Photo by moworldRumors flew wildly Wednesday night that Metro’s board would decide today to go ahead and make major service cuts in an effort to trim its budget deficit. Among the proposals: 30-minute headways on most Metrorail lines after 9:30 p.m. But the reality of today’s board meeting, as the Washington Post details, was that members were hard pressed to push forward on major service cuts, instead preferring a plan that would raise all fares by 10 cents almost immediately.
They still haven’t voted, however, and are instead planning yet another public hearing to test reactions to five possible, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, plans, which are:
- Increasing the fare for all Metrobus, Metrorail and MetroAccess trips by up to 10 cents per trip. The cost of all passes also would increase to account for this change.
- Possible cuts to the span of service on Metrorail, including:
• Opening the Metrorail system one hour later on Saturdays and Sundays;
• Opening the Metrorail system 30 minutes later on weekdays; and
• Closing the Metrorail system one hour earlier on Fridays and Saturdays. - Restructuring bus service on the following bus lines:
• 16A,B,D,E,F,J,P Columbia Pike Line in Virginia;
• 52, 53, 54 14th Street Line in the District of Columbia;
• 80 North Capitol Street Line in the District of Columbia;
• J1 Bethesda-Silver Spring Line in Maryland; and
• N2,4,6 Massachusetts Avenue Line in the District of Columbia. - Minor adjustments to intervals between Metrobuses and Metrorail trains during rush hours and non-rush hours weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
- Closing a few Metrorail station entrances on weeknights and weekends where alternate entrances at the same stations are available.
Metro has set a public hearing on these five options for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 27, at Metro Headquarters, 600 Fifth St. NW. Details about how to sign up to testify can be found here. More detailed information about the proposals will be posted on Metro’s web site in mid-January.
