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Nearly 2,000 Trips Have Been Delayed By Metro Failures Since SafeTrack

(KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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SafeTrack repairs have sparked nearly 2,000 delays since maintenance began in June, affecting roughly 10 million commuter trips.

The D.C. metropolitan region’s Council of Governments released a report citing figures looking at the financial cost of service disruptions on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Government financial officers said they counted 1,942 delays during morning rush hour since SafeTrack kicked off in June. The average delay lasted roughly 8 minutes and a total of 9.8 million trips were affected, reports The Washington Post.

For roughly 10 percent of the cases, delays persisted for more than 15 minutes.

“A poorly functioning Metro that is unsafe, unreliable, and lacks adequate capacity harms the region by causing delays that keep workers from getting to their jobs on time; increasing traffic congestion and disrupting the flow of people and commerce in the region; and harming Metro’s ability to operate and improve as it loses riders and fare revenues,” states the report, according to The Washington Post.

Financial analysis of the total delays found that service disruptions from SafeTrack accounted for roughly 1.2 million man- hours hours lost. Officials warn that if the current situation with Metro service does not improve, the transit system will likely sink into a larger budget shortfall.

Declining ridership due to unreliability and SafeTrack repairs are leaving Metro strapped for cash and many localities appear reluctant to allocate additional funds to the transit system. The current budget shortfall at Metro is $275 million.

Metro made 321 million passenger trips for the fiscal year, which ended June 30, marking a 6 percent decline over ridership 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.

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