Metro saves $500 million over two years demonstrating good financial governance

Metro recently presented a proposed balanced budget for fiscal year 2026 which reflects the commitment leadership has made to financial sustainability, identifying cost savings, and building on financial accomplishments in recent years.

Thursday, Metro’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yetunde Olumide presented the latest mid-year financial update to the board, highlighting trends that keep Metro in good financial standing.

Metro’s ridership, revenue, and customer satisfaction numbers have continued to grow over the last 45 months.

Last quarter, revenue was 16% above budgeted projections with increased paid rail ridership. Metro has aggressively pursued ways to reduce fare evasion in recent years, including new modernized fare gates at rail stations, increased enforcement, and an enhanced bus fare evasion campaign that continues to underscore that fares pay for service.

Total ridership for the quarter reached 127 million trips, 11% above budget and 8% higher than the same period last year.

Metro ended 2024 with record customer satisfaction with 92% satisfaction for Metrorail, 83% satisfaction for Metrobus, and 79% satisfaction for MetroAccess.

“Metro has been mindful of tight budgets and our need for long term funding sustainability and has aggressively sought to cut costs and find efficiencies wherever possible," said Matt Letourneau, Metro Board Finance and Capital Committee Chair. “I'm proud of the work done by our team to achieve these savings while providing fast, frequent and reliable service to the region."

Metro has achieved $500M in savings in the past two years

Metro has achieved more than half a billion dollars in savings in recent years.

Those savings were realized by identifying inefficiencies, freezing wages, consolidating call centers, reducing the use of consultants, optimizing our rail service, and more.

In the capital program, Metro redesigned and standardized new bus shelters, saving more than half of the cost. We reduced our capital program administration costs by $175 million and our IT system support costs by nearly $17 million.

Metro is providing more service without financial increases

Metro remains focused on balancing revenue growth with expense management to ensure sustainable operations while maintaining safe and reliable service for customers.

Metro is proposing several service enhancements that would begin next July without any additional financial subsidy beyond what was previously agreed to with local jurisdictions.

Metro proposes sending every other Yellow Line train to Greenbelt, splitting Silver Line service between Downtown Largo and New Carrollton, and adding more Red and Silver line trains during peak rush periods to meet demand.

As a continuation of its continuous improvement efforts, Metro is also planning to implement the Better Bus Network redesign, the first major redesign in 50 years and introduce a “tap and go” fare system, allowing taps from credit and debit cards at fare gates and fareboxes.

Metro’s proposed budget also calls for extending weekend hours, opening the rail system one hour earlier on weekend mornings (6 a.m. on Saturdays and Sunday) and closing one hour later during weekend late nights (2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays).

Your turn to weigh in

Metro will continue to track and monitor ridership, revenue, and expenses and provide periodic updates to the Board of Directors.

In February, the public can weigh in on the proposed budget during the following public hearings:

Customers who cannot attend hearings in person can attend a virtual hearing on Feb. 4 at noon or are encouraged to share their feedback through the survey.

For more information about the proposed FY26 budget, visit wmata.com/budget.