Officials with the D.C. Metro are bracing the public for major service delays from the longest period of track repairs in the SafeTrack schedule.
The surge begins Thursday and features 42 days of continuous single tracking on the Orange Line between the Vienna and West Falls Church stations. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) General Manager Paul Wiedefeld will brief the public on the safety surge and alternate transportation at a press conference Monday. Trains will run once every 24 minutes between the two stations. Officials said riders should expect overcrowded platforms and trains, as well as residual delays, reports NBC Washington.
D.C. Metro officials are warning riders at the Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church stations to anticipated large disruptions to regular service throughout the 42 days of maintenance work. Officials will also conduct added repairs every weekend through the surge, which ends Oct. 26.
Officials will close the Vienna, Dunn Loring and West Falls Church for two consecutive weekends beginning Sept. 24. The Vienna and Dunn Loring stations will remain closed the following two weekends in October. Shuttle buses will ferry riders between stations during the closures.
Metro is currently dealing with a steep drop in ridership since repair work began. Ridership fell by 11 percent between April and June when SafeTrack began and the declines appear to be accelerating. Passengers took eight million fewer rides between April and July alone. Metro made 321 million passenger trips for the fiscal year, which ended June 30, marking a 6 percent decline in 2015.
Metro officials previously estimated ridership would grow by 3.2 percent this fiscal year. Analysts warn if the trend continues, the D.C. Metro will have a $1.1 billion budget shortfall by 2020.
“We need more money,” Jack Evans, chairman of the Metro Board, told The Washington Post. “If we don’t get it, then I don’t know what the option is. We have to then stop service.”
Evans wants greater funding from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Evans is requesting $300 million from Congress to help balance the budget sheet, and $1 billion annually in dedicated funding from the local governments to conduct the necessary actions to keep the system running.
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