After hearing a long and somber presentation about the causes and potential impacts of Metro’s $750 million budget deficit, Metro officials say they will face significant cuts without new funding from regional jurisdictions. Finance and Capital Committee Chairman Matthew F. Letourneau said members would meet. It will meet again in January to develop options ahead of a public hearing.
“My hope is that today was a rock-bottom discussion and the conversations we are having will only get better from this point,” said Letourneau, who also serves on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
Letourneau has indicated he and others plan to independently influence Metro’s priorities, and there may be disagreements over which approach makes the most sense. However, he said he wants to avoid closing 10 of Metro’s least-used stations, which would be a significant cost. – Savings proposals presented by agency budget officials.
A little more than a year ago, Metro opened the long-awaited six-stop Silver Line extension to Dulles International Airport, including new service between Reston and eastern Loudoun County. The opening of the $3 billion project marked the culmination of years of transportation and development planning in Northern Virginia. However, the number of metro users is still only a small portion of the total number of metro users. The 10 stations that may be closed have not yet been determined.
The proposal from the agency’s budget staff would target stations with low ridership, but two adjacent stations would not be closed.
“Providing zero service is the most drastic thing we can do for a particular station,” Letourneau said. “Think about an asset that cost a lot of money to build, not being serviced and completely in the dark. To me, that’s even worse than longer hours and degraded service. ”
Other board members pointed to their own priorities following the presentation of a proposed budget that warns of the possibility of ending Metrorail at 10 p.m. daily and significantly increasing the time between trains. Under Metro’s current budget and service goals, 80 percent of rail riders have wait times of six minutes or less, said Tom Webster, Metro’s chief planning and performance officer. Under the proposed budget cuts, that percentage would drop to 10%, he said.
Tracy Hadden Roe, the district’s representative on the board, said service cuts “are not part of a responsible solution” and should be avoided if possible.
“Every service cut we make reduces the value of transit to this region. And that’s a doom loop,” Hadden-Law said.
She believes, based on conversations with district officials and some of their public statements, that the city will ultimately provide the funds needed to cover the district’s share of the costs that Metro requires. He said that
“There’s a pick there. There’s a lot of work to do. But I’m not worried about the district not doing well. We’re going to figure this out,” Hadden-Law said.
Joe McAndrew, a board member and Maryland’s assistant secretary of transportation, said top state transportation officials are proposing to give Metro an additional $150 million more than planned. Stated. As part of the proposal, the subway authority would move preventative maintenance funds into its operating budget, something Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Transportation Secretary Paul J. Wiedefeld, who previously headed the subway, would want to avoid, McAndrew said. he said.
“We put in 150 in hopes of maximizing the transfer of capital funds to operations to keep the lights on,” McAndrew said. The proposal still needs approval from the state Legislature.