Virginia Railway Express had its busiest month ever in August, hauling an average load of more than 15,000 people per day. It’s both a testament to the metro area’s thirst for mass transit and a startling turnaround for an agency that was shedding customers left and right as recently as last year. Heck, the system is even looking into possibly expanding its reach.

But there’s big trouble rumbling under the surface. According to the VRE’s September newsletter (PDF), expenses so far exceed revenue that even with such high ridership, the system will have to initiate not one, but two new rounds of fare increases in the coming year, even after raising rates 3 percent across the board in July. The explanations aren’t too far out of the blue: sharply rising fuel costs, increased maintenance of older trains, and the failure of the Virginia legislature to allocate a dedicated $25 million to the carrier is mostly to blame. VRE is proposing two fare increases: up to 15 percent in January, and then up to 10 percent next July. Additionally, the railway says that if that doesn’t work, they may even have to cut service to balance the books; the first to suffer would mid-day riders. A series of public hearings is underway to discuss the figures behind the potential fare increases, with one planned in the District at noon on September 22 at the L’Enfant Plaza Holiday Inn.

Photo by sabekkas.