Photo by Barbara Krawcowicz

It was on this day in 1976 that Metro inaugurated its first 4.2 miles of service along the Red Line, some six years after construction had started on the regional transit system. On that day, 51,000 people lined up to ride from Rhode Island Avenue to Farragut North for free, and it wasn’t until March 29 that the transit agency started charging for the service.

Until the Blue Line opened more than a year later, the short segment of the Red Line—which by January 1977 included a stop at Dupont Circle—was all that existed of Metro. Over the subsequent years, the Orange Line would open and the Red Line would expand northward; the Yellow Line didn’t open until 1983, the Green Line until 1991.

In what may have been an omen of things to come, Zachary Schrag writes in The Great Society Subway that despite the public’s elation with the new Metro, the transit agency was spending some $75,000 more a day to run the system than it collected in fares. Additionally, WMATA faced growing cost overruns early on in its plans to expand the system.

Today, Metro’s fares are nearing historic highs, and more fare increases may be in the offing. The system seems to be showing its age more every day; just today the Dupont Circle station was closed altogether when escalator problems plagued the north entrance. (The south entrance is closed for eight months to the escalators can be replaced altogether.) And though the Red Line was first to open, it remains one of the busiest in the system—and was the site of the deadliest crash in the system’s history, in 2009.

Metro officials insist that all of the repairs being made now—the system is in the midst of a $5 billion capital improvement campaign—will ensure that we have a regional transit agency 36 years from now. Some critics don’t believe it, though, and think Metro just has to learn to do more with less. (In related news, The Washington Times has quite the article on Metro’s workforce: “Metro derailed by culture of complacence, incompetence, lack of diversity.”)

It’ll be a bittersweet birthday party for Metro for sure.