Metro's Fiscal Year 2022 Budget - YouTube

The past year has been tough for public transportation systems across the country, including Metro.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges we're still facing today.

Over the past year, we've taken many steps to keep our employees and riders safe

including numerous changes to bus and rail service.

While work routines for many in the region have changed

Metro employees have remained on the front lines day in and day out,

helping make the essential possible.

Throughout the pandemic, our approach has been to

align service with current ridership demand,

protect service for essential trips and essential workers,

and keep service running for transit dependent customers.

Unfortunately, Metro faces a significant budget shortfall

due to the drastic drop in ridership caused by the pandemic.

Nearly one year after quarantine efforts began,

Metro ridership remains down nearly 90 percent on rail and 60 percent on bus.

Without money coming in from fares, emergency federal funding

provided by Congress in 2020 has allowed Metro to

avoid layoffs, continue providing essential service and prepare for riders to eventually return.

However, even with the additional funding, there's not enough money

to fill the entire budget gap for the Fiscal Year 2022 budget,

which runs from July 2021 through June 2022.

Service cuts remain a looming threat, and we must plan accordingly.

In the coming weeks and months, we'll continue working with our Congressional delegation and the Biden Administration

to secure additional funding to keep our employees working

and provide service that can meet demand as the region comes back to work.

But until those additional financial resources materialize,

the proposed budget must consider service cuts and workforce reductions

beginning in January 2022 to fill the budget shortfall.

The proposed service plan for 2021 maintains current rail service levels

and adds more bus service in a staggered approach through the end of the calendar year.

On Metrorail, that means trains would continue to arrive

every six minutes on the Red Line and every 12 minutes on all other lines

from opening through 7 p.m.

Evening service would remain every 15 minutes on the Red Line

and every 20 minutes on all other lines.

As for Metrobus, later this spring, additional service would be added

to 10 lines and late-night service would be added on 34 lines,

improving transit access across the region

for essential employees and late-night workers.

In the fall, bus service would be expanded with additional coverage

to support commuter routes and students headed back to school.

These service levels would continue through the end of the calendar year.

If additional federal funding does not arrive,

service cuts and workforce reductions would be necessary

starting in January 2022.

The proposed service plan includes several drastic changes to

Metrorail service levels and operating hours starting in January.

These include:

Closing up to 22 Metrorail stations with low ridership located near other stations

Reducing train service to every 30 minutes on all lines.

Red Line trains would operate every 15 minutes

between Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring.

And all stations with more than one line would have trains every 12-15 minutes.

Closing Metrorail at 9 p.m. every night instead of 11 p.m.

And adjusting where some Red and Yellow line trains begin and end.

This would involve every other Red Line operating between Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring, rather than Shady Grove and Glenmont.

All Yellow Line trains would operate between Huntington and Mt Vernon Square only, rather than Huntington and Greenbelt.

At the same time, Metrobus service would be reduced

to 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels,

with emphasis placed on preserving a consolidated route network to allow for essential travel across the region.

We want to hear from you

our customers, employees, business leaders, transit advocates and members of the public

so we can learn more about your thoughts on these proposals.

Please make your voice heard as part of the official public comment period,

which runs from 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 20 through 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16.

Feedback can be provided by taking a survey and submitting written comments

or providing input during any of the virtual public hearings.

For more information about these proposals

or directions on how to provide feedback,

visit wmata.com/budget.

That's W-M-A-T-A dot com slash budget.