Metro wants to add capacity inside stations in the core of the system and some of the busiest ends of lines. Even though most stations are in the District of Columbia, they serve riders from Maryland and Virginia in large numbers, as this graphic from PlanItMetro shows:

Graphic from WMATA.

One paradox that Metro has to deal with is that governments in each jurisdiction generally want to spend money only on projects inside that jurisdiction. For example, Virginia has been pushing the Silver Line and Congressman Gerry Connolly often talks about extensions to the Blue, Yellow and/or Orange Lines, but less about capacity in the core.

WMATA was created to bring some regional planning to a fractured regional transit landscape and build services spanning all jurisdictions. But the funding comes from DC, Maryland, and Virginia, each of which has an incentive to put its money entirely toward projects inside its own borders.

This makes it difficult to build support to fix up the system’s core, even though the center of the rail system serves suburban and urban dwellers alike, Marylanders, Virginians, and District residents.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.