Metro has escalated its sense of urgency in finding more revenue, trying to make the case to regional leaders that it can’t move forward alone.
The transit agency took the first step this month, saying it will increase enforcement of fare evasion to stanch a $40 million leak — a move that eased tensions with political leaders who wereSome of those same local leaders are responding with a plan of their own: Convince the federal government, whose workforce is Metro’s largest customer base, to subsidize the system’s operational costs.
Unlike the local and state jurisdictions that fund Metro, federal money goes only to the agency’s capital budget but not to its separate operating budget — a distinction local officials have long said is inequitable.“Metro moves the federal government workforce,” said Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall , whose county is expected to get Metrorail service later this year. “If the federal government’s workforce is not being moved, then unemployment checks are not going out, Social Security checks are not going out, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, all those things. A well-run Metro benefits the entire country.” One year after a Blue Line derailment deepened a fiscal hole created by the pandemic, Metro appears no closer to climbing out. The transit agency expects to survive the next year mostly unscathed through federal stimulus money, but has sent warning flares in recent days about a future without more dedicated revenue. It comes as a shift to telework and the removal of half the agency’s rail fleet have cut ridership, created long waits for trains and decimated its finances.Metro, the nation’s third-largest transit system, remains mired in a federal safety investigation that began last October with the discovery of a wheel defect that sidelined its 7000-series cars. The train shortage has led to waits that have frustrated riders returning to offices, while transit leaders say it has dampenedTransit officials project a nearly $185 million shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 2023, with to gap widening to $500 million and more in subsequent years. Without additional funding or ridership returning to pre-pandemic levels, Metro could be forced to make drastic cuts. On Wednesday, Metrorail reached a pandemic-era high of more than 300,000 daily trips, still about 45 percent of the system’s average in October 2019.The increasing demand, combined with an inability to boost train capacity, has led to overcrowding at peak travel periods. Elected officials have openly questioned Metro’s ability to manage the system amid recurring safety issues, upticks in crime and a rise in fare evasion. Metro general manager Randy Clarke inherited most of the problems when he joined the agency in July. While meeting with regional leaders, he has expanded customer service hours, ordered a more transparent shift in the agency’s social media messages and announced the start of stepped-up fare evasion enforcement amid a pandemic-era rise in nonpaying riders.Those early changes have boosted stability during a tumultuous period for the transit agency and have made an impression on regional leaders, clearing a table for the more difficult discussions ahead: getting more money into Metro’s dwindling coffers. Clarke said that while ending a train shortage is Metro’s top priority in the short term, the agency is also planning for a future that maintains pre-pandemic service levels. Regional leaders and riders have overwhelmingly indicated they don’t want Metro to make service cuts, Clarke said, while adding that Metro has about a year before looking at drastic scenarios to save money. “We should have a big conversation as a region where we want Metro to be, and then we’ll figure out how to fund that,” Clarke said in an interview. Former and current Metro board members have floated ideas, such as raising or restructuring fares, passing a regional tax or asking the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia jurisdictions to contribute more. One idea increasingly being floated by leaders is requesting more help from the federal government, which contributes to Metro’s capital budget but not to its operating budget.Money for operations, such as salaries for its 12,000-person workforce, accounts for about $2.3 billion. That bucket also includes federal coronavirus relief funding of $672.8 million this year, which has taken the place of lost fare revenue. The agency has received about $2.4 billion in federal relief funds since the start of the pandemic. Another roughly $2.4 billion of the overall total goes toward Metro’s capital projects, which includes money for construction, vehicle replacements and other infrastructure projects. The federal government contributes $492 million in annual funding and $343 million in grant money to the capital budget, but contributes nothing to operations. The District, Maryland and Northern Virginia jurisdictions subsidize $2.2 billion of Metro’s overall budget, including most of the system’s operating costs.to offer money for operations, citing their annual capital contributions and commuter benefits to federal workers. During a
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