Metro Funds Upgrades To Service and Security
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Friday, June 27, 2008
The Metro board of directors yesterday approved a $1.9 billion budget that includes $21 million in service and security improvements for the subway and bus systems and the paratransit service for people with disabilities.
The budget for the fiscal year that begins Tuesday includes $1.3 billion for operating expenses and $527 million for capital spending. The operating budget includes money for 28 new police officers for plainclothes and special event operations, such as Fourth of July celebrations, marathons and sports events. The spending plan also includes $3 million to add buses to heavily used routes, including the 30s line, Metro's busiest. A major overhaul of that line begins Sunday and will include two new limited-stop routes during morning and evening rush hours, two new neighborhood shuttle services, and supervisors stationed along routes to respond quickly to service issues.
In addition, the board voted to make permanent several pilot projects that add service to parts of the District and Maryland and have been popular with riders. Metro will continue to extend Yellow Line service to Fort Totten during off-peak periods and run Red Line trains during off-peak hours to the end of the line at Shady Grove instead of turning back every other train at Grosvenor-Strathmore station.
MetroExtra, the express bus service along Georgia Avenue in the District, and the College Park-Bethesda J4 bus service also will continue.
MetroAccess, the paratransit service, which has experienced a 16 percent growth in ridership, will get up to 100 more vehicles and will switch from curb-to-curb to door-to-door service beginning Sunday.
The two biggest sources of Metro's operating revenue are local jurisdictions served by the transit agency, providing $535 million, and farebox and other passenger revenue, totaling nearly $660 million. That includes $36 million collected from passengers as a result of the fare increase that took effect in January, the largest in the agency's history.
The capital budget includes $62 million for urgently needed infrastructure repairs, such as replacement of deteriorating concrete station platforms, 120,000 track fasteners to prevent fires, and cable that provides traction power to the electrified third rail that runs trains.
