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  • Government Shutdown

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1496878  by daybeers
 
Hi all! Not living in D.C. anymore, I'm out of touch with how the public transportation network in D.C. is fairing with this lengthy government shutdown. Is there a noticeable drop in ridership, or not so much? Can a difference be seen more on commuter railroads or WMATA?

How's the snow? :-D
 #1496964  by mtuandrew
 
Cold :P

It’s less busy than normal, but not astoundingly so - still plenty of support staff, or people funded by the 2018 resolutions, or essential staff, or military. Still a fair number of tourists too, astoundingly.

Haven’t ridden VRE recently so I can’t compare with WMATA.
 #1497062  by STrRedWolf
 
On the MARC side, it's a bit less (only 25% shutdown) but not much. Enough to keep the MARC on the regular schedule... but some of the shops that depend on that traffic are struggling. The at-station coffee shop in Odenton (White Rabbit, in the historic Odenton Heritage Preservation Society Museum) had to cut the hours down so that they are only open between 4am and 7-8am, with no afternoon hours. Business has slowed to a crawl until the 7am hour today, but when you get maybe 10 people a day when you average 50 or more? That's not good.
 #1497283  by ChesterValley
 
I did find an article online about it if this helps, https://www.masstransitmag.com/manageme ... n-per-week
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is losing an average of $400,000 each weekday during the government shutdown. Using that figure, translates into $2 million per week in lost fare and parking revenue for a total of more than $7 million since the partial shutdown began.

In comparison, a 16-day shutdown in 2013 is reported to have cost the agency $5.5 million in lost revenue.
 #1497695  by davinp
 
About 70% of VRE riders are federal workers.
VRE says ridership is down 25% during the government shutdown which means revenue could drop by 25% if the shutdown continues
I have noticed more empty seats then before the shutdown

https://www.nbcwashington.com/investiga ... 68602.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1498539  by mtuandrew
 
System is much busier today with the first full day of operations. Standing room only & packed on YL from Pentagon to L’Enfant where there had been a slight chance of getting a seat last week; my usual bus to Pentagon had about a quarter more people on it too.
 #1499873  by danib62
 
I think the moral of the story is WMATA needs to push passes harder. Monthly passes would somewhat shield them from fluctuations in revenue like this.