The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) may have to shut down 22 Metrorail stations with low ridership in 2022 if it does not receive any more federal funding.
WMATA is currently facing a significant budget shortfall (of over $200 million), and Metrorail has seen a 90 percent drop in its ridership due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Metro managed to avoid layoffs and continue providing essential travel service after a second relief package passed Congress in late 2020. However, the transit agency still doesn’t have enough funding to close its budget gap for the fiscal year 2022, which is slated to start July 1, 2021.
The stations that are expected to be closed are as follows:
- Archives
- Arlington Cemetery
- Cheverly
- Clarendon
- Cleveland Park
- College Park-U of Maryland
- East Falls Church
- Eisenhower Avenue
- Federal Center SW
- Federal Triangle
- Greensboro
- Grosvenor-Strathmore
- Innovation Center
- Judiciary Square
- Loudoun Gateway
- McLean
- Morgan Blvd
- Mt. Vernon Squares
- Reston Town Center
- Smithsonian
- Van Dorn Street
- Virginia Square-GMU
WMATA would be able to close the deficit if it gets hundreds of millions of dollars from the Joe Biden administration’s 1.9 trillion dollar relief package.