Virginia Railway Express is noticing the effect of reduced federal transit benefits, with slightly fewer riders using the system just over two months after the perk dropped. But MARC, the comparable service in Maryland, saw its ridership increase in January despite a drop in the maximum monthly payout from $230 to $125. Ridership on the Maryland commuter trains’ three lines grew by 3.3 percent in January over the same month last year, with an average daily ridership of 31,472 trips, said spokesman Terry Owens.
It’s not clear if the rise in gasoline prices helped spur the MARC increase, though, masking any effect of the transit benefit reduction, Owens said.
Still on Wednesday, VRE CEO Dale Zehner said during an online chat that the agency has lost some riders following the cut in benefits, after a rider reported seeing more space in the train station parking lots. “As of now, I have noticed a small drop, 200 less trips a day on average,” Zehner wrote. “We will continue to watch it.”
That’s about 1 percent of the 19,545 rides that VRE provides daily.
Neither commuter train service had expected an effect from the reduction even though the benefit is popular with riders. Metro, meanwhile, had forecast that the loss would reduce rail ridership by 2.8 percent. Metro could not provide ridership figures on Wednesday.
Though the benefits can be used anywhere in the country, they are especially important to Washington-area transit agencies as most federal workers get the full benefit. An estimated 40 percent of Metro’s morning peak riders are federal workers, meaning they got free rides. Now, those who have longer trips have to pay for some portion of their trips.
In some ways, VRE and MARC riders may be more dependent on the benefits because they pay more for their commutes. A monthly VRE pass costs as much as $285.50, but jumps to $387.50 for riders who ride Metro once they get to Union Station. About 68 percent of VRE’s riders use some form of the transit benefits. MARC monthly passes range from $100 to $350 but can cost as much $453 with an additional Metro pass.
Transit advocates are still trying to revive the higher benefit amount. It is included in a bill on the Senate floor, said Tom Bulger, a Metro board member who also lobbies for WageWorks, which helps employers administer such benefits.
