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Metro Lost $5.5 Million During Shutdown

The transit agency was hit hard by the 16-day shutdown.
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During the shutdown, Metro ran six-car trains during rush hour instead of the usual eight-car configuration. Photograph by Flickr user Elvert Barnes.

Last month’s government shutdown cost Metro $5.5 million in lost revenue, the transit authority reported in its most recent quarterly report. Metro estimates that it lost out on 1.7 million passenger trips during the 16-day shutdown. Some of the lost revenue was also attributed to fewer cars parked at Metrorail stations.

Metro tried to stem the bleeding early on, when it cut eight-car trains to six. The agency reported on the shutdown’s second day that it was seeing ridership drop by 22 percent, with the greatest decline reported at stations around Capitol Hill and the Pentagon.

Although the figures released today are preliminary, they offset the positive results Metro had in the first quarter of its current fiscal year by nearly half. From July through September, Metro’s budget had a positive net position of $11.6 million.

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Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.