It’s hard to fall from “somewhat safe” and “questionably reliable,” but the beleaguered Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has managed that feat. Having started an aggressive, long-overdue maintenance program in June, WMATA found that summer only added to its woes, as train delays left commuters piling up on platforms during rush hour and torrential rains and flash flooding filled underground stations with water.
Saying that the system needed additional maintenance hours in order to finish long-overdue work, WMATA General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld announced systemwide early closures in May, drastically cutting the metro’s hours of operation.
It seems even that wasn’t enough. A new “span of service” proposal released September 8 argues that WMATA needs to increase routine maintenance track access by 20 percent, or 8 hours each week. To fit that in, the system is proposing to alter its hours again, slowly turning the train into a commuter system without weekday service after midnight and ending Sunday trains as early as 10 pm.
A last minute addendum to the proposal added a “Scenario D” at the request of D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans. This proposal would preserve the 3 am close time, but only by cutting trains running before noon on Sundays.
Critics and commuter are abuzz over the proposals, which would be particularly inconvenient for workers at the area’s many bars and restaurants. Others point out that cutting weekend options would make navigating the city more difficult for D.C.’s legions of tourists.
It would be one thing if the system were at least being improved.
Instead, federal inspectors are already raising concerns about the quality of the work that has already been completed. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials filed more than 30 reports covering 130 minor defects between June 4 and July 11. The inspection reports noted an “excessive amount of loose fasteners” that could affect track stability, as well as incorrectly installed anchor bolts, which WMATA claims will be fixed through routine maintenance after the surge has been completed.
One inspector condemned WMATA’s maintenance schedule, writing that “Fastener, grout, and anchor bolt replacement completed in areas of less priority, when areas of high priority [are] not addressed.”
Rather than admitting error, WMATA took issue with the FTA for pointing out the maintenance flaws.
“At first, it was sort of a gotcha mentality — not from FTA but from our people,” Wiedefeld told the Washington Post. “Now they’re waiting until [workers] say they’re done, then they come in and look at it. Then they sit down with the project manager and say, ‘Here’s all the things that we found.’ Then they go back and look at it.”
Unsurprisingly, the system has been hemorrhaging riders over the course of the spring and summer. So far, in 2016, ridership numbers are at a ten-year low. In the first month of track work, between April and June, ridership numbers fell 11 percent, or roughly 8 million riders between April and July. By the end of WMATA’s fiscal year on June 30, the metro marked a 6 percent decline in ridership. Not only did they fall far short of their estimated 3.2 percent growth, with each month of additional track work and delays, numbers fall further.
For many passengers, the metro is simply no longer a reliable option for getting to and from work. Many are turning to private enterprise to fill in the gap. Ride-hailing company Uber says that since the start of SafeTrack in June, demand for rides in the city has increased 25 percent. Competitor Lyft also reports a 15 percent uptick in demand.
Ending late night service or doing away with early morning transit options will only exacerbate WMATA’s ridership woes. Bureaucratic incompetence will doubtless push more riders to say, “Sorry, Metro. I’ve been seeing someone else.”
