Metro Ridership Takes Massive Plunge: Report

It's no secret that Metro ridership has been down big time throughout the system in the wake of safety incidents, constant delays and crippling "Surges," but a new report indicates that the last six months of 2016 were absolutely brutal.

WAMU reports that ridership dropped a whopping 12 percent in the last six months of 2016 compared to the same period the year before, showing that Metro's woes only continue to worsen.

In a way, it's exactly what Metro wants, in that WMATA has been begging riders to find another way to get to work and around town as Surges snarl rail traffic on a regular basis.

But it's causing big problems for the service, which is already in a budget crunch that is getting worse because of falling revenues from lower ridership numbers.

SafeTrack has cost $86 million, and the revenue shortfall is approaching $125 million, according to the report. General Manager Paul Wiedefeld has attempted to deal with this by slashing personnel, cutting 1,000 positions that have resulted in savings of about $64 million -- still not enough to make up for the gap. And next year's budget deficit could be much, much worse.

#Break: Metrorail ridership dropped 12% over last 6 months of 2016, compared to same period the year prior. @wamu885 #SafeTrack #wmata
— Martin Di Caro (@MartinDiCaro) February 20, 2017

Image via WMATA