Local
Metro seeking $5.2M for inaugural service bill
By: Kytja Weir
Examiner Staff Writer
January 30, 2009
 |
| Visitors pile into the Metro on Jan. 20 as they make their way to the National Mall in the pre-dawn morning for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. (Examiner File) |
The agency offered unprecedented service on Inauguration Day, with trains running 22 hours straight and 23 special bus corridors heading downtown. It logged a record 1.54 million entries into its system that day, some 30 percent more than usual.
But the extra service and staffing for Jan. 20, and the weekend leading up to it, cost the system.
Before the inauguration, Metro had estimated service would cost $3.5 million. Metro officials said Thursday that the total from Jan. 17 through Jan. 20 came to $5.2 million more than typical expenses.
Still, all those extra riders paid more fares than usual. The rail system alone brought in $3.5 million in fares during the four-day period, Metro officials said. The fares from the bus system have not been calculated, so the revenue total likely will be higher.
Metro officials estimate that on a normal holiday weekend, the system would have earned $600,000, so the extra traffic brought in at least $2.5 million more than normal.
Yet the agency plans to ask federal officials to reimburse Metro for the full costs before the fare revenues are taken into account.
“We are actually asking for the entire amount,” Metro’s Chief Financial Officer Carol Kissal told The Examiner.
She said the system experienced some hidden costs that will not figure into those expenses. The extra hours of service caused wear and tear that may not be evident for months, she said. Staff members also spent significant time planning.
Metro officials said they are following the model that has been used in other cities such as Denver and St. Paul, Minn., which hosted the summer’s political conventions. They also noted that the District has benefited from hotel and sales tax bumps in past inaugurations.
Metro and local government agencies plan to submit their reimbursement requests together. Other agencies have not finalized their numbers.
