Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said in an op-ed that the D.C.-area鈥檚 transportation system will open in three planned phases that may take as long as two months to implement.
In an opinion piece for , Wiedefeld said Metro trains will run every 20 minutes as local leaders begin to initiate the first phases of reopening.
During that time, buses will run on a Sunday schedule.
for the next steps in a gradual recovery from the near-shutdown that has been instituted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are no specific dates attached to the plan, only general time frames based on best assumptions. At the moment, Metrorail ridership is down about 95% from pre-pandemic levels, and bus ridership is down more than 70%, Metro said in a statement.
Metro鈥檚 plan expects that stay-at-home orders and other safety restrictions will be lifted during the summer. Their response going forward has four stages:
- Stabilization, under which Metro will ask passengers to use the system only for essential travel and to use face masks.
- Managed re-entry, which Metro sees as starting in the fall, when schools are expected to reopen and people are expected to report to work again. In this phase, all Metro stations will reopen and all bus routes will run, so as to give people the most possible space for social distancing.
- The recovery phase would begin when a treatment or a vaccine are widely available; Metro would return to regular service hours and ramp up service as ridership increases.
- The final phase, “Resilience,” is a post-pandemic plan for Metro to analyze their response and work out what can be done better next time.
The Metro Board will discuss the plan Thursday.
The outlined plan comes as the聽pandemic altered Metro service.
Metro has implemented service cuts since the start of the pandemic. Buses and trains are operating on modified schedules, and some stations have closed.
鈥淢etro ridership聽has plummeted聽to historic lows and that鈥檚 a聽good thing 鈥� for now,鈥� Wiedefeld wrote.
鈥淐ustomers are making only essential trips to protect the health of everyone in the region. Planning for recovery from the 聽shutdown isn鈥檛 like reopening after a blizzard. This is not a 鈥榮tart your engines鈥� moment.鈥�
Once Metro trains begin operating every 20 minutes, the first and eighth cars will resume reopening, Wiedefeld said.聽Those cars had previously been closed.
As D.C., Virginia and Maryland take steps toward reopening, 鈥渨e will begin to reopen stations, increase train frequency and operate more bus routes later this summer and into the fall,鈥� he wrote.
All bus and train passengers will be required to wear face coverings to board.
An April survey revealed many SmarTrip cardholders prefer all passengers wear masks and practice social distancing, Wiedefeld wrote.
Riders also favor 鈥渧isible and frequent disinfecting of rail cars, buses and stations.鈥�
Wiedefeld said the plan to reopen will require testing new cleaning products to be used throughout the day.
Even as parts of the D.C. region begin to reopen, Wiedefeld said employers need to 鈥渕aximize telework and stagger work hours for months to come.鈥�
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