Original photo by Adam Fagen

What should Metro be like in the future? (Besides, you know, clean, safe, reliable and open past 11 p.m.)

As the Washington area continues to grow, Metro is turning to its customers for advice on how the transit agency should expand its services over the next few decades. Construction on the Silver Line toward Dulles International Airport is underway, and there are also plans for a Purple Line that would wind through Prince George’s and Montgomery counties in Maryland, but the Metro of the future will need to serve far more customers than it does today.

The Washington Post reports that later today, Metro will launch “Momentum: The Next Generation of Metro,” an online survey that will ask customers for their input on expanding the transit network, types of transportation offered, reducing crowding and stabilizing its fiscal condition.

The 36-year-old train network will, a couple decades from now, be required to serve a regional population that is projected to top 7.25 million by 2030. And the problems Metro faces today will only seem worse if the agency doesn’t plan ahead:

In launching the campaign, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles and his team are asking riders not just to raise concerns about the existing system but to imagine a future system of more lines, stations and pedestrian connections that could serve a much larger region.

The agency recently named new heads of planning and real estate, roles that drive Metro’s decision-making about where to invest and expand. Meanwhile, Metro seeks to address immediate concerns, including safety, chronic escalator outages and train malfunctions, such as the computer glitch that caused a system shutdown twice over one weekend in July.

The survey doesn’t go online until 1 p.m., but when it’s up it’ll be accessible at wmata.com/momentum.