 (TTY: 202-962-2033) as soon as possible prior to the public hearing date.
Proposed Fare Changes
The following proposed fare changes include both fare reductions and increases to simplify fares and encourage pass product use.
Are you curious how each of next year's fare proposals may impact the cost of your trip? A weekly or month pass may save you money, especially with a proposed fare increase.
Just enter the trip you want to calculate on Metrorail, Metrobus or both and find out what your fare could be.
Metrorail
- Increase peak fares
- Adjust peak fares (weekdays from 5 -9:30 a.m. and 3-7 p.m.) by:
- Increasing the base fare up to 25¢, from $2.25 to $2.50
- Increasing the maximum fare up to $1, from $6 to $7
- No maximum fare increases for MetroAccess
- Prices on all current Rail + Bus unlimited passes will not change and will still be valid for the same travel.
- Adjust peak fares (weekdays from 5 -9:30 a.m. and 3-7 p.m.) by:
- Adjust Senior/Disabled fares to half of peak and off-peak fares
- People with Senior SmarTrip® cards and people with disabilities with a Reduced Fare SmarTrip® Photo ID card will pay half the peak or off-peak fare on Metrorail depending on time of day instead of peak only.
- Charge peak fare prices after midnight
- Customers who ride late night between midnight and closing on Friday and Saturday nights will pay peak fares.
- Charge a flat fare on weekends
- Simplify the fare structure on Saturdays and Sundays and charge a flat fare, up to $2.75 ($1.35 Senior/Disabled).
- Simplify mileage tiers
- Since Metrorail fares are determined by the distance traveled, customers currently pay the base fare plus an amount per mile after the first three miles, then a different amount per mile after six miles up to the maximum fare. Instead of these two different per-mile fees, there will only be one per-mile fee of 33¢ per mile during peak hours and 22¢ per mile during off-peak hours.
- Add a surcharge at Dulles Airport Metrorail Station
- Customers will pay a rail surcharge of $1 for entries and exits at the new Dulles Airport Metrorail Station, part of Silver Line Phase 2. The surcharge will not be applicable to those using passes.
Metrobus
- Lower the price of the 7-Day Regional Bus Pass
- Decrease the price of the 7-Day Regional Bus Pass from $15 to $12 (Senior/Disabled $6).
- Add a 25¢ surcharge for cash use
- Paying with cash or adding value to your SmarTrip® card on the bus with cash will cost an additional 25¢ on top of the regular fare in order to encourage customers to pre-load SmarTrip® cards and speed up the boarding process for all riders.
- Increase the fare on MetroExtra routes
- Adjust the regular fare on MetroExtra limited-stop routes from $2.00 to $3.00 (Senior/Disabled $1.50).
Metrorail + Metrobus
- Increase the transfer discount between Metrorail and Metrobus
- Metrobus customers will receive a discount of $2 (equivalent to free fare on most Metrobus routes) when transferring to/from Metrorail instead of 50¢.
- Add new Short-Trip and Weekend Passes
- Increase the variety of unlimited Metrorail + Metrobus passes to encourage additional weekend and tourist ridership.
- New Short-Trip Passes
- 1-Day Short-Trip Pass $8
- 3-Day Short-Trip Pass $18
- Short-Trip passes cover all trips taken during off-peak and fares up to $3.85 during peak periods. If customers take a trip with a fare above $3.85, the difference is paid using SmarTrip® stored value.
- New Weekend Passes
- 1-Day Weekend Pass Up to $6
- 2-Day Weekend Pass Up to $10
- New Weekend Passes are applicable only if a weekend flat fare is approved by the Metro Board of Directors. The price point will be determined by the flat fare that is approved.
Are you curious how each of next year's fare proposals may impact the cost of your trip? A weekly or month pass may save you money, especially with a proposed fare increase.
Just enter the trip you want to calculate on Metrorail, Metrobus or both and find out what your fare could be.
Proposed Service Changes
The following proposed service changes improve the customer experience and achieve efficiencies by better matching service with ridership.
Metrorail
- Restore late night hours
- Extend Metrorail Hours of Operation to provide four more hours of service per week without jeopardizing needed maintenance hours.
- Monday-Thursday 5 a.m.-midnight
- Friday 5 a.m.-2 a.m.
- Saturday 7 a.m.-2 a.m.
- Sunday 8 a.m.-11 p.m.
- Extend Metrorail Hours of Operation to provide four more hours of service per week without jeopardizing needed maintenance hours.
- Improve Sunday train frequency to match Saturday service
- Regularly scheduled Sunday service will be more frequent to match daytime service levels on regularly scheduled Saturdays:
- Lines: Train frequency will increase from every 15 minutes to every 12 minutes, and at downtown stations from every 5-8 minutes to every 4-6 minutes.
- Line: Train frequency will increase from every 8 minutes to every 6 minutes.
- Regularly scheduled Sunday service will be more frequent to match daytime service levels on regularly scheduled Saturdays:
- Adjust weekday early morning service
- Weekday service from opening until 6 a.m. will change from trains every 8 minutes to every 12 minutes, and at downtown stations, from every 3-4 minutes to every 4-6 minutes due to lower ridership during this time.
- Regular rush-hour service will begin at 6 a.m.
Metrobus
The following are brief descriptions of the proposed bus service changes.
- Improve weekend service on high-ridership routes
- Increase the weekend frequency on high-ridership corridors that connect to Metrorail, and improve some Sunday frequencies to match Saturday service.
- Routes: 7A, 7F, 23B, 23T, 28A, 80, 83, 86, A12, C29, E4, F4, P6, P12, S2, S9, Y2, Y8
- Improve
service
- Adjust frequency and hours of service
- Reduce hours of service, generally eliminating the first or last early morning and/or late-night trips, that have low ridership.
- Impacted routes: 92, 96, C4, D4, D6, E2, J2, K6, L8, T2, W1, Y2
- Eliminate “lifeline” late night and early morning service if Metrorail hours change
- If the proposal to restore an additional four hours of late-night Metrorail service is approved, late night and early morning trips that were added June 2017 would be eliminated because of the shortened latenight Metrorail hours.
- Impacted routes: 2A, 10A, 10N, 16E, 30N, 30S, 80, 96, G8, H4, P6, W4
- Restructure service for efficiency and simplicity
- Streamline and combine routes to make service easier to understand, and reduce service redundancy. Eliminate routes where other transit service is available or on routes with low ridership.
- Washington DC service
- 30N, 30S Friendship Heights-Southeast
31, 33 Wisconsin Avenue
32, 34, 36 Pennsylvania Ave
37 Wisconsin Ave Limited
Add service to routes 31, 32, 33 and 36.
Eliminate routes 30N, 30S, 34 and 37. - 54 14th Street
59 14th Street Limited
Add service to Route 59 and eliminate Route 54.
Change Route 59 to serve all stops between Colorado Avenue NW and Takoma Metrorail Station previously served by Route 54.
Route 52 will not change. - D2 Glover Park-Dupont Circle
G2 P Street-LeDroit Park
Combine Routes D2 and G2 to operate one route between Glover Park and LeDroit Park via Dupont Circle. - E6 Chevy Chase
M4 Nebraska Ave
Combine Routes E6 and M4 to operate one route between Sibley Hospital and Chevy Chase/Knollwood. - Anacostia-Congress Heights-Fort Drum Restructuring
A4, W5 Anacostia-Fort Drum
W1 Shipley Terrace-Fort Drum
W2, W3 United Medical Center-Anacostia
W4 Alabama Avenue-Deanwood
Extend Route W4 to Fort Drum and DC Village to replace routes A4, W5 and mid-day service on Route W1.
Eliminate Route W4 segment between M.L. King & Alabama avenues SE and Anacostia Metrorail Station.
Reroute W2 and W3 to South Capitol Street and Malcolm X Avenue (Washington Overlook), and replace service to the St Elizabeth Campus Gate 4 with an extension of Route A8. - X1 Benning Road
X8 Maryland Avenue
Eliminate X1 and extend every other Route X8 rush hour trips to serve stops between Union Station and Foggy Bottom Metrorail Station previously served by Route X1. - Additional routes for elimination:
B8, B9, D1, D5, V1, X3
- 30N, 30S Friendship Heights-Southeast
- Maryland service
- NH2 National Harbor-Alexandria
Eliminate the stop at Huntington Metrorail Station. Route will continue to operate between National Harbor and King Street-Old Town Metrorail Station. - Q1, Q2, Q5, Q6 Veirs Mill Road
Eliminate service between Rockville and Shady Grove Metrorail stations. Routes will continue to operate between Rockville and Silver Spring Metrorail stations. - Z2 Ashton-Colesville
Z6 Calverton-Westfarm
Z8 Fairland
Z11 Greencastle-Briggs Chaney Express
When Montgomery County’s US-29 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) begins service, service will be added to Route Z6, including on Sundays, and Route Z2, Z8 and Z11 will be eliminated.
Route Z6 will reroute to serve Greencastle Park & Ride via Lockwood Drive and Castle Boulevard and will no longer serve Burtonsville. - Additional routes for elimination:
B29, B30, C11, C13, C28, F12, W14
- NH2 National Harbor-Alexandria
- Virginia service
- 7Y Lincolnia-North Fairlington
Eliminate service between downtown DC and the Pentagon. Route will continue to operate between Southern Towers and the Pentagon. - 16C Columbia Pike
Eliminate service between downtown DC and the Pentagon. Route will continue to operate between Culmore and the Pentagon. - 16G, 16H Columbia Pike-Pentagon City
Add service to Route 16H, and eliminate Route 16G. Service in Arlington Mill is available on Arlington Transit (ART). - 22A, 22C, 22F Barcroft-South Fairlington
Add rush hour service to Route 22F, and eliminate Route 22A and 22C. Weekday service between Shirlington and Ballston is available on Arlington Transit (ART). - NH2 National Harbor-Alexandria
Eliminate the stop at Huntington Metrorail Station. Route will continue to operate between National Harbor and King Street-Old Town Metrorail Station. - Additional routes for elimination:
3A, 3T, 5A, 15K, 29W, S80, S91
- 7Y Lincolnia-North Fairlington
- Streamline and combine routes
- MetroAccess
- The MetroAccess service area will not be impacted by any of the proposed Metrobus service changes or route eliminations as part of the FY2021 Budget process.