Riders of public transportation are getting squeezed as the financial crisis grips the Washington area.
Metro, Montgomery County’s Ride On and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission’s local and commuter bus service in Northern Virginia all are considering cutting back service substantially, delaying maintenance or raising fares — or combinations of all the above.
The plans have prompted grumbling from riders, transit advocates and even the elected officials who will make the decisions.
Montgomery County Council members, for example, are bristling at County Executive Ike Leggett’s proposal to cut two dozen bus routes.
Metro Board members, meanwhile, squabbled over which options to let the public consider. The District, led by Chairman Jim Graham, quashed a proposal to raise fares by as much as 20 cents, pushing instead a smaller menu of fare increases reaching 10 cents per trip. Other board members are fighting plans to tap into capital dollars to fund daily operations, worried the shell game will delay needed maintenance to the aging transit system.
They are asking the public to weigh in Wednesday night on several options that all involve raiding capital money and either raising fares or cutting service.
PRTC and Montgomery County will follow with other public forums in the next three weeks to get riders’ and taxpayers’ input on their proposals. Prince William County, which runs PRTC, is considering 15 percent fare increases, and Montgomery is considering cuts that total 7.5 percent of service.
The crunch means trips could change — different enough to prompt regular commuters and occasional riders to second-guess how they get to work. All the transit agencies anticipate losing riders if they cut back.
Other communities haven’t determined which programs –including bus service — to cut to cover their projected budget gaps. But Arlington County next month will be eyeing tax increases and cuts that could include transit services as it faces at least a $17 million shortfall in its proposed budget. Fairfax County, meanwhile, plans to announce its plans on Feb. 23 on how it plans to grapple with a $316 million budget gap for the next fiscal year. Fairfax cut bus service for the current budget year.
“Pretty much everything is on the table on how to make up that shortfall,” said county spokesman Jeremy Lasich.
