Unsuck DC Metro: Reprogramming Faregates: 'Not Hard at All'

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Reprogramming Faregates: 'Not Hard at All'

Dan Stessel told the Washington Post that Metro didn't "have enough time to reprogram the fare structure to match this afternoon’s service level" on Tuesday when the system reopened. Consequently, riders were charged peak (rush hour) fares between 3 and 7 p.m. while only receiving Sunday levels of service.

I read Stessel's comment to mean Metro didn't want to charge rush hour fares, but that it just couldn't be helped.

A tipster in Metro told me they didn't think Stessel was telling the truth.

"They 'reprogram' the faregates four times every weekday, again late night Friday, again Saturday, again late night Saturday and again Sunday and Monday," they wrote in an email. "I don't know the details, but it doesn't make sense that it's some complicated thing."

So I checked with another source deeply familiar with Metro's revenue operations.

"How hard of a process is it [to change over the faregates]?" I asked.

"Not hard at all. It is done on-line from a central location," the source said.

"How long does it take?" I asked.

"Maybe 10 minutes," said the source, adding "Metro does not want to lose the money."

I emailed Stessel asking for an explanation of the process to reprogram the faregates. He did not respond.

Other items:

Metrobus drivers asleep at the wheel (Examiner)

Silver Line corruption goes on and on (Examiner)
Bethesda elevator delayed (Bethesda Now)

Comments (35)

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+12 Vote up Vote down

SMH · 647 weeks ago

Unreal. Stessel must think we're a bunch of dummies.

1 reply · active 646 weeks ago

+11 Vote up Vote down

Tim · 646 weeks ago

Stessel's a dummy if he thinks I'm not going to tailgate a few times to make up for this...

+9 Vote up Vote down

BrianKal · 647 weeks ago

WMATA: Making the simple difficult 1967

+9 Vote up Vote down

ANON · 647 weeks ago

I think Metro was right to charge for service, but to rape passengers with rush hour fares when all they had to do was press a button to avoid it is a new low for Metro.

7 replies · active 646 weeks ago

+8 Vote up Vote down

finch2012 84p · 646 weeks ago

I agree with your overall point, but making people pay a few dollars more than they should ≠ rape. This is a pretty awful statement.

-4 Vote up Vote down

Not cool · 646 weeks ago

no it isn't. stop being such a PC crybaby

+4 Vote up Vote down

Keep it classy · 646 weeks ago

If you or someone you cared about actually had to deal with something like that, you wouldn't say such disrespectful things. Stop being an asshole.

+2 Vote up Vote down

finch2012 84p · 646 weeks ago

There's being PC, then there's just being a dick. I think you need a refresher about the difference.

-2 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 646 weeks ago

No, it's pretty clear that you're just being a dick.

0 Vote up Vote down

LBLU · 646 weeks ago

I haven't been on Metro consistently since 2007, but this event made me wonder. Does Metro still do "free days"?

I recall them having a Metro appreciation day and also whenever the air quality was code Red in summer all of Metro would be free. This no charge happened pretty regularly. This was all before this blog was even necessary and the system worked pretty well.

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dddddda · 646 weeks ago

Buses are free on code red days. You pay the regular/rush fares for the subway on those days. I've yet to experience an "appreciation day," and I've been a regular rider SINCE 2007. I take solace in the fact that the Smarttrip readers on the buses SUCK and about 50% of my bus rides are free due to that.

+15 Vote up Vote down

MLD · 647 weeks ago

Your first tipster is misinformed. The faregates are not "reprogrammed" every time the fare changes from peak to off-peak or back. The faregates are programmed initially to charge peak or off-peak fares based on the timestamp on the farecard or SmarTrip. It's not like there's a switch someone flips in an office that switches the faregates from peak to off-peak mode - it is coded into the software.

Your second source is probably right about how long it takes to actually push a fare change to the faregates. But the explanation from Metro said that they didn't "have enough time to reprogram the fare structure to match this afternoon’s service level." That process also includes the actual programming work required to prepare something to push to the faregates - there may not have been enough time to do that.

What Metro should have done is just open the damn faregates and let people ride for free - the amount of revenue lost on Tuesday would have been minuscule, and they would have gotten actual good press from saying "Metro free for the rest of the day." But that's just another example of how shortsighted they are!

5 replies · active 646 weeks ago

+11 Vote up Vote down

unsuckdcmetro 92p · 647 weeks ago

The first source was probably riffing off the initial Stessel comment. The source does not know about faregates, which is why I went a step further to a source who is rock solid on all things revenue.

Around 54,000 people rode Metro Tuesday.

+9 Vote up Vote down

Feel Wood · 646 weeks ago

The only way they would need to "reprogram" the faregates to change the fare structure on any particular day would be if the link between day/time and fare to be charged was hard-coded in the faregate software. But it's not - or at least it shouldn't be. They have fare structures in place for situations like rush hour, off-peak, Saturday, Sunday, holiday, etc, and they can't be strictly hard-coded to run off the date-time stamp. Otherwise how are they able to charge Sunday fares on a holiday Monday instead of the normal Monday rush hour fares? If they really have been reprogramming the system every time this occurs for all the years that Metro has been operating, then they have incredibly stupid programmers. (Although if the requirements spec for the software was written in house by Metro, that could explain it.) The software should have been set up for them to be able to toggle between fare structures like flipping a light switch a long time ago. It can't be that hard.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Anony · 646 weeks ago

Exactly. Just make it a holiday.

+7 Vote up Vote down

guest · 646 weeks ago

hell, just make it a *sunday*!

several years ago a guy jumped off the mezzanine at grosvenor in the middle of the afternoon. mayhem ensued. by the time rush hour rolled around, the red line was charging off-peak fares, and the parking gates at twinbrook were charging a discounted parking fee. so it can be done.

-1 Vote up Vote down

VeggieTart · 646 weeks ago

This is Metro we're talking about here. If they can find a way to bollix something up, they will.

+13 Vote up Vote down

Vienna Bound · 647 weeks ago

Senator Mikulski and the other regional Congressional representatives might be able to get a proper explanation for why reprogramming the fare machines is so complicated following an emergency, but routine on a daily basis.

+27 Vote up Vote down

guest · 647 weeks ago

Thanks for checking this Unsuck. I thought Metro's story smelled as fishy as a Metro brake pad.

1 reply · active 646 weeks ago

+7 Vote up Vote down

SammyDC · 646 weeks ago

whole decaying system smells like a fish abattoir

+10 Vote up Vote down

fixwmata 105p · 647 weeks ago

At this point I assume every word that comes out of Dan's mouth is a lie.

That being said... perhaps the problem here was that a change in fare would have to be approved by the Board first? (maybe that logic is wrong - correct me if it is)

Maybe blaming the fare machines was more PC than blaming the inability of the Board to react quick enough?

4 replies · active 646 weeks ago

+20 Vote up Vote down

unsuckdcmetro 92p · 647 weeks ago

Sarles is the CEO now. I think this decision rests with him under his new powers. If not, it should. Also, hearing Dan say something like "all fare adjustments have to be approved by the Board" is better than what was said.

+4 Vote up Vote down

VeggieTart · 647 weeks ago

That all fare adjustments have to be approved by the board is something I can believe, in which case, they could put a policy in place that allows for emergency decisions made by the CEO. So if an emergency such as Sandy reduces service, the CEO would have the discretion to charge the regular fare during "peak" hours.

+8 Vote up Vote down

Red Line · 646 weeks ago

Similarly if a Metro-specific emergency happens (i.e. a train is stuck underground for 2 hours), the CEO should be able to approve a fare adjustment so that customers are not charged.

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VeggieTart · 646 weeks ago

Well, yes. I didn't have that in mind--who doesn't have the hurricane fresh in his/her mind--but in any emergency situation that reduces service, such as a snowstorm halting all above-ground service and reducing the frequency of underground trains, the CEO could very well implement non-peak fares at his discretion.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 647 weeks ago

Just one minor point on the corruption article. It seems the corruption is more with MWAA as a whole and not so much about just the Silver Line project. The only mention of Metro in the project is that some past arguments brought all this to light (the funding/union arguments). I can't believe I'm about to say this...but maybe something good came out of them?

2 replies · active 646 weeks ago

+6 Vote up Vote down

Lessets Nad · 647 weeks ago

We here at Metro would like to re-assure you that and good done by this system is purely coincidental and unintentional. To prove this and as a gesture of our good will towards passengers, we will be using the excess fares collected Tuesday to install overhead lazer shredders on all faregates and sharpened teeth on all metro car doors. Please be sure to avoid jumping fare gates no matter how excessive you think the fares are, and be punctual entering trains in the Metro system.

-4 Vote up Vote down

Anon202 · 646 weeks ago

The Examiner never misses a chance to report negatively on anything transit related.

+9 Vote up Vote down

anon · 646 weeks ago

I can't see Dan Stessel's name without seeing the phrase "less nads"

+6 Vote up Vote down

Bill · 646 weeks ago

And from New York:
Sandy Update: A free – but limited – commute for the week’s end http://secondavenuesagas.com/2012/11/01/sandy-upd...
What do you think about that, WMATA?
[sound of crickets]

+2 Vote up Vote down

jazziem · 646 weeks ago

I don't think it has anything at all to do with the technical ability/inability to reprogram the fare gates.

It's more to do with the fact that WMATA employees (maybe not even the GM) cannot change the fare structure without board approval. Board approval for anything bigger than buying a piece of chewing gum is done very, um, tenderly. A senior exec telling the board that he's lowering fares, while he's also begging for money? Not a coherent picture.

+7 Vote up Vote down

NY'er · 646 weeks ago

New York has given DCers a great example of how a subway is run.

Most importantly, when Cuomo says "MTA do this," MTA does it.

Nothing like that exists here and honestly I don't see how it could given the compact among MD, VA and DC.

Pretty much doomed to suck

+10 Vote up Vote down

KBl · 646 weeks ago

Just FYI- I am a New Yorker and while it is nice that the week is "free," NYC MTA has a much superior pricing system to WMATA. There is a discounted monthly fare (104 for unlimited bus and subway) which I, and many others, buy (I do not know the numbers). Essentially, if you commute to work and go anywhere at all on the weekends, it makes sense to buy it. So in that sense, MTA is losing less money because many people have their monthlies already.

Of course not everyone uses one, and some will expire in this time- but it is different in dc, where I doubt nearly as many use this option as it is not such a good deal.

2 replies · active 646 weeks ago

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unsuckdcmetro 92p · 646 weeks ago

Good point. They're getting most of their money anyway.

+1 Vote up Vote down

dddddda · 646 weeks ago

But that, of course, begs the questions (a) why doesn't Metro have a reasonably-priced monthly pass and (b) why do they pilfer so much money from rush-hour customers? I know they *claim* that the higher rush-hour fares are designed to help with the loads (give people an incentive to ride at other times), but most of us don't have a choice, particularly with the extensive "rush hour" times. Open-9:30 and 3-7 means that pretty much so anyone who commutes to work will have to pay the rush hour fare.