Metro will avoid many of the doomsday cuts and layoffs officials previously said would be needed to stem the financial impacts of COVID-19 — at least for now.

The federal government will send $610 million in coronavirus relief to WMATA after a package was signed into law last month. But unless ridership returns to pre-pandemic levels or Congress approves another relief package this spring, service reductions and layoffs are planned starting January 2022.

The transit agency detailed its revised budget through June 2022 on Monday. The WMATA board will discuss the changes Thursday, and then the public will be able to comment in February and March. The budget will be finalized and voted on in April.

Metro previously proposed drastic service cuts for July 2021 through June 2022 and laying off nearly a third of its workforce in response to lagging ridership due to the pandemic. Among the proposals off the table for now: eliminating weekend train service, running trains every 30 minutes on all lines on weekdays, implementing turnbacks on the Red, Yellow and Silver lines, closing Metrorail at 9 p.m. and closing 19 stations.

On Friday, General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said in a news release that Metro is “far from out of the woods yet.”

“While the choices may not be quite as severe, there is still enormous financial pressure on our funding jurisdictions, and ridership and revenue is likely to return very gradually, so we have tough choices still ahead,” he said.

Here’s what Metro’s service could look like from now until 2022.

January – June 2021

Metro is proposing to spend about $96 million of the federal funding to increase bus service and preserve rail service levels. It also will help avoid 1,200 layoffs, though WMATA says it will continue to reduce positions through attrition, voluntary departures and buyouts. Metro will also no longer shift $30 million of regular maintenance in operating costs to the capital budget. This move aimed to free up money but was seen as an imprudent, emergency financial move.

Metrobus: The same level of service (about 78% of pre-pandemic service) would continue through spring. By May, Metro would add service including extending the hours from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. on 34 lines. Metro will also restore service on several routes and add back weekend service on other routes. You can see the full bus changes on pages 7 and 8 here. The additions will help maintain social distancing and support higher ridership routes.

Metro started charging for bus fare and mandating front-door boarding again at the beginning of 2021. Bus drivers now have plexiglass partitions to protect them from the spread of the coronavirus.

Metrorail: No changes. Metrorail will continue to operate from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., with trains arriving every 12 minutes on weekdays and 15 minutes on weekends on the Blue, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow lines and every 6 minutes on weekdays and every 12 minutes on the Red Line.

July – December 2021

Metro will use $515 million of the federal funds to cover much of the fiscal year 2022 budget, but even that cash won’t cover everything. More on those service impacts in a moment.

Wiedefeld is proposing keeping the same service levels outlined above through 2021. One addition is opening the Silver Line Phase II from Wiehle-Reston to Ashburn, which includes six new stations including one at Dulles Airport. That could happen as soon as July, but it will likely stretch into this fall as Metro officials say the addition needs to pass a series of safety hurdles before launch.

Management will also cut $58 million in costs while hoping union employees will agree to defer pay increases.

January – June 2022

Even with the influx of federal funding, Metro will still have a $171 million budget gap that it will hope to close in the first half of 2022.

This could be addressed by another aid package from Congress, or if ridership returns to higher levels (though some transit officials across the country are predicting ridership won’t return to pre-pandemic levels for years). Metro predicted 314 million rides a year during pre-pandemic times. From July 2021 to June 2022, Metro expects just a quarter of that ridership, though it predicts an increase from the 61 million this past year.

If Congress doesn’t authorize more relief and ridership doesn’t increase, Metro will face reduced service and layoffs similar to what was proposed earlier. The cuts would mean service would be about 30% of pre-pandemic service levels.

Metrorail: Stations would close two hours earlier, operating from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Trains would come every 30 minutes on all lines except the Red Line, which would have 15-minute headways. Metro would close 22 stations and it would also institute “turnbacks,” which reduce service to the suburbs on the Red and Yellow lines. Metro is no longer recommending closing on weekends for this time frame.

Metrobus: Metrobus would have about 50% of pre-pandemic service levels. The bus system would be consolidated down to about 45 lines that have the highest ridership.