People around the region react to the possibility of more severe cuts to Metro
Metrorail by Aimee Custis licensed under Creative Commons.
News of drastic cuts to WMATA’s budget Monday night left many transit riders in the Washington region reeling, with many saying the service cuts would deeply affect their daily lives.
The proposal is meant to make up for a $500 million shortfall due to plummeting ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials say only federal assistance can prevent these dire service cuts. Starting in July 2021, Metro is proposing to eliminate weekend rail service, close 19 rail stations and halve Metro’s bus routes. Those trains that do remain would only run every 30 minutes, and the system would close at 9 p.m. on weekdays.
“This would effectively turn Metro from a subway system back to a commuter train,” Amanda Kolson Hurley, a Bloomberg Businessweek editor, wrote on Twitter.
It’s not dramatic to say that if those WMATA changes actually go through, I am completely screwed. I can’t read through the rest of them, this is absolutely devastating for so many people who rely on transit to get around.
— Brian Kramer (@brianrkramer) December 1, 2020
We need a transit stimulus yesterday.
More than a third of DC residents commute by public transportation, according to Census data. And about 40% of Metro’s rush hour riders are federal workers.
Some people with disabilities also rely on transit to get around. ANC 2E04 commissioner Anna Landre wrote on Twitter that as a wheelchair user, she relies nearly exclusively on WMATA for transportation.
These cuts would be devastating for disabled people in DC. As a wheelchair user, I rely on WMATA for nearly all of my travel. #CripTheVote https://t.co/WYChOfLTDJ
— Anna Landre(@annalandre) December 1, 2020
Even before the pandemic, late-night workers and others who rely on transit struggled to travel late at night after Metro closed. One Twitter user recalled walking for miles as a retail worker after missing the last train of the day — a scenario that would become all the more common under this proposal.
As a former retail employee in DC, walking the ~3 miles home was often the fastest way to get there when we clocked out late and missed the last train.
— Jessica Schieder (@Schieder_) December 1, 2020
The LAST thing retail and hospitality workers (those that still have their jobs) need is cuts to their train schedule, #WMATA https://t.co/vRoPAU5F9V
This would be an unmitigated disaster, especially for people who work late or on the weekends. Congress needs to step the hell up. https://t.co/6IreysQTxv
— Emily Crockett (@emilycrockett) December 1, 2020
Online, people said the proposal would limit their ability to move across the region — and could even encourage them to move away altogether.
I came to the DMV for the public transit network, which was extensive for a US city of its size.
— Frank Santos Fritz(@FSantosFritz) December 1, 2020
If @wmata cuts go through, I won’t have much reason to say in the DC/MD area. If I was just going to drive everywhere, why not do it somewhere more affordable?
Some, like newsletter 730 DC, speculated that Metro’s proposal is scary for a reason: to push the federal government to take action. If the dramatic forecast pushes Congress to act, some say, it might never come true.
Feels like the point of the WMATA news is to make the proposal as maximally upsetting as possible to show how boned transit is nationally if there’s no further relief. Talking specific cuts is probably missing the forest for the trees
— 730DC (@730_DC) December 1, 2020
The proposal isn’t final yet. Metro’s board is scheduled to discuss it this Friday, December 4, and it is also subject to a public comment period. The budget will likely be finalized in March and take effect in July.