Metro riders should expect longer waits for buses and trains, plus more crowded rides once they do arrive, under a plan rolled out Thursday to close a gaping hole in the transit agency’s budget.
The transit agency is $40 million short in its current budget, so Metro staff are calling for immediate cost-saving measures including laying off about 25 employees, slashing 100 vacant positions and making a proposed $4 million in cuts to rail and bus service.
The service cuts, which Metro’s board must approve, would not take place until at least late next month, but they could translate into 30-minute waits for trains late at night instead of 20 minutes.
Where the gap comes from:
» $25 million less in expected rail fares
» $10 million less in expected bus fares
» $3 million less in anticipated investment interest
» $2 million, other losses including a drop in parking lot use
= $40 million
How Metro proposes to fill it:
» $4 million — bus and rail service cuts, including increasing time between buses and trains, closing some station entrances, spacing out bus stops
» $2.2 million — administrative reductions, including about 25 layoffs and 100 empty positions slashed
» $300,000 — reduced hours at customer call center and Metro sales offices
» $22 million — borrowed from capital funds for parts and preventive maintenance.
» $6 million — recovered from insurance for June 22 Red Line crash costs
» $5.6 million — from tapping reserves
= $40 million
Source: Metro
Rush-hour trains would be only six cars long, making for more crowded trains. Station entrances such as McPherson Square West, Shaw Howard U South and Friendship Heights South would close after 8 p.m. Some bus line segments could be cut and bus stops spaced farther apart. And if you call to complain? Do it early as the agency is proposing reducing hours at the call center.
The proposals are the prelude to more drastic changes expected in next year’s budget that begins July 1, because the agency is already eyeing a $175 million gap in its $1.4 million operating budget. Fare increases and more cuts are likely.
The latest problems come less than six months into the current budget as ridership numbers fall to 6 percent less for rail and 10 percent less for bus than last year. The agency had expected ridership to rise 3 percent overall. And those who are riding the system are taking shorter trips, which cost less. That has translated into $35 million less in fares.
Earlier this fall, the agency had forecast the gap at $22.4 million for the year, estimating that rail ridership would improve as service returned to normal after the deadly June 22 Red Line crash. But the prognosis has gotten worse each month as ridership lags amid the unsteady economy.
The proposed emergency measures came just hours after General Manager John Catoe declared “war on anything and everything that stands in our way” of making Metro safer.
“We must and we can do everything we can to restore trust in mass transit,” he said. “If people don’t feel safe, we won’t have riders.”
But the proposed cuts will cost the agency riders: anytime Metro cuts service, it loses some riders.
Still, Metro says it doesn’t have many options. “We have a $40 million gap in revenue,” Catoe said. “We need to get it somewhere.”
Metro’s board is slated to discuss the proposed service cuts on Jan. 7. The other cost-saving actions, including the layoffs and use of other funds, do not need board approval so they could begin sooner.
