(Forestville, MD) February 25th, 2020 – ATU Local 689 strongly opposes the bus service cuts proposed in WMATA’s next budget. At a time when we need to be expanding public transit offerings and working to get people out of their cars, WMATA seems to be moving in the wrong direction. We encourage workers and riders to voice their concerns. 

We understand the financial pressure that WMATA is under. The 2018 dedicated funding bills, passed in both Maryland and Virginia, included language that capped operating subsidies to 3% growth per year. If WMATA ever requested more than that cap, 35% of its capital improvement budget would be cut automatically. This budget cap was placed there to restrict WMATA’s growth and make transit funding more palatable to some highway focused politicians. But this budget cap is bad for commuters, bad for the environment, and bad for the long term health of WMATA. 

After the cap went into effect, WMATA announced that it was hiring Transdev to run its Cinder Bed Bus Garage as a way to restrict budget growth. The private contractor was so cruel in its treatment of the workers there that they went on strike for 85 days, shutting down bus service for thousands of passengers in Northern Virginia. This strike dramatically reduced Northern Virginia’s 2019 ridership numbers, the very same numbers WMATA is citing as the justification for these route cuts. 

WMATA’s riders and workers are smarter than this. The budget cap pits all riders against each other. Wherever WMATA proposes service increases, it must cut from another jurisdiction. It doesn’t have to be like this. The DC Metro region is one of the wealthiest in the world. The money is there to fully fund and expand this transit system to meet the needs of the public. But in order to do that we need to get rid of the 3% budget cap and stop these devastating bus route cuts.   

Overshadowed by the cuts are many good proposals in the new budget. We applaud the authority for finally including transfer discounts between bus and rail, restoring late night service, expanding Sunday train frequency, and expanding weekend service on MetroBus routes. 

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Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 is comprised of more than 13,000 members and retirees performing occupations within the many skilled transportation crafts for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), MetroAccess, DASH, and the DC Streetcar. A member of the Amalgamated Transit Union (AFL-CIO/CLC), the largest labor organization representing transit workers in the United States and Canada, Local 689 was established on January 19, 1916. For more information please visit our website at atulocal689.org.