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Pardon Us While We Redesign and Reconstruct Our Site. New features and Up-to-Date Local Transportation Information are Coming Soon. Please Continue to Visit MetroRiders.Org, Including Our Forums Pages, Where You Can Sound Off and Give Feedback on the Transportation Issues Important to You.

If you experience any technical problems as we move to our new site, please contact webmin@metroriders.org.  Thank you.

Welcome to MetroRiders.Org

MetroRiders.Org is a non-profit organization of mass transit users in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, particularly daily commuters on Metrorail and Metrobus. Through public education, MetroRiders.Org presses for dependable, quality Metro service levels, additional rail and bus capacity to meet Metro’s growth, and for better coordination with other transit systems serving the region. See About Us.

Transit riders need an effective voice to articulate their concerns and to help get significant new funding to assure Metro's future capacity.

MetroRiders.Org needs your help to generate public support for better mass transit service. See How You Can Help.

Transit News

Plan for I-270 light rail gains steam
Friday, November 6, 2009

Routing a transit line closer to the Kentlands and through two developments planned for west Gaithersburg would draw as many as 42,000 daily boardings, enough to make either a light rail line or busway in the Interstate 270 corridor eligible for federal money, according to a state study released Thursday.

The Washington Post
Metro to appeal arbitrators' pay decision
Friday, November 6, 2009

Metro will appeal an arbitration award that gives its front-line workers three consecutive 3 percent annual pay raises, part of a package that would cost the transit agency an additional $104.5 million over four years, officials said.

The Washington Post
Years of delay mark Metro's reaction to safety deficiencies
Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Five years after that collision injured 20 people, records show that 11 safety recommendations have not been carried out. Among those pending: upgrading electronics on all Metro trains to prevent them from rolling back and adding door handles for emergency workers trying to enter a rail car quickly.

Those recommendations, known as corrective action plans, represent just a fraction of the improvements that have languished under a system operated by Metro managers and independent monitors from the Tri-State Oversight Committee. A Washington Post analysis of committee data shows that, as of Nov. 20, more than 100 safety corrections recommended after accidents, other incidents and audits were listed as not completed.

Washington Post
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Current Issue

It has been well documented that the Washington, D.C. area Metro system has had serious problems. Metro’s 1.2 billion annual rail, bus and paratransit passengers collectively pay the second highest level of transit fares and fees in the nation. While Metro’s FY’2011 Operating Budget gap could approximate $150 million, and while recent Metro budget documents assume a hefty fare increase for Metro riders, no increase in operating subsidies from the Contributing Jurisdictions is anticipated.

A substantial fare and parking price increase starting in FY’2011 is expected. Riders must pay their fair share of Metro’s increased annual operating costs. MetroRiders.Org expects that the WMATA Board will have to implement its policy to adjust riders’ fares every two years reflecting the cost of living differential since the last fare increase. According to Metro staff estimates, riders would then contribute an additional $37.5 million in fare revenues in FY’2011 toward the anticipated $150 million budget gap.

MetroRiders.Org needs your help to ensure that reductions in Metrobus and Metrorail service levels are the last option to be considered. The Contributing Jurisdictions must increase their annual operating subsidies to meet the possible $150 million gap in the Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget. See How You Can Help.