Layoffs loom after record-breaking Metro service during inauguration

Visitors take the Metro down to the National Mall in the pre-dawn morning for the Inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington, Tuesday. (Examiner File)

Metro employees who helped the transit system run unprecedented service to handle the record crowds during the inauguration soon will be receiving pink slips.

And the agency that stretched to new limits for Jan. 20 — logging a record 1.54 million trips systemwide, well over the typical 1.2 million each weekday — could be shrinking.

Metro has proposed cutting 891 positions and trimming its service by $87 million as the system faces a $176 million gap in the projected $1.7 billion budget.

Metro officials still have much to negotiate in determining next year’s budget, including any service cuts. But the first rounds of layoffs could come within weeks, well before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.

The agency won’t say how many people will get canned initially or when the notices will go out. But Metro has said about 35 percent of the targeted positions are among administrative, management and other professional staff, while the majority of cuts would fall on those who provide the transit services.

About half the jobs are already vacant as the agency has a hiring freeze. Still, the proposed cuts would affect hundreds of workers. Metro already is facing criticism for making trims so soon after workers logged so many extra hours during the inauguration.

“When you are caught in a situation like this, you have to cut in areas where you can cut — consultants and things of that nature — not the people who operate the system,” said Jackie Jeter, who heads Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, the transit agency’s largest union.

The financial crunch comes as the system is experiencing high ridership even on days without historic events like President Obama’s inauguration. All but three of the top 20 ridership days in the rail system’s history occurred within the past year. Some occurred on days without any special events bringing in riders.

“Finally we have gotten what we’ve been asking for: people have gotten out of their cars,” Jeter said. “We need to keep giving them the service they need.”

And to run all those routes, she said, the system needs people to operate the buses and trains.

As the layoffs loom, Metro officials decided to cancel a “Night of Stars” award ceremony slated for Saturday to recognize 69 employees’ safety records, even though they planned to help pay for it with money raised from Metro offices’ vending machines.

Said Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith: “It didn’t seem right to have a celebration.”