Unsuck DC Metro: Is Metro Bleeding Money Over a Technical Snafu?

Monday, December 10, 2012

Is Metro Bleeding Money Over a Technical Snafu?

Other items:
Metro ridership down nearly 5% (Examiner)
Mother dead, toddler grazed in bus shooting (Fox)

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· 639 weeks ago

I recently lost an old Smartrip card and got another. I'd say half the time the readers on the buses can't read it. I've been given the same explanation by drivers.

Good thing Metro pushed everyone to Smartrip. It's saving me a lot of money.

1 reply · active 639 weeks ago

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Daniel · 639 weeks ago

I've had the same experience with a recently replaced SmarTrip card, only without the explanation from the drivers... Now I know why my card doesn't work half of the time!

+19 Vote up Vote down

Jason · 639 weeks ago

Something is horribly wrong when people would rather deal with driving in DC traffic, and then simply don't go into DC on the weekend.

Only once when I was living in NYC did I refuse to do something over not knowing how I'd be getting home--my subway station was going to be shut down for some weekend track work. But unlike with Metro weekend track work was a rare inconvenience instead of a weekly occurrence. And they've since switched to their new "FASTRACK" model--for lines that have nearby redundant service, they'll shut down part of the line from 10 PM to 5 AM for Monday-Thursday one week.

The sad thing is Metro could easily do this since they're already closed midnight-5 AM on those days, and if they wanted the last 2 hours of work they could just run shuttles as they already do on the weekends.

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Jim · 639 weeks ago

I recently had to replace a damaged older card and have had problems with it. Many times I have to swipe it multiple times to get through the gate at rail stations. Most bus drivers just wave me through if it doesn't read, though. Anybody had this problem at rail stations? Or is it just my swiping "technique"?

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@VeggieTart · 639 weeks ago

I don't know if it's the cards or what, but more than once I've been on a Metrobus where the driver puts his hand over the reader because of a problem with it. And I have one of the older cards.

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ShartingExcellence · 639 weeks ago

Clearly, a fare hike is required to make up for that lost revenue!

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Zach · 639 weeks ago

Looks like it's time for me to get a new FreeTrip card!

+7 Vote up Vote down

Stan Dessel · 639 weeks ago

All of our buses, trains, and equipment work perfectly.

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certifried 88p · 639 weeks ago

I had this happen a few months ago. I didn't really think much of it, and I don't ride the bus that often. The driver's response was definitely an "oh yeah, it's the new cards" type of response, like it was happening a lot.

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jenster8dc · 639 weeks ago

They often don't work on the Fairfax Connector buses, either. I got a new card last week, and it hasn't worked on about a third of my rides. Never had a problem with my old card.

And I've had to swipe multiple times at rail stations as well.