(Photo by Beau Finley)

The Federal Transit Administration announced today that it is withholding a total of $8.9 million this year from transit agencies in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.—including about $4.5 million for Metro.

For once, WMATA can’t be blamed. Neither can the District of Columbia.

The FTA assumed direct safety oversight of Metro in 2015 after it became abundantly clear that the Tri-State Oversight Committee was falling down on the job. It was meant to be a temporary fix until the three jurisdictions could agree on a new oversight agency, with enforcement teeth this time.

After the jurisdictions dragged their feet, then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx began pressuring the region to move more quickly, setting a year-long deadline last February to create a State Safety Oversight Program or else the FTA would withhold 5 percent of federal transportation funding.

“You would think that if you have thousands of people traveling on this system every day, from all these jurisdictions, that safety would be something that nobody would let fall off the table,” Foxx said at the time. “And yet it has.”

Last March, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan pledged to work together to set the agency up and a first draft of the legislation came out in May.

But of the three jurisdictions, D.C. was the only one to actually push it through the legislature. The Council passed the bill in December.

“We did our part first and encourage our partners to follow our lead,” Bowser said in a tweet this afternoon, along with a photo of her signing the legislation with D.C. Council chairman Phil Mendelson and Ward 2’s Jack Evans, who also serves as the chair of WMATA’s board of directors, at her side.

But it isn’t only in the District’s hands—Maryland and Virginia have to pass identical legislation.

“By law, states have the primary responsibility for overseeing the safe operation of their rail transit systems, not only for riders but for transit operators and workers,” FTA Executive Director Matthew Welbes said in a statement today. “We will continue to direct safety oversight of Metrorail only until the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia step up and establish an FTA-certified State Safety Oversight Program.”

The funds will only be restored once a new oversight board is created and certified by the FTA.

The Washington Post reported this morning that the jurisdictions were being given a reprieve from the deadline. “No decision has been made. The matter is currently under consideration,” the transit agency said in a statement provided to the newspaper. It is unclear what changed or prompted the decision.

WMATA is already struggling financially, with declining ridership and a $290 million budget gap prompting a new round of proposed fare hikes and diminished service. Metro also lacks a dedicated funding source.

“Federal formula dollars support Metro’s capital program, which is critical to the safety and maintenance of train and bus service,” WMATA spokesman Dan Stessel said in a statement. “We will work closely with the funding jurisdictions to determine how best to make up the difference to avoid reducing safety or reliability projects.”

It’s not just Metro’s budget that is being hit by the FTA’s decision. The Maryland Transportation Administration, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and several local transportation departments are also losing out on funds that range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars.

“The FTA fired an expensive warning shot today. This will cost Virginia millions of dollars if it is not remedied immediately by state leaders, who must stop playing partisan games with safety and pass a clean Metro safety bill,” Rep. Don Beyer, who represents Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and parts of Fairfax County, said in a statement. “Northern Virginia needs these transportation funds, it needs improved Metro safety, and it needs them with all possible haste.”

In total, the region could lose out on $8.9 million through the end of this fiscal year. If Maryland and Virginia are unable to get their act together for another full year, it would amount to a total loss of about $15 million.

FTA Funding Chart: Witholding of Funds DC-MD-VA by RachelSadon on Scribd