Metro Crisis Nears the Breaking Point

The outlook is grim for the D.C. Metro system based on the newly released 2018 budget from WMATA, which shows that even despite massive cuts across the agency, there's still a $290 million budget gap. And officials don't know what to do about it.

SafeTrack is finally starting to wind down, but that doesn't mean your commute is going to get easier. Metro is likely to continue cutting service, and fares are going to increase in the process. Not surprisingly, riders on social media are expressing anger at being expected to pay more for worse service. But WMATA believes it is out of options at this point.

General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said on Tuesday that ridership had plunged 12 percent in the Metro system. It appears years of safety and reliability problems has former Metro riders giving up on the system and finding other ways to get to work.

How much will fares go up? The increase is likely to be 10 to 25 cents, both for the rail system and for buses.

And that comes as Metro is planning to eliminate 1,000 positions as a cost-saving measures.

Still, however, Metro just doesn't have enough money to run the system. That means Wiedefeld will have to go to D.C., Maryland and Virginia and try to convince officials to dump millions of dollars into the system.

"The proposed budget seeks to close a $290 million budget gap with shared sacrifice between state and local governments, Metro personnel and customers," reads a Jan. 24 statement. "The proposal calls for the District, Maryland and Virginia to contribute a total of $130 million more than they did last year. Metro is also proposing $50 million in cost savings by eliminating positions and taking other cost cutting actions."

Image via WMATA