$8.95 'Non-Rider' Fee Coming To Huntington Metro (ICYMI)

HUNTINGTON, VA—Starting on Monday, Feb. 5, Metro will begin implementing parking fee changes as part of a six-month pilot program to find more revenue. For Huntington riders, that means new $2 parking fees on Saturdays, extended parking fee hours, and $8.95 "non-rider" parking rates.

Huntington is one of the stations increasing parking fees for those not using the Metro system. The regular "rider" fee remains at $4.95 on weekdays and $2 on Saturdays. The non-rider fees range up to $10 at other stations around the system. Meanwhile two stations will see weekday parking rates go down: Landover and West Falls Church.

The $8.95 fee at Huntington would apply for three kinds of riders:

• Anyone paying with a credit card
• Anyone paying with a SmarTrip card not used for their Metrorail or Metrobus ride
• Anyone paying with a SmarTrip card exiting the parking lot more than two hours after the start of their last Metrorail or Metrobus trip

The best way to avoid the "non-rider" rate is to pay with the SmarTrip card immediately after exiting the Metro system.

Drivers should also be aware of extended hours where parking fees will be charged. Fees will be collected two hours earlier on all weekdays and one hour later on Fridays. The new hours 7:30 a.m.-12:30 a.m. Mondays to Thursdays, 7:30 a.m.-2 a.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m.-2 a.m. on Saturdays.

Members of the Metro board from Virginia proposed an exemption for Saturday parking fees at Fairfax County stations but Washington, DC vetoed it, along with a request for delay, Fairfax Times reported.

See a full list of parking fee charges here.

Image via Patch editor Emily Leayman