Metro News Release

For immediate release: February 18, 2010

Metro to reduce hours at four sales offices beginning Feb. 19

Hours of operation shortened to reduce costs

Metro will reduce its hours at four central sales offices beginning Friday, Feb. 19 as part of a larger effort to cut costs.

The sales offices hours of operation will be shortened to help plug an estimated $40 million gap in the operating budget for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Metro’s revenues are lower than expected so far this fiscal year due to lower ridership than projected on Metrorail and Metrobus.

The new sales offices hours are as follows:

• The Metro Center sales office will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
• The sales office at the Northern bus division will be open Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 8:30 a.m. to     1 p.m.;
• The Anacostia sales office will be open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and
• The Pentagon sales office will be open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Customers can purchase farecards and passes online, at Metrobus divisions, commuter stores and at select retail stores. In addition, customers can also purchase and add value to SmarTrip® cards at a number of CVS/pharmacy stores throughout the Washington region. For a complete list of stores, see www.wmata.com/fares/smartrip/smartrip_cvs.cfm.

Media contact for this news release: Bessy Guevara or Lisa Farbstein at 202-962-1051.
For all other inquiries, please call customer service at 202-637-7000.

News release issued at 6:02 pm, February 18, 2010.