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As part of a proposed initiative presented to VRE鈥檚 Operations Board Friday morning, all VRE rides would be free for the month of September. Then, for the month of October, rides from Zone 3 to Zone 1 and vice versa 鈥� from Backlick Road on the Manassas Line and Franconia-Springfield on the Fredericksburg Line up to Union Station 鈥� would be free.
鈥淭his concept came to basically promote VRE service. We鈥檙e not recommending, at this point anyway, anything permanent,鈥� Dalton said at Friday鈥檚 Operations Board meeting.
According to Dalton, the idea is to both thank existing passengers and try to draw new riders at a time when offices traditionally fill back up after August vacations. Starting in September, many federal agencies are also expected to transition to more regular in-person work schedules several days a week.
The promotion would also coincide with significant disruptions to Metrorail鈥檚 Blue and Yellow Lines in Virginia. Starting Sept. 10, there will be no rail service on either line south of Ronald Reagan Airport until late October. At the same time and extending into 2023, Yellow Line service south of L鈥橢nfant Plaza will still be disrupted as Metro conducts major rehab work on the Potomac River bridge and tunnel south of L鈥橢nfant Plaza. While that鈥檚 ongoing, VRE could serve as an alternative for some commuters into L鈥橢nfant or Union Station.
鈥淪eptember, traditionally, is a high-ridership month for us. It looks like it鈥檚 shaping up to be a high-ridership month again,鈥� Dalton said. 鈥淚t also allows us to thank our passengers for sticking with us and gives an opportunity for folks that are making choices out there, to come experience VRE and hopefully make what we feel is the high-value choice and start using the VRE as their commuting option.鈥�
Ridership on the system has been steadily climbing out of its pandemic-era hole, with recent months bringing the highest network ridership since the onset of the pandemic. Still, ridership and fare revenue remain below half of what they were prior to the pandemic.
Dalton said that about 80% of lost revenue for the October portion of the program could be covered by Virginia鈥檚 Department of Rail and Public Transportation through a program meant to mitigate the Blue and Yellow Line disruptions. Depending on total ridership in September, Dalton said the worst-case scenario is that the system would forego $2.1 million in fare revenue, which would ultimately be backstopped by the federal pandemic relief money that鈥檚 already been distributed to VRE.
Agency leadership made it clear that the system is not entertaining the idea of going fare-free permanently, as some transit operators around the country 鈥� including Alexandria鈥檚 DASH network 鈥� have done. But if it鈥檚 successful, the agency could bring it back in 2023 as a recurring promotion.
鈥淭here are a lot of transit agencies looking at moving to a free or reduced-fare model long-term or permanently, and that鈥檚 not what we鈥檙e talking about here. What we鈥檙e talking about is giving people an option during the upcoming shutdown and taking advantage of this opportunity to attract new riders and promote VRE. Because we know when people try VRE, they like it,鈥� said Fairfax County Supervisor and VRE Vice Chair James Walkinshaw. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a possibility that if this is successful and we do attract a significant number of new riders that it鈥檚 something we could look at actually doing annually.鈥�
The proposal will go for final approval from the Operations Board in July.
