Virginia Railway Express has a slasher on the loose.
The commuter train service sent out a message to its riders on Wednesday asking them to keep a lookout for whoever has been slashing the trains’ seats for the past six weeks.
As of Wednesday, 21 seats had been slashed, said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. The average cost to replace them is about $175 each, he said. That’s a lot of tickets. Here’s a picture of the damage.
Seat slashing is actually a common problem for transit agencies. Metro has added Kevlar, the material used in bullet-proofing, in its newest bus seats to guard against the problem.
In the case of VRE, the agency asked riders to alert a conductor if they see the slasher in action. The train service has had record ridership this year, with some cars standing-room only, so it seems likely that someone must have seen something.
As of Wednesday, 21 seats had been slashed, said VRE spokesman Mark Roeber. The average cost to replace them is about $175 each, he said. That’s a lot of tickets.
