Unsuck DC Metro: If it's Yellow...

Monday, September 17, 2012

If it's Yellow...

After all the money spent marketing Rush+ as "rush hour reinvented," Metro is now going to spend even more money directly bribing riders to change up their commuting habits by offering some $5 farecards.

I asked riders if $5 would get them to make the switch to the Yellow Line, and below are the responses.

Other items:
Cell phone coverage completion not until 2015 (Examiner)
Late-night service after Nats games still unresolved (WaPo)
Another triumph regarding SmarTrip (Examiner)

Comments (22)

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+21 Vote up Vote down

guest · 653 weeks ago

So Metro spent all this money marketing Rush+, which was really just a lie, and they can't hand over $29,500 for late night Nats fans?

Really, I sometimes think Metro is an enemy of the people it "serves"

+4 Vote up Vote down

BrianKal · 653 weeks ago

oh, wmata, bless it's heart

+10 Vote up Vote down

BrianK · 653 weeks ago

I wonder how much they paid a consultant to come up with the idea of $5 farecards and if it was same consultant that said rush- would be a briliant idea

+4 Vote up Vote down

@VeggieTart · 653 weeks ago

Don't be silly, guest; you don't expect them to spend money on something substantial, do you?

+10 Vote up Vote down

YellowHellNo · 653 weeks ago

I think it's funny that Metro is using Farecards as bribes at the same time they are using the $1 surcharge to force riders off Farecards and onto Smartrip cards. There's got to be a comment on how much they values RushPlus in there somewhere.

+8 Vote up Vote down

DC Denizen · 653 weeks ago

Clearly Metro places a very low price on the value of our time spent in their system. $5 doesn't even begin to cut it. It's insulting. Take my $5 and stuff it up your... ahem. Use it to pay for greater police presence at L'Enfant.

3 replies · active 653 weeks ago

-2 Vote up Vote down

totallyfailed 81p · 653 weeks ago

They don't go after their own peeps, if you know what I mean.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Hal · 653 weeks ago

No, what do you mean?

0 Vote up Vote down

Ugh · 653 weeks ago

Please take your racism back to the NOVA KKK chapter meetings.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Annie · 653 weeks ago

Is this a joke?

1 reply · active 653 weeks ago

+7 Vote up Vote down

Vienna Bound · 653 weeks ago

How else are you going to spend a $29M surplus? Invest in infrastructure? Upgrade outdated modes of transportation? For heaven's sake, don't compensate those who risked live and limb to walk along tracks due to inoperable trains or any others for that matter at any point who have been inconvienced by Metro's ineptitude.

That's just plain silliness.

+12 Vote up Vote down

horseydeucey · 653 weeks ago

I read this the other day, and the first thing I thought was: WMATA is really terrible at understanding ridership motivation. And by really terrible, I mean atrocious. The worst, maybe?
They took a stab at overcrowding with RUSH+, and it didn't work. Now, they're trying to bribe riders into changing their behaviors.
areyoufuckingkiddingme?
Am I wrong in thinking that you should understand rider behavior BEFORE you change your scheduling?
I would bring up how this is akin to putting the cart before the horses, but talk of carts and horses might give this board some bright ideas.

+11 Vote up Vote down

dave · 653 weeks ago

It's going to take a lot more than $5 to get me to go to L'Enfant when I don't have to. The place is really terrible, hot, dark, packed and one of the stations with the highest crime rates.

no thanks.

1 reply · active 653 weeks ago

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ThenWe'dHaveToClean · 653 weeks ago

For an incomparably small amount of money, they could actually LIGHT some platforms.

+13 Vote up Vote down

Another Nick · 653 weeks ago

I've been a Yellow only commuter for exactly one year. Can I have $5 for being a visionary and leader of men?

+3 Vote up Vote down

Ever n Anon · 653 weeks ago

As usual the Metro word of the day is "clueless."

+1 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 653 weeks ago

If you don't like the Blue and Yellow lines, you must believe in slavery!

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Sam · 653 weeks ago

$10 says that their farecards don't work and that you have to mail them into WMATA to get replacement farecards which magically get lost. It's a phenomenon.

1 reply · active 653 weeks ago

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differentguest · 653 weeks ago

^^^ this. -nods-

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Dan Stessel · 653 weeks ago

One person's delay is another person's relaxation time.

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Andrew. · 653 weeks ago

Metro cancels farecard giveaway - You couldn't make this stuff up, seriously.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Metro-Blu...

+2 Vote up Vote down

Hellooooo Yellow · 653 weeks ago

They were at Pentagon City & Lenfant this morn. You'd get a voucher at P-City to exchange for a $5 farecard at Lenfant. I ride yellow already, but still snagged two vouchers, and just hopped off at Lenfant, exchanged one, waited two minutes to exchange my other, then got back on the yellow. Thanks for the $10, Metro!