Metro Fares: 'Massive, Massive Failure'

From Mark:

A couple weekends ago, my wife and I had four visitors from out of town.

They had never been do DC before and were excited to see the sights.

Without thinking about it, I thought it would be best for the six of us to use Metro to get from our nearest stop, Vienna, to the National Mall area.

Big mistake.

First off, the fare is $3.50 each way. Times that by 12 (6 round trips) and you get $42. Then, add $1 to each of the guests' trips because they don't have SmarTrip.

Grand total for taking public transportation? $50! That's $8.33 a person--to take Metro!

That is insane. 

We went back into town the next day, and even though it was a squeeze to get six of us in a sedan, we drove. Parking was $10. If you use the Federal reimbursement rate for driving, add another $15.50. Grand total? Half Metro's price, and the kicker is driving was easily twice as fast.

Even if Metro ran like a well oiled machine (it didn't the day we rode because it took nearly an hour each way), these prices are just incredible. For this, they should serve complimentary drinks.

Based on price alone, Metro is a massive, massive failure. Their pricing discourages ridership.

Other items: 
Metro board spends $800K to find Metro board is corrupt (Examiner/WaPo)
Purple Line station would include trail access (WaPo)