Fares go up and services go down — that’s the D.C. Metro system’s way of doing business.

Higher rates of up to 18 percent took effect over the weekend for commuters, tourists and others using the public rail system in the nation’s capital. For me that means 20 cents more per ride for three measly stops. That may seem like chump change, but it adds up quickly — 40 cents a day, $2 a week, $8-plus a month and almost $100 a year.

Worse than the rate hikes, though, are the simultaneous, perpetual declines in commuting quality. The Metro system has a hard-earned reputation for shoddy service that plummets in reverse proportion to fare increases.

Trains are forced out of service at the height of rush hour; escalators are taken out of service for months; operators don’t give passengers time to board before closing the doors; and cars feel like saunas because of broken air-conditioning. I’ve experienced all of these problems in the few weeks since Metro finalized the latest fare increase — and remember, I only travel between three stops!

I took the picture in this entry several days into June and posted it to Twitter to try to embarrass Metro into action on an escalator that already had been broken for weeks. Metro’s response: It changed the date on the sign to say July, and still no workers have begun work on the project.

Unfortunately, we riders are at the mercy of Metro officials who realize most of us have no better option than public transportation if we want to get into the city cheaply and relatively quickly. For years I’ve been saying that the day it becomes cheaper to drive into the city is the day I stop taking Metro (and now Virginia Railway Express). But with higher gas and parking prices, that day never comes.