Metro G.M. says billions needed for transit agency

WASHINGTON - Metro General Manager John Catoe is giving some sobering news about the health of the transit system.

At a news conference Monday, Catoe said Metro needs more than $11 billion between 2010 and 2020 to maintain and expand the transit system -- as well as keep it safe and reliable.

"If we do not address these needs, service will suffer," Catoe said.

Crumbling platforms, malfunctioning rail cars and worn-out tracks are just part of the problem.

Metro officials say some of the top priorities are new buses and trains to keep pace with growing ridership and infrastructure repairs in order to maintain a safe and reliable system.

Here's the really bad part: Metro has no idea how they will get the funding.

Catoe is hoping the federal government will be willing to kick in more for the transit system.

"Federal employees make up about 40 percent of the rush hour riders on the Metrorail system. While we receive some federal funding, we need more assistance from the federal government," Catoe said.

Metro currently receives about $279 million a year in federal funds. Catoe said he wants that figure to double -- at least.

"There are many if's with this [plan,] but from a funding standpoint, you have to plan forward to the future," Catoe said.

D.C., Maryland and Virginia have all pledged $50 million a year over the next 10 years toward Metro. In Virginia, securing that funding will prove a difficult task, as lawmakers in Richmond have already stalled on a transportation funding package.

A federal bill that would match the $1.5 billion over 10 years from local jurisdictions is also being held up on Capitol Hill.

Metro riders say the 32 year-old transit system is starting to show its age.

"Every week I say to myself, can it be one week in which Metro runs smoothly and without complication?," said one rider recently while standing on the Shady Grove rail station platform -- a platform, which coincidentally, is being held up by 2x4 wooden beams.

Catoe admitted Monday that riders are already seeing the effects of under-funding with the transit system.

"If you board our trains during the peak periods, they are very crowded. Imagine a 6 percent increase in riders on an annual basis every year. We will have to pack them in even tighter," Catoe said. "Other transit agencies have the same situation that we do, and they have responded by taking seats out of their cars. I don't want us to get to that point where there are no seats in Metro cars."

With ridership surging, one of the questions riders often ask is how Metro can be hurting for cash. Fares only pay for the operating cost of Metro; they do not pay for the capital projects like power generators, concrete to replace platforms, and track fasteners to hold rail lines in place.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)