Gray Column: Prince William needs a seat at the table

It seems like just last year Metro was raising rider fares.  Oh wait a minute; that was last year. 

Nevertheless we are heading towards a new year with new budget needs so that means Metro wants more money from you and I.

So far there is no official word on how much the fare hike could be — possibly a dime more or so. But you know what they say: a nickel here or a dime there and soon you are talking about real money. 

I guess the money is necessary. After all Metro seems to be hemorrhaging funds due to needed upgrades, increased security issues since Sept. 11, 2001 and just normal maintenance issues. Also,
given the level of tragic accidents on Metro, we don’t need to shortchange anything for safety on mass transit.

But I do have one small problem with metro’s continuous hikes.

Neither Prince William County nor any area south of Fairfax has any real representation on Metro’s Board of Directors — the people who do the hiking of fees. 

The Board of Directors, which is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), is currently comprised of six voting directors and six alternate directors — all of which are from
upper northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., itself or southern Maryland. We are not even mentioned — at least not by name — as being part of the Washington Metro Area Transit Zone in WMATA’s
governing bi-laws. 

There is also the Northern Virginia Transit Commission (NVTC) as a point of expressing grievances or concerns about area transportation, but again there are no Prince William County Representatives —
at least as far as I can tell. 

Out of the twenty commissioners on NVTC, not one is from Prince William County.  Moreover, the chairman, vice chairman and treasurer of NVTC also happen to sit on WMATA’s Board of Directors. 

If that’s the case, surely there could be a seat made for one of our officials in Prince William County to sit on WMATA’s board given the continuous rate hikes.  I don’t know what would be required to put
one of our elected officials on Metro’s board.  Maybe its just as simple as changing the bi-laws.  Whatever it is, it should happen for fairness sake.

Now the obvious logic behind Prince William not having a seat on WMATA’s Board is that there are no Metro stops here in Prince William. The closest one is Franconia Springfield.  That’s true, but a
number of people from our area either park or ride the Metro out of Franconia Springfield or they take the local OmniLink from points to and from Prince William to the Metro.

So you could say we have a stake in the hikes.

As many of our residents use the metro, we stand to pay the highest cost in fares (when you consider gas costs to get to the metro, parking, plus fares). This is also true because the further away from
downtown Washington you are, the more you pay in Metro fares.

People in Washington, D.C., currently pay a maximum of $1.65 in one-way fares while here in Prince William County our prices are upwards of $4.50 (plus parking). Obviously that’s before any fare hikes
actually happen.

So things are already expensive. 

Without a representative, one might say we are being taxed without representation. True enough there are four members of Metro’s Board of Directors from Virginia, but again, none of them are from south
of Fairfax. 

Most likely if WMATA’s Board is thinking of raising fares, it’s probably a done deal — and that’s OK if the increases will pay for maintaining quality and safety of service. 

I just believe that if you are going to charge more for a seat on the bus or subway, the person being charged should have a seat at the table when fare hikes are proposed.

Davon Gray works in Washington, D.C., and resides in Woodbridge. Contact him at .