WMATA briefs Montgomery County committee on FY25 shortfall, Better Bus redesign and MetroLift progress

Charlie Scott, WMATA’s Senior Government Relations Officer, told Montgomery County’s Transportation and Environment Committee on Monday, July 22, that the transit agency faces a difficult FY25 budget and is pursuing service and regional funding measures to close a roughly $750 million gap.

“This is basically our first budget without a major source of federal COVID relief funding,” Scott said, noting WMATA is using the last $95,000,000 of those funds while the region provided roughly $463,000,000 in additional support and jurisdictions together supply about $1,750,000,000 in operating subsidies.

The budget Scott described spans nearly $5,000,000,000 in combined operating and capital spending. He outlined cost-control steps aimed at avoiding service cuts where possible, including running some six-car trains rather than eight-car trains when capacity allows and postponing previously planned Orange Line service increases. Scott said WMATA implemented a fare adjustment that went into effect July 1: a baseline 12.5% increase across bus, rail and MetroAccess fares, plus a $2 late-night fare and a $2 weekend fare on rail; distance-based rail fares now generally range about $2.25–$2.50 for off-peak trips.

Scott cautioned that WMATA has used preventive-maintenance capital-eligible funds to cover operating shortfalls this year, a Federal Transit Administration–eligible but unsustainable practice that “accelerates the timeframe at which your capital budget is also going to run out of money.” He said jurisdictions and the region will need continued, sustained investment going forward.

On service demand, Scott reported ridership gains: May and June were 11% higher than the same months the prior year, weekdays were up 14%, and WMATA has seen year-over-year monthly increases for 39 consecutive months. He also highlighted fare-evasion reductions tied to new fare gates—“we're seeing a 71% reduction in fare evasion, 81% reduction at the stations where we've implemented the higher fare gates,” Scott said—and that WMATA is on track to retrofit all stations this calendar year.

Scott summarized mitigation during the Red Line summer shutdown, reporting 529,000 shuttle bus trips through July 17 and operational changes—such as rerouting some shuttles from Forest Glen directly to Fort Totten to reduce congestion at Silver Spring—to improve shuttle throughput.

He also described the Better Bus Network redesign, a regionwide plan intended to improve frequency and reliability and to increase ridership without additional operating dollars. Scott said WMATA received more than 10,000 public comments during a recent nine-week comment period and that staff will publish a draft final network to present to the WMATA Board of Directors; implementation is targeted for late June–July 2025 if the board adopts the plan. Scott and Chair Glass cited an estimate that the redesign could add roughly 13,000 daily trips (about a 3.5% increase) while acknowledging trade-offs that could reduce service on lower-ridership routes and require some riders to walk farther to stops.

Scott also briefed the committee on MetroLift, the SNAP-based discount fare program expanded regionwide 13 months ago. MetroLift allows people receiving SNAP to link benefits to their existing fare cards and pay approximately half of prevailing fares. Scott said WMATA set a first-year enrollment goal of 8,000 participants and reported 7,484 sign-ups as of last week; he asked county and nonprofit partners to help boost outreach and enrollment.

Committee members pressed for outreach strategies and partner involvement. Councilman Buckland suggested using food distribution sites, farmers markets and school meal programs to publicize MetroLift; Vice President Stewart proposed outreach at farmers markets and thanked Maryland for its multiyear subsidy commitments in support of WMATA’s FY25 funding.

The committee also discussed MetroAccess, the paratransit program. Chair Glass said about 45,000 Montgomery County residents use MetroAccess. Scott confirmed MetroAccess is a contracted service that has gone through a recent procurement; a different contractor won the most recent award, and WMATA granted a short extension to the incumbent (Challenger) to aid transition. Scott said WMATA did not change on-time performance requirements in the new procurement and that WMATA will hold contractors to contract service standards and monitor performance, but committee members raised concerns about service continuity and local employment impacts.

Scott framed WMATA’s next steps as continuing regional coordination through the DMV Moves and Council of Governments task force, finalizing the Better Bus recommendations for board consideration, working with counties on outreach for MetroLift enrollment, and maintaining contractor oversight for MetroAccess. Chair Glass said the committee will continue the bus-redesign conversation in September and adjourned the meeting.

The committee did not take formal votes at this session; members requested follow-up briefings and outreach plans ahead of the September discussion.