D.C.-area leaders are responding to Metro’s proposed budget released last week that would significantly slash service while raising fares, offering up an alternative plan to address the transit system’s major budget deficits.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments put together a work group to develop strategies to address the transit system’s $750 million deficits without making the “drastic” level of service cuts and layoffs suggested in Metro’s proposed budget.
“Metro is running great service right now and they’re tightening their belt, and they need to continue to do that,” Clark Mercer, the executive director of COG, told WTOP.
The work group, which is comprised of leaders from D.C., Maryland and Virginia, released a report Tuesday including near-term recommendations to Metro such as transferring some capital funding to cover operating costs, increasing fares and implementing targeted service reductions.
Part of addressing the deficit will mean those entities that typically help pay Metro’s bill will have to give the transit agency more funds than in recent years, Mercer said.
Federal relief during the pandemic meant that local governments owed less money to Metro. But more recent bills are “artificially low,” Mercer said. He said those bills need to catch up to inflation and cost increases.
He said that would make up for more than half of the $750 million deficit.
“That would be spread amongst the members that pay Metro’s bills in Maryland, Virginia and D.C.,” he said. “I think they’re prepared to pay that bill … but they want to make sure that Metro is doing everything it can to provide really great service” at the most reasonable price.
Metro’s proposed budget would make significant cuts to service, including potentially closing 10 of the least-traveled stations. Mercer said it’s unclear to leaders in COG what stations or lines this would impact.
The group is advising against those “drastic” cuts and opting for targeted service reductions instead of significant cuts or closures, according to the report.
“There’s something probably a bit more nuanced that we can arrive at, which is trimming some of the service that will save some money, but not result in what they call a ‘transit death spiral,’” he said.
Riders should also expect to be paying more, Mercer said, as costs have increased while fares have remained “fairly steady.”
At the same time, the transit agency should continue its efforts to crack down on fare evasion, the report said, while ensuring access to programs that help people in need to ride Metro.
As far as whether the extreme cuts outlined by Metro in its proposed budget last week will come to fruition, Mercer said he doesn’t think the region will accept those changes. He also noted that the agency’s proposed budget “reflects if we don’t step up and pay our Metro bills.”
The full report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is available online.
Mercer emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong Metro system in the D.C. region from an economic development standpoint.
“You don’t have a new arena, you don’t have an FBI that’s relocated anywhere in this region without it being anchored by Metro,” Mercer said.
WTOP’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report.
