WASHINGTON — July 25 will mark one year at WMATA for Metro GM Randy Clarke. In that time, he's overseen an increase in ridership levels, compared to peak COVID levels, and yet, ridership still lags behind pre-COVID levels.
Amid financial challenges, in part caused by this lower ridership, WUSA9 spoke one-on-one with Clarke, to ask him about his vision for solving these major challenges.
Throughout the questioning, Clarke remained relentlessly optimistic and 'bullish' about Metro's prospects, despite the daunting financial challenges.
"We've come a long way in not a long period of time," he said.
The interview was held just days after the July 4th holiday, when Metro saw a massive level of ridership. WMATA estimated 410,000 riders on the holiday, which is a level unseen since 2015.
“Right now we’re running really good service," Clarke said. "And people can kind of count on Metro getting you where you want to get to."
Clarke has argued that service has improved under his watch. The 7000 series trains, which were grounded one year ago, are now back and running. And Clarke said they've hired approximately 600 rail and bus operators.
"Our job is to run great service," he said. "And if we do that more people choose to ride Metro."
By The Number: Ridership
According to the latest data released by WMATA, bus ridership has recovered at a faster rate than rail.
- Weekday Bus Ridership (May 2023) is down about 12% compared to pre-COVID levels (May 2019).
- Saturday Bus Ridership (May 2023) is down just 2% compared to pre-COVID levels (May 2019).
- Sunday Bus Ridership (May 2023) is actually up by 14% compared to pre-COVID levels (May 2019).
Meanwhile, train ridership levels are still lagging far behind pre-COVID levels. This has been especially apparent during the week when many downtown workers have transitioned to work-from-home.
- Weekday Rail Ridership (May 2023) is down a whopping 50% compared to pre-COVID levels (May 2019).
- Saturday Rail Ridership (May 2023) is down 11% compared to pre-COVID levels (May 2019).
- Sunday Rail Ridership (May 2023) is down 7% compared to pre-COVID levels (May 2019).
Clarke said that the ridership levels on Metro trains were especially down on Mondays and Fridays, likely due to many workers doing hybrid or work-from-home schedules.
Clarke said they've had to adjust their approach to attracting riders.
"Instead of just being focused on rush hour," he said. "We want to provide good service throughout the whole week. And that’s why we’re seeing recovery at different times of the day. And that’s what we’re really excited about.”
Financial Challenges:
Amid dropping ridership and risings costs, Metro leaders like Clarke have been raising the alarm about a looming budget shortfall of $750 million. That would make up nearly 30% of its overall budget, starting next summer.
“I would say this is an existential threat for Metro,” said Clarke.
If the shortfall isn't addressed with new funding, Metro would be forced to make drastic cuts. The agency is projecting it would be forced to slash two-thirds of all bus and train service - pushing wait times on Metro from 6-12 minutes to 20-30 minutes between trains.
Clarke said that the system is reliant on federal and local dollars to stay afloat, and is unable to raise money on its own, other than from ridership fares.
"We have a structural issue that should be resolved," he said. "We need to have predictable and sustainable long-term funding. And that then holds Metro accountable to manage that funding well to deliver those services.”
Clarke said without a more permanent solution, that resolves the funding problem, a future GM might find himself facing the same financial problem years from now.
"We should stop band-aiding things and kicking the can down the road," he said. "We should fundamentally just solve this thing once and for all.”
Long-Term Goals:
Beyond the short-term challenges, WUSA9 asked Clarke about his long-term goals at WMATA. He referenced a few ideas:
- Transition the bus fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2042.
- Build a new rail fleet of 8000-Series trains with Hitachi Rail.
- Build a new rail line that 'solves east-west throughput" congestion problem