Council members urge against ‘downward spiral’ of Metro’s proposed bus cuts
Proposed deep cuts to bus routes throughout the city came under sustained criticism at a Feb. 26 public hearing on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s next budget. With last Monday’s end to the extended public comment period, staff members are now working on a final fiscal year 2021 budget proposal to present to Metro’s board of directors for a vote next month.
“We are on a downward spiral, and you are thrusting us even further along,” Ward 3 DC Council member Mary Cheh, speaking in opposition to proposed bus line cuts throughout her ward and the rest of the city, told the five board members at the hearing as it kicked off. “You are degrading bus ridership.”
The transit authority’s annual budget proposal is dependent on local, state and federal funding. The $1.8 billion proposed capital budget focuses on safety, repairs and reliability of various forms of public transportation. The $2 billion proposed operating budget — about 70% of which goes to personnel costs — includes $1.2 billion from jurisdictional operating subsidies. It’s the size of this budget that determines how much funding is available for bus services, and Metro officials say that a 3% growth cap established by Maryland and Virginia forced their recommendation to reduce or eliminate bus routes deemed to be “less productive” or in need of “right-sizing.” While state legislators are moving to loosen the limitations, the outcome and the timing are uncertain.
The District does not impose a growth cap, and many of the speakers at the DC hearing urged its removal as an unreasonable constraint on maintaining or improving current service levels.
So many residents — about 125 in all — signed up to speak at the Feb. 26 hearing in the WMATA’s downtown headquarters that the agency set up a second hearing room. The board member representing DC, Stephanie Gidigbi, stayed in the original room, while other WMATA representatives were in the second room. Testimony from both was to be given equal weight during the hearing, which ultimately lasted four hours.
DC Council members Trayon White (Ward 8) and Brandon Todd (Ward 4) opened witness testimony by reciting all of the proposed bus route cuts that would affect their residents. Their testimony echoed some of the points raised in a Feb. 18 letter signed by all 12 council members.
“You can hear by the overwhelming response from the audience that people in this city … are not pleased with this proposal,” White said. “We have to respect the will of the people.”
While praising the draft budget’s inclusion of a $2 transfer discount between bus and rail services, he noted that implementing the proposed 25-cent surcharge for bus riders paying with cash would make some riders “feel like they are paying more and getting less.”
A number of residents and elected officials decried the proposed fee as a so-called “poor tax.” Residents from wards 7 and 8 who are not in close proximity to Metrorail stations or fare machines said that paying with cash on the bus is the only way for them to load their SmarTrip cards. The surcharge would impose an additional burden, they said, on people who lack internet access and/or credit cards.
Proposed reductions to bus services east of the Anacostia River, an area many say is already underserved, were met with particularly strong criticism, with longtime DC resident Niya Banks saying that the cuts “would be cutting off a lifeline in the community” given their cumulative effect.
“To cut service on the 30N and [30S] lines from the Ward 8 region to the farthest points north and west is to further deny the already poor [and] disenfranchised an opportunity to more education and employment,” said Banks, shop steward for the Amalgamated Transit Union 689, which represents 13,000-plus workers who operate WMATA’s rail, bus and paratransit systems as well as DC’s streetcar line.
“The purpose of keeping the 30 lines intact was to ensure that people who could least afford transportation would get a one-seat ride uptown,” she said. “And to totally eliminate the 34 line and midday service on the W1, which provides service to one of the very few grocery stores in Ward 8, is an outrage.”
In objecting to cuts to service in Northwest DC, Todd said he was particularly frustrated by WMATA’s assumptions when proposing changes to bus routes, including projected decreases in ridership. He pointed to a conversation in which Jim Hamre, the director of Metrobus planning and scheduling, said that anticipated population growth over the next 18 months was not factored into the proposals.
In response, Todd cited several new Ward 4 housing developments — including “121 units of senior affordable housing on Vine Street NW, 30 apartments on Vine Street NW, 160 apartments on Carroll Street NW, and 37 new condominium units on Cedar Street NW” — to illustrate the growth in potential riders of the 54 and 59 bus routes that travel along 14th Street NW.
The fiscal year 2021 budget proposal projects a total Metrobus ridership of 120.1 million trips, a 6.4% drop from the 128.3 million trips budgeted in the current fiscal year. In calculating future ridership, Metro officials said they factored in actual rides in fiscal year 2019 and the decrease in rides since 2015, as measured by the number of riders tapping the farebox upon entry.
However, many residents said in their testimony that using the farebox rather than counters generally leaves out many riders, including students, who ride free. Other witnesses testified that they saw human counters tracking ridership when students were on holiday breaks.
Student ridership was a concern of many at the meeting, including White, who represents the greatest number of school-aged children in the city, and Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E member Kishan Putta, whose district includes Hardy Middle School and Duke Ellington School of the Arts, both of which draw students from across the city.
“Kids can ride free in this city, but what use is that if buses are not reliable?” Putta said to loud cheers from the audience. Metrobuses, rather than traditional school buses, provide the primary form of transportation for students across the city.
Rick Murphy, another ANC 2E member, also pointed to the impact of the proposed G2 cuts on Georgetown University students and staff. Eliminating the stop at the front gates of the campus would affect at least 400 residents and visitors daily, who would have to walk an additional six blocks to the next closest bus route, he said.
Murphy also objected to the tight schedule of the WMATA budget timeline.
WMATA released its final budget proposals and route changes to the public on Feb. 8, with public comments originally due by March 2 at 5 p.m. Some ANCs did not have scheduled meetings within the time period — ANC 2E, for instance, held its March meeting the night of the original deadline. Due to pressure from many stakeholders, WMATA extended the deadline to March 9, enabling ANC 2E to submit a formal resolution.
Residents with disabilities, including civil rights attorney Deepa Goraya, also took issue with the timeline for the hearings and public comment period. The 300-page budget document was not provided in a format accessible for people with vision impairments. Goraya said staff members told her that a searchable PDF and/or Microsoft Word document accessible for vision-impaired readers would be provided ahead of the original March 2 deadline, but because it wasn’t available in advance of the public hearing, she requested that the public comment period be extended. Goraya noted that the lack of accessible documentation violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Transportation access for residents with disabilities was raised multiple times at the hearing. Several residents shared stories about being left behind by MetroAccess drivers and disrespected by its dispatchers. They also said MetroAccess prices vary widely from trip to trip, making it hard for users to plan ahead for transportation expenses.
Rachel Dubin, a Ward 2 resident with a hearing impairment, urged the board to protect the bus line that takes her into Virginia daily for work because of difficulties she has had with the rail service. She testified that when a train unexpectedly stops underground, it is often scary and difficult to rely on other riders to tell her what is being said on the speaker system.
While a majority of residents and officials who testified spoke out against cuts to Metrobus service, the budget proposal does move toward a goal long sought by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser — restoration of late-night Metrorail service. Bowser held a press conference and rally in favor of extended hours at the same time that the WMATA hearing was held. A report commissioned by Bowser highlighted the impact of the city’s nightlife industry — which adds $7 billion annually to the District’s economy and provides approximately 65,000 jobs — and cited negative effects from the cuts to late-night hours made in 2016. WMATA’s stated intent for the reduced hours was to provide more work hours to address the backlog of maintenance projects; officials say now that the situation has improved enough to allow partial restoration if Metro board members agree.
Bowser stressed the impact on employees who need late-night transportation, including many in the hospitality sector.
“These workers help us welcome 20 million visitors to Washington, DC, each and every year,” Bowser said at the press conference. “They staff our hospitals, maintain our offices, keep the lights on in Congress, bring us concerts and theater, and support all of our sports venues as well. These workers are the lifeblood of Washington DC, and I assure you, they also live in Maryland and Virginia. So this question is not just a question about, ‘Should DC be able to stay open a little bit later?’ It is whether a region supports its workers that stay up a little later.”
With the end of the public comment period, the WMATA board will take until April to vote on a final budget plan, which will then be posted on the agency’s website. No further public hearings will be held to discuss the changes, which will go into effect July 1.
I live in Ward 8 and use the W4 to access Safeway
and other stores. I live in a food desert and have to
take the bus for food and doctors appointments. I am 63 and any change in bus service would negatively affect me. I also work part time and have
to take a bus to the metro.