If you reside in a home in Montgomery County and use the Ride on bus systems you should know that as of March first 2010 the fares will be changing. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, more commonly known as Metro, is putting these new fares into effect. An interesting fact to note about these fare changes is that they were designed to make both the Metrobus fares as well as the Ride on Fares less confusing because now they will be compatible. This change, which is going into effect March 1, 2010 will be affecting Montgomery County Maryland real estate residents as well as anyone who uses the Ride on System with an increase of 10 cents per trip. If you use the Metrobus or Ride on you may want to purchase a SmartTrip Card. If you were to ride on the bus with a SmartTrip Card your fare will only be $1.35, but if you were to pay in cash or tokens your fare would be $1.45.
The fare changes to the Ride on bus are not the only changes that will be occurring with the transit system in the greater Washington DC metro area. Other changes that will be going into effect as of March 1st include
- The Metrorail to Ride On transfer will increase from 75 cents to 85 cents.
- An increase in Ride on Day pass of 20 cents from $3.00 to $3.20.
- There will also be a change to the Call and Ride Program. This allows certain residents to purchase two books of Taxi Vouchers at a net worth of $60.00 for as little as $5.25 in March and May.
An interesting fact to note about all of these price changes is that by doing this the county did not have to eliminate some of the Ride on routes. One of the main reasons Ride On was originally considering the cancellation of certain routes is to make up for the County’s projected budget gap of roughly $600 million for the 2010 fiscal year. The elimination of the routes were avoided by the identification of additional revenue sources, including the coordination of fare increases for Metro riders.
If you wish to learn more about the changes going on with the public transit in the area please continue to check our blog or you can also call the Transit Information Center at 240.777.7433
Posted by: Editor
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