My Hatred Grows

That's it. I'm done. I am never again taking Metro, well, at least for non-work trips. Why? They raised fares. It now costs me $7.50 every day to get to and from work. That means in a usual month, it will cost nearly $160 just to commute. (That's nearly $2,000 for just one year.) Thank goodness I have C to drop me off at the kiss and ride, otherwise that $160 would be nearly $260 every month with parking fees (and that's over $3,100 a year).

Yes, yes, I acknowledge receiving my government transit subsidy. I know others are not so lucky. You wouldn't want to see how mad I would get if this were not the case.

Why did Metro do this? They say they have an increase in operating costs. I just don't understand how operating costs can increase when service decreases. When you stop operating trains due to "regular track maintenance" aren't you saving the costs of the running trains? What about those trains that just don't show up? Aren't you saving costs again? And how about never having any officers on any of the trains to enforce your so-called rules? I know you're not spending any money on their salaries.

I think the reason this drives me absolutely bonkers is that no regular business could ever operate in this sort of environment, except for maybe Comcast. You know, the environment where you give crap service but continue to increase rates.

So now I'm done. As the cost for C and me to go downtown on a Saturday is nearly $10 (far more than the cost of driving the two of us) and given the slower service offered by Metro on weekends, you won't find me on it. Which seems like the exact opposite of what Metro wanted to happen.

A trip to Eastern Market for french toast? A trip to the Corcoran to see Ansel Adams? A trip to the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival? Thank goodness for street parking.