Metro News Release

For immediate release: September 22, 2008

Metro outlines $11 billion in capital needs over 10 years

Money needed to buy trains, buses and fix rail system

Metro needs more than $11 billion over 10 years to maintain, expand and improve rail, bus and paratransit service, the agency’s top manager said Monday.

“The Metro system is aging. It requires rehabilitation at a time when we are trying to meet growing ridership demands. Additionally, capital improvements are necessary to address customer concerns,” said Metro General Manager John Catoe. “We need a significant amount of funding in the next decade to protect a transit system that is critical to maintaining the vitality of our region, and one that is used by federal workers, who make up about 40 percent of Metrorail’s rush hour riders.”

For the first time, Metro’s top managers outlined the agency’s capital needs between 2010 and 2020, which total $11.3 billion. The inventory does not include money for rail expansions. Over half of the needs are focused on the Authority’s aging infrastructure and are necessary to maintain the system’s performance; about 30 percent is focused on ridership growth and 6 percent is focused on customer-oriented improvements.

“Our crowded house is over 32 years old, and our needs go far beyond a spring cleaning and a fresh coat of paint,” said Catoe. “We have a wet basement, rusting pipes, cracked tiles, old wiring and the equivalent of a 1976 model car in a 100-year-old garage. Now we need to prioritize what gets fixed first.”

Metro needs more than $7 billion to maintain the current bus, rail and paratransit system and deliver safe and reliable service. The needs include repairing tunnels that leak and crumbling platforms, fixing escalators, replacing about 100 buses every year, restoring old garages, one that is a 100-years-old, and updating critical software. Metro also needs to replace one-third of the rail car fleet, including some trains that are more than 30-years-old and near the end of the their lifecycle.

Nearly $3.5 billion would be used to address the growing ridership demands on Metro’s bus, rail and paratransit system during the next decade. Between 2010 and 2020, Metrorail ridership is expected to grow 22 percent to about one million trips a day, and Metrobus ridership is expected to grow 9 percent to nearly 600,000 trips a day. To move all those new riders, the transit agency needs power upgrades to run longer trains on all lines during rush and non-rush hours; pedestrian tunnels between rail stations; more than 300 new buses for expansion and more MetroAccess vehicles. Demand for the service that transports people with disabilities is expected to double to 4.5 million trips a year by 2020. The paratransit service has grown 16 percent in the last year.

Lastly, more than $700 million would focus directly on improvements for customers, such as additional security lighting, improved station signs and allowing for more payment with credit cards at Metro parking facilities.

“Capital improvements are critical to respond to customer concerns and improve the cost efficiency of daily business. For example, software upgrades and improved fare collection machines can save customers time and lower Metro’s processing and maintenance costs,” Catoe said.

Metro officials spent the past several months conducting a detailed capital needs inventory because the agency’s current regional capital funding agreement, which paid for 122 rail cars, nearly 670 buses and other critical investments over six years, expires in 2010. Federal transportation funding legislation also ends next September. Metro managers say a long-term capital plan also is needed to buy trains, which must be ordered five years in advance of their actual arrival.

“This inventory is the first step in working with our federal, state and local governments to prioritize and fund a 10-year capital improvement plan,” Catoe said.

Capital needs are funded by the federal, state and local governments that are served by Metro in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and Maryland. Metro is the only major transit system in the country that does not currently receive a significant source of dedicated capital funding.

Metro hopes to have a funding agreement in place by July 2010.

News release issued at 12:11 pm, September 22, 2008.