CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. — Some local leaders are making dire predictions that D.C.'s Metro system may never recover if it's forced to go through with drastic cuts proposed Monday. WMATA management and local political leaders say nothing short of a massive federal bailout will save the system.
On Monday, the agency released its Fiscal Year 2022 budget draft, which proposed $55.9 million in cuts, including the end of weekend and night service, the closure of 30% of the system's stations and crippling staff cuts.
WUSA9 spoke to riders Tuesday who pointed out that many essential workers depend on night and weekend service.
“We're in the middle of a pandemic, people are struggling and they don't really have the funds to get back and forth to work, so it's rough," retail worker Eva Graham said at the Capitol Heights Metro station.
Twins Michailah and Michah Guthrie said they were both stunned by the breadth of the proposed cuts.
“It's ruling out a lot of income for a lot of people," Michailah Guthrie said. "The fact is that this is one of our main parts of transportation."
Ridership is down more than 86% due to the pandemic, according to Metro.
But rider Jamie Day said there is a sharp divide between those who will be affected by these cuts and those who won't notice the changes.
“Monday through Friday people are all working from home and they will be fine," Day said. "Everyone else who keeps things going, they're gonna need Metro.”
Virginia Congressman Don Beyer predicted the system may never recover.
“It's an apocalyptic disaster to simply let it lose a quarter of the workforce, close 19 stations and end weekend or evening service," Beyer warned. "We just can't let that happen because this is too valuable an asset for the quality of our life, to just let it wither on the vine. I think it has to come from the federal government. There's just no way we're going to be able to recover it from riders, or from local governments that are already suffering.”
According to Metro, the system has been running on the last of the cash sent by Congress in the CARES Act passed early in the pandemic.
These proposed cuts could come in June without an extended lifeline to keep the system alive until the pandemic fades, according to Metro’s General Manager Paul Wiedefeld.