By Scott Calvert
Washington, D.C.,'s once-beloved Metro subway system isn't great
anymore. It isn't even good. The agency's slogan, Back2Good,
acknowledges as much.
To win back riders and put high-profile safety problems behind
it, the general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit
Authority, as Metro is formally known, says it needs an annual $500
million infusion of new capital funding from Maryland, Virginia and
the district.
Elected officials in the region are considering the request,
which would be in addition to the hundreds of millions that area
governments already give the agency each year. Virginia's House and
Senate have passed separate bills, and legislation is pending in
both Maryland's General Assembly and Washington's City Council.
Virginia's annual session ends March 10. According to the
legislation there and in Maryland, their respective funding is
contingent on the others ponying up their shares.
Lawmakers are citing the prospect of Amazon.com Inc. picking a
city in the region for its second headquarters as motivation. The
tech giant said last month that Washington, Northern Virginia and
Montgomery County, Md., were on the list of 20 finalists for its
new headquarters. The Seattle-based company, whose decision is
expected later this year, has highlighted the importance of public
transit.
"Amazon is watching," said Vivian Watts, a Democratic lawmaker
in Virginia who pitched one of several plans in the state
legislature to secure more funds to upgrade Metro's long-neglected
system.
Metro's subway, which began operating in 1976 and moves 600,000
people a day throughout the region, has fallen on hard times.
Ridership dropped 19% from 2011 to 2016, a span during which most
big-city systems gained riders, according to the American Public
Transportation Association. Metro has shed passengers even as
Washington experienced a booming economy and growing population.
Partial shutdowns of some Metro lines for repairs contributed to
the drop.
Safety concerns are weighing on usage. In 2009, a collision
between two subway trains killed nine people. In 2015, a woman died
when an electrical malfunction filled a train and nearby station
with smoke. Last month, a Red Line train derailed, though no one
was hurt.
In 2016, the entire system was shut down for a day to allow for
emergency inspections. That led to an accelerated repair program
called SafeTrack, which required some subway lines to be taken
offline temporarily.
"We cannot any longer ignore the issue in front of us," said
Paul Wiedefeld, Metro's general manager. With the additional funds,
he said Metro could create a capital program that "just constantly
keeps on top of" maintenance and repairs.
Washington's traffic is infamous. Drivers spent 63 hours on
average last year in congestion during peak hours -- the
sixth-longest in the U.S., according to INRIX, a company that
provides real-time traffic information and tracks the cost of
delays.
Amazon's second headquarters also has elevated transit on the
agenda in other U.S. cities that are in the running. Georgia
legislators are considering, for the first time, major state
funding for Atlanta's transit system, concerned that traffic
congestion could hurt its bid. Boston officials suggest Amazon's
arrival could revive a long-shelved project to link two subway
lines.
About $1.8 billion of Metro's combined $3.1 billion operating
and capital budget in 2018, including for bus service, comes from
state and local sources. Passenger fares and parking fees bring in
about $755 million, and the federal government provides about $460
million. Other sources such as advertising account for the
rest.
The proposed regional effort in the Washington area has
bipartisan support, at least in principle, from Maryland Gov. Larry
Hogan, a Republican, and his Democratic counterparts, Virginia Gov.
Ralph Northam and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser. Mr. Hogan also
has called for increased federal funding, and a bill in Congress
would provide that financing.
Measures in both states would require certain changes to Metro's
governance structure to address concerns about the agency's
management and oversight.
Virginia's House of Delegates passed legislation on Feb. 13 that
would give Metro $105 million annually, while the Senate approved a
$154 million package. Steve Newman, Republican president pro
tempore of the Virginia Senate, predicted the GOP-led Virginia
General Assembly likely would agree to the larger amount before
adjourning on March 10. However, he said he opposes the tax
increases in the Senate measure, even though only Northern Virginia
residents would pay.
Maryland, meanwhile, would commit $125 million a year under a
legislative proposal. A Washington spokeswoman said it is too early
to quantify the city's pledge, which likely would need to be more
than $220 million a year to hit Metro's $500 million target.
"It's really critical the elected leaders use this moment to
address Metro. It's critical to our region," said Jason Miller,
chief executive of the Greater Washington Partnership, an alliance
of area chief executives.
Write to Scott Calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 22, 2018 08:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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