Metro says it needs to update half of the garages that maintain its buses, including one 102-year-old building and another with areas that have been condemned.
Transit officials are eyeing plans to update or replace at least three garages, but they don’t have money to move ahead with some of the worst buildings.
Unlike a rail station, the transit system’s nine bus garages likely aren’t noticed by most riders, unless they live near the garages and watch up to 296 buses enter and exit daily.
Nearly all of the facilities are older than the Metro system, and some now sit surrounded by pricey homes or prime land. Town houses line up next to the 64-year-old Royal Street garage in Alexandria. The northern garage off 14th Street sits between the Crestwood and Brightwood Park neighborhoods of Northwest. Neighbors and developers are eager to see them move.
But they are key pieces of the transit system’s infrastructure that help keep buses running properly, according to the transit agency. Buses are refueled, fixed and parked there.
Because the rail system is slated to reach capacity by 2025, Metro officials are trying to bolster the bus system as a way to expand the system’s capacity without building new rail lines. They are trying to create priority bus corridors to help buses weave through traffic-clogged roads and make the system more appealing to wary riders.
“We must have the facilities necessary to maintain these vehicles and expand the fleet in the future,” General Manager John Catoe told the board of directors Thursday.
Currently, he said, some garages create a concern about the working conditions for employees as rain comes through the roof. The southern garage in Prince George’s County has areas that have been condemned, according to Metro.
The agency plans to use $30 million of federal stimulus money to help build one new garage, but it also is considering seeking more money from the stimulus as part of a competitive bid to bolster its regional bus network. It also is looking at revenue from selling the bus garage sites or developing them.
