NYC subway vending. Photo by rdacapasso.

While fares and service are the big dogs when it comes to the WMATA FY 11 budget, there are other measures that can impact the bottom line. Among these are advertising, retail, MetroAccess, and parking.

Advertising: The first idea most riders jump to upon hearing of the budget gap is more advertising. Unfortunately, advertising revenues will likely drop substantially in FY11, and the budget incorporates this decline.

WMATA leases its advertising space to a private company, who pays WMATA a set fee and sells advertising throughout the system. The current vendor has lost a considerable amount of money during the current contract, which expires this year.

The most likely way to increase advertising revenue would be to lift the ban on alcohol and cigarette advertising. Those measures would be very controversial at best.

Retail: The WMATA Board has hotly debated retail kiosks, especially if that retail includes any food. They’re concerned about the increased cost of trash removal and vermin control offsetting any small revenue from retail sales. Without food, or with food and additional cleaning, retail kiosks would be a minor revenue item in the WMATA budget and not likely to have any real impact.

MetroAccess: This is a controversial area because any reduction in service impacts people who likely have no other reasonable alternative for mobility. The federal government requires transit services to offer paratransit to persons with disabilities living within ¾ miles of a transit stop during the hours that transit stop has service.

WMATA now has the capability through GPS to restrict service to the area required under federal guidelines. They propose to do so and charge double the bus base fare to riders, the maximum allowed. WMATA could also allow local jurisdictions to choose to offer service beyond the federally mandated minumum, if they chose, as long as that jurisdiction increases their contribution to pay for the extra cost.

An additional component for cost control is to encourage persons with disabilities to use the fixed-route system (the rail and bus system others use). WMATA currently permits the disabled to ride free on the fixed-route system. WMATA publicizes this program to potential users, which has mitigated some of the cost increases that come with an aging population.

For some persons with disabilities, getting to the fixed-route system is a challenge. WMATA could try a voluntary pilot program to provide vouchers when MetroAccess riders use taxis or vans to carry them to the fixed-route system. The value of the voucher would be less than the $40 it costs to run the average MetroAccess trip.

The disabled individual would get a free ride; WMATA would save money. To control costs, they could restrict the number of vouchers each person can get within a given time frame. WMATA would still have to provide MetroAccess service, but this could potentially offset some of its costs.

None of these measures will reduce or add to the $10 million savings that WMATA projects in its proposed budget through “managing” MetroAccess costs in any meaningful way. They would mitigate the immediate effects of the reduction in service area and perhaps help reduce future MetroAccess costs. The fare increase for MetroAccess patrons would also be lower if the bus base fare does not increase at the 20% rate proposed.

Parking: The WMATA Board adopted a resolution in 2007 to increase parking fees every two years along with fares. Following this policy would mean parking fares would increase between 20¢ 30¢ for parking costs that currently range from $3.25 to $4.75. It would bring in additional parking revenue of about $3.7 million for FY11, assuming no loss of demand, according to WMATA.

However, WMATA projects parking revenue will fall by $2.8 million in FY11 at the current rates, primarily in reserved parking and in parking meter usage due to the recession. Some station lots have spaces available throughout the day while others remain filled.

It doesn’t make sense to increase parking rates systemwide while both ridership and parking revenue are declining and a substantial fare increase is on the horizon. However, WMATA might get more parking revenue by letting general users start using the reserved parking and metered spaces at earlier times.

It would also make sense to permit the General Manager to adjust parking fees according to demand at various stations throughout the system. Some other parking proposals that have sparked interest for possible revenue increases include overnight parking and charging for parking for those exiting before 10:30 am. There may be a way to generate revenue from these if the fee more than offsets collection costs.

For now, increasing the availability of spaces, increasing rates at lots that are filled and possibly even lowering parking fees at select stations to increase ridership should generate additional revenue. I’m going to assume a rough estimate of $1.65 million, or about half of a general increase from these measures.

Charters: Charter bus services used to provide about $2 million in revenue annually to WMATA. Federal guidelines imposed two years ago essentially forced WMATA out of the business, even when private companies could not handle the demand, such as the former Redskins shuttles. Transit agencies should push to overturn these prohibitions, since there is now a different administration, but it would probably generate little to no revenue in FY11 even if the rules are eventually modified.

The bottom line is there aren’t a lot of revenue enhancements or savings here, although a targeted parking proposal could raise some worthwhile revenue.

Next: Other ideas that could bring in some revenue.