Metro proposes to stop weekend rail service, close 19 stations and slash bus routes by half

[Klaralven]

Washington DC Metro proposes to stop weekend rail service, close 19 stations and slash bus routes by half in upcoming budget


Metro is suggesting it stop weekend rail service, close 19 of its stations and slash its bus routes by half, according to budget proposals released on Monday, as the transportation industry deals with financial struggles spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.

Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s proposed budget for next fiscal year, beginning July 1, aims to cut almost $500 million from its projected $1.945 billion operating expenses, The Washington Post reported.

Wiedefeld told the Post that the desired reduction in expenses was so large it could only be reached by eliminating weekend rail service.

Metro recommends cutting 2,400 positions through attrition, buyouts and layoffs in addition to the 1,400 the agency is looking to remove this year. Metro employees may not receive raises in order for more jobs to be saved.

“When I talk to my peers, we’re all facing these almost terrible decisions together,” Wiedefeld told the newspaper. “It’s like, how do we do this? It gets down, unfortunately, to very hard math that you just can’t get there from here without having significant impacts.”

In addition to rail service cuts on Saturday and Sunday, weekday rail wait times would be 30 minutes except at busier stations in the city. Rail service would also end two hours earlier at 9 p.m. About one-fifth of Metro’s stations would shut down.

https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/528083-metro-proposes-to-stop-weekend-rail-service-close-19-stations-and-slash

[Doreen]

1. When they did that in my small town people lost jobs, elderly people,

and disabled people lost transportation to doctors appointments. People lost access to socialize with other people. People who used the bus to get to church lost that. It isolated people from everyday life and I am sure it did a lot of damage.

Thank goodness the bus system management got changed over but for a lot of people it was to late.

[Klaralven]

2. Mass transit train ridership is way down as office workers work from home

I think that bus systems can control costs better as ridership decreases and increases.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. I Would Also Guess That...

...traffic in & out of DC on weekends is way down this year.
I know that I used to stay in hotels south of Baltimore, drive to the station near NSA headquarters, and take that downtown. (I usually combined meetings in DC with supplier visits in Baltimore.)
I could see tourists to DC doing that on weekends & evenings, but not this year.
Hopefully, that service will return when we get this in the rearview.