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.