Metro wants to cut bike locker fee 40%

Metro's proposed package of fare hikes has one piece of good news for suburban residents:  The annual fee for a bicycle locker would decline from $200 to $120. 

Two years ago, the annual fee was tripled, and Metro predicted that the price hike would bring in an extra $200,000 per year.  Metro assumed that the demand for bike lockers was so inelastic that locker rentals would decline less than a 10%.

Cycling advocates suggested that the tripling would cause a sticker shock leading to widespread non-renewals, possibly enough to cause a net loss in revenues.  I recommended to my then-Metro board member (Elizabeth Hewlitt) that increasing the cost to $100 would have made more sense and brought in more revenue.  But Metro board members paid scant attention to this issue, possibly because of the small magnitude of revenues involved.  (Nor was it a high priority for WABA, coming during the transition as Eric Gilliland moved on.)

I predict that this 40% price cut will cause a small increase in revenues, both because more lockers will be rented, and because having a bike locker will lead a few more cyclists to take Metro more often.

(Jim Titus is a member of WABA's board of directors.  The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the official views of WABA.)

Comments

[Tom]

Jim,
I did not read the reference document. Do we know what was the net effect on revenue by raising the bike locker fee?
Or, are we assuming revenues went down because they are reducing the fee?

[Greenbelt]

I was one of the Metro locker non-renewals. I might have been more inclined to accept the big price increase keep paying for the locker had Metro made a teensy effort to keep the area around the lockers clean (and plowed).

[Jim T]

@Tom: I don't know. I noticed that Metro
wants to lower the fee, but did not research existing locker usage. But we can reasonably assume that they expect the cut to $120 will increase revenues. It is possible that going from $60 to $200 gained revenue, but that $120 wold gain more.

[Jim T]

@Greenbelt: So will the $120 bring you back?

[Greenbelt]

Jim -- in my case probably not -- the fee hike was sort of a last straw that persuaded me to figure out how to ride all the way to downtown DC, skipping Metro altogether, which I much prefer. When I kept asking to get the bike parking areas cleared after snowstorms and cleaned up in general, I just got the sense staff didn't care very much and it kind of soured me on the whole Meto thing.

However, I'm really glad Metro seems to be taking bikes more seriously now. For a while I really felt like my mode was a nuisance to them, or at best an afterthought.

One thing that would help bike commuting to the Greenbelt station would be better landscaping and design. That whole Greenbelt station area could use a massive landscape, road, bike lane and trail, parking, and sidewalk redesign to make it more inviting, functional, and safe.

I presume they're waiting for the big development to someday happen, but in the meantime the station layout is kind of a drag. Bikes have to either ride on sidewalks, which I don't like to do, or in the bus lane, or in chaotic crazy kiss and ride area. It's not very inviting for the casual cyclist.

Greenbelt is considering CaBi, however, which might prod some design improvements. Also looking forward to a new roundabout at the intersection of Metro Drive and Cherrywood Lane. The current intersection hits a rare trifecta -- wildly hazardous for cars, bikes and pedestrians alike!

[Greenbelt2]

Good news, 200 was really too much for unmaintained lockers. I contacted WABA when the proposed fee hike was suggested in the news, but they never did anything to organize the few and scattered bike locker renters. What use is there to pay for a bike lobby group if they don't speak up when they have all the arguments on their side?
Anyway, I did renew my rental because the bike security is so poor in Greenbelt.

[Greenbelt]

GB2 -- the way the metro station is designed, the station manager can't even see out to the bus area or the main bike racks. Let alone see the locks and racks on the College Park side. It's no wonder there's security problems -- it's a terrible design. The whole area is difficult to negotiate for walkers, bikes, drop-off drivers. Plus there's a ton of wasted space by the Bolt bus pickup area. Whoever designed the site plan should be forced to use it every day, for a hot eternity.

[Paul]

Has there been any update on the cost for the bike lockers? I am new to the area but have already learned that my bike is far more efficient and reliable than the buses. I was surprised that the price was $200 rather than $40 as advertised when I looked into this a year ago. Agree, increasing the cost is not going to increas interest...ie revenue.