WASHINGTON 鈥� Fairfax County supervisors debated Tuesday on how to turn around Metro and what role the county will play in that transformation as county residents struggled to get to work and school amid the first week of scheduled rush hour repairs along the Orange and Silver lines.
The repairs will severely reduce train service west of Ballston through next week and pushed more cars onto the region’s already congested highways, creating a to work on Tuesday morning.
鈥淢etro is critical to the economic vitality of this region, and Metro is a mess. And those two realities are squarely in front of us,鈥� said Supervisor John Cook.
The Board of Supervisors endorsed Metro鈥檚 single tracks or entire segments for weeks at a time through March 2017 and will expand midday, night and weekend track work.
鈥淭his is an unfortunate but a necessary piece that has to occur if we鈥檙e going to get back to a safe, more reliable system,鈥� said Supervisor Cathy Hudgins. She also serves on the board that runs Metro.
Fairfax County has a special responsibility, Cook said, as it is the most populous jurisdiction in the region.
鈥淚 think we have to step up and take 鈥� some responsibility for helping get Metro fixed. We can鈥檛 just sort of step back and say ‘you鈥檙e a mess, fix yourself, and if you don鈥檛 we鈥檙e going to walk away,’ because this county needs Metro,鈥� he said.
Through the of the work, and the first weekend without late-night Metro service, Fairfax County Transportation Director Tom Besiadny said things have gone relatively well so far.
鈥淧eople are taking advantage of alternatives like teleworking and ride-sharing. There are some new slug lines that are being formed in the [Interstate] 66 corridor, so people are responding,鈥� Besiadny said.
On Monday, while overall ridership in the Metrorail system was relatively flat compared to a few weeks earlier, the number of people entering in the morning at the most severely impacted stations fell about 26 percent. On Tuesday, Metro said the drop in morning entries at Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church, Wiehle-Reston East, Spring Hill, Greensboro, Tysons, McLean and East Falls Church was about 27 percent compared to a Tuesday in mid-May.
But with the work rotating to different parts of the system and the impacts varying from week to week, and month to month, Besiadny said will be tweaked throughout the next 10 months based on what the county learns and commuter response.
On top of safety, management and governance issues, discussions about how to fix Metro overall will include a big focus on funding.
鈥淣ot a whole lot of easy answers,鈥� Cook said.
鈥淚t can鈥檛 just be about throwing more money at it,鈥� said Supervisor Pat Herrity. He asked what the true cost of the expanded Metro work will be, and who will pay for it.
County Executive Ed Long said he and other city and county administrative officers across the region have asked the questions, but have not heard a solid answer.
鈥淢etro [said] they are working on that now. They don鈥檛 have a number yet,鈥� Long said.
Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said last week that in addition to plans to tap money that had been intended for future spending this year, plus lost revenue from smaller fares or fewer riders over the next year, that additional capital costs could total around $60 million.
