The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will increase bus and rail fares starting Sunday to combat a significant gap in its Fiscal Year 2025 budget, according to a release published Monday.
Bus and rail fares will increase by 12.5 percent, bumping the bus fares from $2 to $2.25 and the rail fares from a range of $2 to $6 depending on distance to $2.25 and $6.75, respectively. This is the first general fare increase since 2017, per WMATA’s press release.
WMATA’s fare raise brings D.C. closer to New York City’s $2.90 flat rate for subways and buses, which rose from $2.75 last August. Subway riders pay a flat rate of $2.40 per trip in Boston and a $2.00 flat rate in Philadelphia.
“Metro customers will see a slight fare increase, which will help keep fares in line with cost of living adjustments and allows us to keep running our current levels of service,” WMATA’s press release states.
WMATA faced a $750 million budget gap in its FY 2025 budget, which can be linked to low ridership, rising costs due to inflation and issues with securing funding from D.C., Maryland and Virginia, WMATA board Chair Paul Smedberg said last summer. The Washington Post reported in September that WMATA has been able to push off any service cuts since the beginning of the pandemic with the help of $2.4 billion in federal aid, but four years later, the aid has dried up.
Metro successfully avoided major cuts to service in April after D.C., Maryland, and Virginia provided “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to WMATA’s April press release.
