WASHINGTON 鈥� Even with more than 1 million riders last Saturday who largely traveled the Metro system without incident, Metro expects to have lost money on the near-record crowd.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 cover all of our costs, as we all know, and then when you apply the level of effort that we put at this, you know there鈥檚 definitely financial implications of that, there鈥檚 no doubt about it,鈥� General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said.
Like the road system, Metro covers the balance of its operating costs beyond fares (in the case of roads, gas taxes or tolls) with funding from or borrowing backed by local governments.
鈥淓ven though we had a million people riding the system, we probably spent more on operating the system … we lose money, and that鈥檚 something we just have to absorb,鈥� Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans said. He cites the national nature of the inauguration and Women鈥檚 March on Washington as support for his push for a federal contribution to Metro鈥檚 operations. Currently, the federal government provides support for Metro鈥檚 separate capital budget.
鈥淲ith this new administration who are focused on infrastructure, yeah, I鈥檓 a little optimistic that maybe we can get something for our system,鈥� Evans said.
On the day of the Women鈥檚 March, Metro . On Inauguration Day, Metro recorded just over 570,000 trips.
Metro is still calculating the final financial impact of the weekend when factoring in the extra police officers from across the country, extra Metro staff and contractors providing additional assistance at stations. Wiedefeld described it as 鈥渟ubstantial.鈥� In the past, Metro has gotten some financial reimbursement for security costs only.
鈥淧retty much it was all hands on deck,鈥� Wiedefeld said.
Metro sold approximately 47,000 of the 50,000 special commemorative Inauguration Day SmarTrip cards Metro printed before the Inauguration, Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said in an email. At least several hundred people have . Some did not receive their cards in time to use the Inauguration Day-only pass.
Trips largely went smoothly last weekend, other than riders who were for more than an hour late in the day Friday after it broke down near West Hyattsville.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big system, and things do occur,鈥� Wiedefeld said. 鈥淭he goal is perfection, but I don鈥檛 think we鈥檒l get there.鈥�
A common question from local riders is why Metro can deal with issues so quickly on Inauguration Day or during other major events, while regular riders have a sense the same things do not happen on a regular day.
鈥淲hat we could do here, obviously is we basically in effect shut down all the other things we normally do,鈥� Wiedefeld said Thursday. 鈥淲e propositioned people to deal with issues as they came up, you know, instantaneously, which we just can鈥檛, you know, on a day-to-day basis, we had a lot of overtime 鈥� we had all kinds of people, particularly out in the field, that had other jobs that were doing other things for us, so it鈥檚 not sustainable, in terms of the manpower, but what will be, and is sustainable is a basic sense of reliability.鈥�
Wiedefeld said he is proud of how Metro and Metro staff performed last weekend. To celebrate Saturday night, 鈥淚 slept,鈥� he said.
