Ridership drops on Metro, falling below budget expectations

The transit system’s bread-and-butter weekday train ridership was down 3.8 percent in July and 2.5 percent in August compared with the same periods the year before, according to a Metro report.

Meanwhile, Red Line ridership fell even further, down 10.4 percent in July and 8.3 percent in August. That steep decline suggests some of the decrease could be directly attributed to the deadly train crash and the continuing delays on that line.

“The Red Line accident is still negatively affecting rail ridership,” the report says.

Metro officials initially had shied away from connecting falling ridership to the crash after The Examiner first reported on the drops in August.

The economic crisis and its resulting unemployment also may have contributed to the decline. The report said declining bus ridership has been disproportionately affected by D.C.’s jobless rate, which reached 11.1 percent in August.

The agency also may be feeling a recalibration from last year’s blockbuster ridership when record-high gasoline prices inspired more people to ditch their cars for transit. Now that fuel prices have dropped, some riders may have returned to driving.

No matter the causes, the drops mean that the agency had $8.2 million less in fare revenue than expected just two months into the fiscal year, the report said. Metro officials forecast a shortfall of $22.4 million if the pace continues.

The transit agency had built its current budget on assumptions that the ridership would continue to steadily grow, not drop. And it had assumed it would earn $10 million by eliminating paper transfers in January that riders used when moving from bus to bus. Instead, the report says, it expects the agency to make just $6.8 million from the change.

Metro said it is working on a plan to address the declining ridership and what it means for the agency’s finances. “That’s still being developed right now,” spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.

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