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Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) budget committee recently recommended changes to the authority’s fares and service hours as part of the fiscal-year 2004 budget.



The committee proposed increasing the base fare from $1.10 to $1.20, maximum regular fare from $3.25 to $3.60, one-day pass from $5 to $6 and seven-day pass from $25 to $30, and eliminating the 28-day Fast, Weekly Fast and Weekly Short Trip passes. Daily parking rates would increase 75 cents.



The fare increases would be WMATA’s first in eight years.



The budget committee also recommended expanding the authority’s hours of service by one hour Friday and Saturday nights, and one hour Saturday and Sunday mornings.



Additional trains would be funded through a $1.6 million grant from the District of Columbia. The system would open at 7 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, costing the authority $600,000.



"Now that we are adjusting Metro’s fare structure, we needed to justify a fare increase by offering better value for the fare dollar," said board chairman Jim Graham in a prepared statement.



If approved at the June 19 board meeting, the changes would go into effect June 29.