Washington DC: According to Metro General Manager Randy Clarke, service reductions may occur as early as spring if the organization is unable to close the $750 million budget deficit for the following year.
At the Greater Washington Partnership’s and the Greater Washington Board of Trade’s annual “Capital Region Transportation Forum” on Thursday, Clarke discussed the agency’s financial problems and their effects.
Lesli Foster moderated the discussion, which included Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld, Virginia Transportation Secretary W. Sheppard Miller III, and D.C. Interim Director of Transportation Sharon Kershbaum.
Although Metro’s fiscal year 2025 budget is set to begin in July of next year, Clarke noted that systemic effects might occur during the District’s busiest travel period. For us to witness these effects as soon as possible, Metro must notify unions by January if they decide to make staff reductions.
Metro published plans last month outlining how it intended to close the financial gap. Metro claims that it could eliminate more than 60% of its services in the worst-case situation. Up to 95 of its 134 bus routes were eliminated, and train wait times were increased from 6 to 12 minutes to 20 to 30 minutes.
“Fares have remained relatively flat during over that period of time. People are paying less, there are less people paying, there’s more service, and what do we end up with, you know what we end up with, a big hole, ” said Virginia’s Transportation Secretary W. Sheppard Miller III.
Fare Evasion is also a major problem faced by the transit system. It costs a lot for the service. Last year, the evaded fare mounted up to 40 million. Almost 10,000 fare evasions happen every day in the metro transit system. The Board is considering ways to cover up the funding deficit and loss of the system it incurred due to several reasons, fare evasion being the biggest contributor.
