Metro General Manager's New Budget Proposal, April 22, 2010

Introduction

Metro received a great deal of input during the public comment period, and taking that into account along with the reality that some action must be taken, Metro has proposed a solution that balances the FY2011 budget as well as the interests of all in the region fairly.

Metrobus & Merorail Fares

The new Metro proposal would be to adopt the $89 million in fare adjustments in the General Manager's initial proposed budget. This is in keeping with the public comment received, as 70% of the on-line comments favored an increase in Metrobus fares and 80% favored an increase in Metrorail fares given the current budget situation.

There are several other adjustments in the new proposal. Among them are:

The bicycle locker rental fee will be $200 annually, which was an option supported in 62% of the public input.
The express bus service boarding charge for seniors and people with disabilities will be $1.85, which was supported in half of the inputs received.
About 27% of the public input supported a charge of up to 50 cents for the use of paper fare cards on Metrorail, we have limited the charge to 25 cents in our new proposal.
Since 40% of the public input supported some type of fare adjustment for late night weekend service, we have proposed a flat $4 fee for that service.
The General Manager would also have the authority to implement special event fares for historic, political, or major sporting or entertainment events. This received support for in about 11% of the input.

Parking Fees

Metro is also proposing some changes to parking fees in the system. Under the proposal Metro would adopt a daily parking fee increase of 50 cents, at all facilities, which is less than half of what was considered in the docket. The proposal would also raise the reserved parking fees by $5 a month, which is half what was considered in the docket. Additionally, the General Manager would have the authority to increase the number of reserved parking spaces (up to 8% of all spaces) for stations at which all reserved parking slots have been sold. These changes are estimated to yield close to $6.75 million in revenue.

Jurisdictional Contribution

Up to 70% of the public input favored increased contributions from Metro's funding partners in the local jurisdictions, so the proposal asks that they contribute an extra $26 million, which is about 14% of the budget gap.

Use of Capital Funds for Preventive Maintenance

About 60% of the comments favored using some money from the capital budget for preventive maintenance, so we have proposed using $30 million in that way

Of those comments that favored using capital money in this way, half asked that it be repaid into the capital budget at a later date. The new proposal makes provisions for that. If Metro exceeds ridership projections for any quarter in FY2011, the surplus money earned will be placed in a reserve fund and returned to the capital budget in the next fiscal year.

Additionally, Metro is proposing a 5 cent surcharge at specific stations to collect money to be used for capital projects at those specific stations. This was supported in20% of the inputs received on-line, and there was specific support in the public hearing/written comment for doing this at the Union Station and the Tenleytown-AU Metrorail stations.

Service Adjustments

With the public's preferences in mind, the proposal limits the changes proposed for Metrorail and Metrobus service to about $8 million. To put this in context, that is less than half of the administrative cuts Metro will be making in order to balance the budget, and it accounts for only 4% of the budget gap.

Metrobus Service Adjustments

These changes, many of which would be done as part of fine tuning bus service, Metro is able to make up $4.3 million of the budget gap, and still reinvest $2.6 million in improvements. Many of the changes are on routes with very low ridership, and many of the improvements are in response to requests from our customers to improve running times.

A. Details of Metrobus Service Adjustments ($4.3 million)

Metro will reduce service to meet actual demand, which is about 70% of that on a regular weekday, on Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day. Metro has developed a specifically tailored schedule for these and other holidays days based on the service needs of customers. This received support in about 30% of the public inputs received on line.
Metro will adopt this new holiday operating schedule on the day after Thanksgiving and the weekdays between Christmas and New Years. This received support from about 42% of the public inputs received online.
Metro will reduce the span of special late night weekend coverage to match the proposed reduction in Metrorail to 2AM on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This received support from about 13% of public inputs received online.

(There are 19 routes in the region that run virtually around the clock, and that will not change. Those routes are the 32,36; 90,92,93; A2,6,8,42,46,48; 52,54; 70; S2,4; U8; X2.)

As an example of the ridership on the bus trips being reduced, a single weekend trip on the 7A after 2 a.m. would average about 4 passengers.
Metro will implement projects to reduce travel times and the number of buses needed to operate services by reducing the number of bus stops (support in 21% of inputs), implementing traffic signal priority for buses, and introducing bus-priority lanes and traffic management techniques on select lines. These projects will begin in the fall with a goal of improving travel times for customers on the selected lines by 15%.

For example, signal priority projects on Lee Highway and Leesburg Pike in Virginia and on Route 1 and University Boulevard in Maryland are planned for implementation later in the year. The reduction of bus stops on the U8, 63, 68, and 80 lines is planned for fall, and reviews on other routes will be done later in the year as well. Again the goal being the improvement of travel times for passengers by as much as 15%.
Since J2 and J3 service is available between Medical Center and Montgomery Mall during rush periods, the J1 is not needed along that route segment and can be discontinued. The J3 provides service through Rock Spring Park westbound in the a.m. rush and eastbound in the p.m. rush. Two-way service through Rock Spring Park is also available on Ride On Routes 6, 26, 47, and 96. Thus, the J1 service is redundant there as well.
Since the ART 77 provides service on Walter Reed Drive, the segment of the 23C running from Walter Reed Drive to Four Mile Run Drive will be discontinued. The remainder of the 23C would continue.

B. Details of Metrobus Service Improvements and reinvestment ($2.6 million)

Improvements

Reschedule the N6 on Saturdays and N2,4,6 on weekdays to provide more regular service frequency and re-route buses to provide a more consistent service option in the area near Wisconsin and Massachusetts Avenue (i.e. widen headways run larger buses)
Replace the N8 by rerouting the E6, M4 and H2, H3 routes, which reduces a redundant route and responds to the complaints from residents of Yuma Street about the impact of the N8 buses.
Reroute the H6 in Fort Lincoln to serve the retirement community at Wesley House. Service would be provided from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Monday thru Saturday and from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. The frequency of service would be 12-14 minutes during a.m. and p.m. peak periods and 22-24 minutes off-peak and weekends. Current stops on 31st Place would not be served by the rerouted H6, but they would continue to be served by Routes B8 and B9. H6 service would be no more than one block away on Fort Lincoln Drive and on South Dakota Avenue.
Continue with a comprehensive look at bus services in the Greenbelt and Hyattsville communities. Propose a series of coordinated changes to improve connections, reduce travel times and eliminate redundant service. The lines to be reviewed are the C8, F4, F6, R2, R12, T16, T17
Replace the R3 with the R2 on 23rd Avenue and with a re-routed F6 on Sargent Road. On weekends, the C8, which operates along Adelphi Road, would be diverted into Archives II and rerouted to serve Prince George's Plaza Station instead of College Park Station over the same route that the R3 now uses.
Address the crowding on Metrorail trains coming into the District of Columbia from Virginia by replacing the 13A and 13B with extension of the 16F and 7F to Federal Triangle and the National Mall area, respectively. Additionally, the 16H will be extended to Skyline City to replace the 16W.
Implement the City of Alexandria's proposed changes to services on the Fox Chase-Seminary Valley (8XWZ and the 7AF, XW, BC) bus lines to reduce the number of route variations and the number of buses needed to provide service.
Implement proposals developed with the District of Columbia's Department of Transportation and Department of Public Schools for added trips to meet peak passenger demands on several routes throughout the City.

Reinvestment

Invest $1.5 million of savings in safety, running-time and crowding adjustments on routes with identified problems to improve reliability and regain ridership. Among those routes will be:
- District of Columbia: 52, 53, 54, B2, D8, E2, E3, E4, H8, L1, L2, L4, P6, W4
- Maryland: 81, 83, 84, 86, D12, D13, D14, T2, J1, J2, J3,
- Virginia: 2A, 2C, 2G, 10A, 10B, 28A
Invest $400,000 of savings in the start up of the bus passenger facilities at the Silver Spring Transit Center and in the improvement of facilities at the Rosslyn Metro. Also provide resources to respond to major events detours, construction on Pennsylvania Avenue SE and snow emergencies.
Invest $700,000 of savings into formal studies and initiatives to respond to ridership growth and service enhancement strategies. Among those routes to be studied are:
- District of Columbia: B2, 37, 39
- Maryland: D12, D13, D14, W15
- Virginia: 22A, 23A, 23C

Metrorail Service Adjustments

Realizing that service adjustments were the least popular method of reducing the budget gap, we have adopted only those that received the most public support on-line during the comment period, and as a result of the comments received at public hearings and in writing we have modified several of those service adjustment options.

On the rail side, about one third (33%) of the public input supported closing Metrorail earlier on weekends, so we have proposed to operate Metro until 2 a.m. rather than 3 a.m. On a given weekend night between 2 and 3 a.m. this service averages only about 2,400 riders.

One third (33%)of the public input supported service reductions on the day after Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Years when ridership drops as low as 40-60% of normal weekday totals. Non-peak headways will remain unchanged, though during peak periods we will only run 6-car trains.

One quarter (25%) of the public inputs supported the idea of running Red Line trains every 3 minutes between Grosvenor and Silver Spring, and every 6 minutes between Silver Spring and Glenmont and between Grosvenor and Shady Grove. This change will actually improve reliability, bringing the schedule in line with the way the trains actually run. It will not reduce the number of people we carry as the number of 8 car trains will be increased.

About 28% of the public input supported closing one entrance at five Metrorail stations after 8 p.m. After consideration of the input, the option was limited to four of these stations: Stadium-Armory, McPherson Square, Friendship Heights, and King Street Metrorail stations at 8 p.m. The extra entrance at the Shaw-Howard Metrorail station will remain open. Additionally, the Stadium-Armory entrance will be open during events at the stadium.

About 36% of the public input supported closing a single entrance at 10 Metrorail stations with multiple entrances on weekends. This was modified and limited to closing a single entrance at eight stations. These entrances are: Anacostia North, Stadium Armory North, Navy Yard West, New York Avenue South, Friendship Heights South, L'Enfant Plaza West, King Street North, and Silver Spring North. The entrance at Stadium Armory North will remain open for stadium events.

About 25% of the public input supported changing the frequency of trains between 6 and 6:30 a.m. from six to eight minutes. This will be a reduction of just one trip in each direction on each line during this time period.

MetroAccess Service Adjustments

MetroAccess base fares will be increased at a rate comparable to twice the Metrobus fare, in keeping with current policy. About 55% of the public input supported some sort of increase in the MetroAccess fare, and 45% of the input showed for this option specifically.

The proposal for MetroAccess service is to continue providing service beyond the 3/4-mile ADA requirement, for current MetroAccess customers. New MetroAccess customers will only be eligible for service within the 3/4-mile area outlined in the federal law. For those customers receiving service outside the 3/4-mile area there will be an increased charge.

The proposal also eliminates of the free ride program for those customers who qualify for full MetroAccess eligibility, as they would qualify to take all trips via a MetroAccess vehicle.

These changes to our MetroAccess service policy should close the budget gap by an additional $6 million.

Conclusion

These are difficult times, and after careful consideration, balancing the public's input with the need to take action, Metro has put forward a proposal for the Metro Board's consideration that we hope everyone can accept as fair.