WASHINGTON — Amid what WMATA is characterizing as a dire financial crisis for the D.C.-area's transit system, this week the transit authority's CEO presented his proposed 2024 budget, which includes massive cuts across the entire system.
The union that represents workers for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority called the proposed cuts "draconian" as the plan would cut as many as 2,200 jobs from WMATA's workforce – as well as astonishing cuts to the bus system.
Leading up to the budget proposal, Metro said the cuts would be a "death spiral for transit."
"The region that we know today ... does not exist with these cuts," WMATA CEO Randy Clarke said.
Metro stations would close at 10 p.m., which could send a chilling effect through the region's night life and handicap the many many people who work late jobs. Rideshares could be increasingly harder to come by, and the scarcity could price some people out of that option – potentially putting people who just spent a night out on the town behind the wheel with few options available to them.
But there's always the bus, right?
WMATA currently operates 135 bus routes in the D.C. area, but the proposed budget calls for the elimination of 67 routes – 50% of the whole bus system. Another 41 routes would see reduced service to the D.C. community.
That means 80% of WMATA's bus system would be significantly impaired by the cuts proposed in the 2024 budget, leaving D.C. residents who rely on the bus out in the cold.
Buried on page 79 of WMATA's 91-page proposed budget, the transit authority details which bus routes would be impacted.
WMATA says the routes were chosen because they have lower ridership than others. Here's the list of routes that would no longer exist under the proposed plan:
1C, 2B, 3F, 3Y, 8W, 11Y, 16Y, 17B, 17G, 17K, 17M, 18G, 18J, 18P, 21C, 22A, 22F, 26A, 28F, 29G, 89M, 60, 74, 96, A31, A32, A33, B21, B22, B24, B27, C11, C12, C13, C14, D2, D6, D14, D31, D32, D33, D51, E2, F1, F2, F8, F12, F13, F14, G2, G12, H6, H12, J12, K2, K9, L8, M4, M6, MW1, NH2, P6, P18, R12, REX, S35, S41, T2, U4, U7, V14, W1, W2, W3, W5, W6, W8, W14, W45, W47, X3, X8, Z2, Z7.
That's a lot D.C. residents and visitors who will have to find other means of getting to work or getting around to see the city's many historical destinations. Hopefully the residents whose buses would be cut don't also have to contend with having their closest Metro station being one of the 10 WMATA plans to close under the proposed budget – a list that has not yet been released.
Here are the bus lines that would see reduced service:
1A, 1B, 7A, 16A, 16C, 16E, 28A, 29K, 29N, 31, 32, 33, 36, 42, 43, 52, 54, 62, 63, 64, 78, 80, 83, 86, A4, A12, C2, C4, C8, C21, C22, C26, C29, D4, D8, D12, F4, G8, H8, H9, J1, J2, K6, L2, L12, N2, N4, N6, P12, R1, R2, R4, S2, T14, T18, V2, V4, V7, V8, V12, X9, Y2, Y7, Z6, Z8.
The reductions would be between 2% and 75% – meaning residents could have to spend significantly more time on the sidewalks of D.C. waiting for their bus to come. All of the cuts come as the District struggles with a soaring crime rate.
Just a few months ago, WMATA boasted about adding 24-hour bus service by the end of 2023 that would offer overnight buses on 13 routes – an addition to the system that's slated to begin Sunday night. Buses which would have previously stopped around midnight would continue through the night every 20 minutes between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Five of those 13 bus routes are on WMATA's list to see reduced service – 32, 33, 52, 80, and S2.
And if the people who ride all these lines find themselves more financially stable than WMATA and actually buy cars, more traffic is just what the doctor ordered for the nation's capital.
Metro's budget proposal says, "These service cuts are below current capacity needs and will likely trigger a death spiral of a loss of ridership, detrimentally impacting the region into the future through worse traffic, reduced access to jobs and opportunities, and more pollution."
>Read WMATA's full 91-page proposed budget below: