Some looming transit cuts

The Washington Metro stepped into the international spotlight for last weeks presidential inauguration, and, by all accounts, they passed the test with flying colors. The WMATA shattered their previous ridership records on Tuesday, moving an estimated 1.1 million people around the city by train. Over the weekend, I talked to a system's engineer who used Metro for the Inauguration. He spelled out to me exactly how many factors had to be perfectly in place for the whole day to come together, everything from running peak electricity for an entire day to coordinating the auxiliary bus routes. He was very impressed. When something goes wrong the entire nation scrambles to assign blame, but the jobs well done often pass on in silence.

Transit agencies such as WMATA are feeling the strain of meeting increased ridership demands with shriveling funding sources. Transportation for America put up a handy map this morning to give some attention to all of the service and job cuts (and fare increases) transit agencies around the country are facing in the near future. The hope is that some of the stimulus pie may be put to work right away in these organizations who are already up and running, already employing plenty of workers, and playing a critical role in our cities.