WASHINGTON — With about 90 percent of Metrorail rush hour riders arriving on time according to Metro’s metrics, the agency plans to maintain service cuts and fare increases implemented last summer.
There are no plans to significantly increase service at any point in the near future, Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said Thursday.
“I think until we get this thing to the place where we’re confident that we can continue to deliver,” he said.
Metro Board Chair Jack Evans expects Wiedefeld’s budget proposal to be approved smoothly next month.
“It has no fare increases, no service cuts, I do not see that changing, and I believe we will move forward with our budget pretty much as it is,” Evans said.
Some tweaks on the table include additional bus service in the District and some additional rush-hour Red Line service to Shady Grove by extending some trains that currently turn back at Grosvenor-Strathmore.
“Of course we want to expand, that’s the business we’re in,” Wiedefeld said. “We want to provide more transit service, but that’s also a financial issue that has to be addressed. It also has to deal with the changing demographics and changing trip patterns, so I don’t think it’s just a simple equation of just adding more trains. I think you want to do it smartly, and same way with bus.”
