Metro riders will have to make sacrifices if they want to keep the transit system running as the agency grapples with an extensive maintenance backlog, the board of directors said Thursday. That could mean losing the rail system’s late-night service on weekends or it could mean other cuts. One board member even mentioned that Chicago had to close an entire line on its system for two years to rebuild it. “We’re not there,” said Tom Downs, D.C. representative on Metro’s board. “But those are the kinds of choices we’re going to be facing.”
Metro is facing a $72.5 million hole in its upcoming budget that could require it to cut rail or bus service. But beyond the financial gap, board members said, the transit system is facing a shortfall of time.
Metro plans to spend $976 million on its infrastructure in the current budget and another billion next year. That means a stepped-up program to put the system back into what General Manager Richard Sarles calls a “state of good repair.”
The agency had been using three-day holiday weekends to get major track work done. But now it is using regular weekends, nights and middays as well. Last weekend it shut five stations on the Orange Line, split the Blue Line into two segments and ran trains along one track in two sections of the Red Line. This weekend and next, it plans to split the Orange Line into two segments from East Falls Church and West Falls Church for the Dulles Rail expansion project.
“Imagine twice the volume in the next 24 or 36 months and trying to fit that into the available window,” Downs said. “It’s going to be a very difficult challenge.”
He said the agency has been planning its track work six months at a time, in what he called a “very ad-hoc fashion.” He said riders would like more predictability and likely would support work that would rebuild the system.
One proposal is to cut late-night weekend hours from the current 3 a.m. to midnight. The transit agency had estimated that cutting the hours would save the agency about $5 million a year.
“It’s not a budget question,” said board Chairwoman Cathy Hudgins. “It’s a safety question.”
Metro officials have said they could gain an extra 40 to 45 days of maintenance over the year to repair the tracks and stations if it closed the rail system at midnight every night.
But D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells is opposed to cutting back the night owl service, saying the District alone gains more by keeping the late trains running than it would save by stopping service earlier in the evening.
Yet Fairfax County representative Jeff McKay said, “When you have the budget challenge we have, everything should be on the table.”
The key, said federal representative Marcel Acosta, is for riders to know what they get in return for the inconvenience.
“Somebody has to pay the price,” Downs added. “The question is who is going to pay them and when.”
