AMZN Amazon.com Inc

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)

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