Written Comments
of
Mike Litt, Sierra Club DC Chapter
Regarding the FY2023 Proposed Budget
for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
February 15, 2022
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Metro’s FY2023 Proposed Budget. My name is Mike Litt, and I am submitting this feedback on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter. I’m a member of the DC Chapter’s Energy Committee. The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We have 3,000 dues-paying members in DC, and our top priority is combating climate change.
Metro faces numerous challenges in the new fiscal year, including increasing concerns about safety, decreased ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its responsibilities in helping DC, Virginia, and Maryland meet their long-term climate commitments. Moving forward into a clean energy future, the Sierra Club wants to help Metro continue to serve as the arteries of the Washington metropolitan area. In submitting these comments, the Sierra Club seeks to help Metro improve its services so that public transportation in the district can take on a greater share of the trips that people make every day in the metropolitan area.
Please find our recommendations for:
- increasing service frequency,
- improving transparency of spending on safety in your budget, and
- jumpstarting electrification of your bus fleet and other sustainability goals.
Increasing service frequency
We commend the development of the “Bus Priority Program” in the proposed budget to improve bus service and equity (on page 164 in Appendix D). As the program develops, we would like to see specific goals for reductions in travel time and increases in the number of bus lanes.
We support Metro’s continuation of changes made during FY2022, including fare discounts, increases to service, and equity improvements. We also recognize the fiscal challenges that Metro faces, including a budget shortfall and the end of significant sources of federal funding beyond FY2023.
As Metro noted in its Bus Transformation Project Update in November 2021, more frequent service was the top priority for current and potential customers.
We encourage Metro to consider what it would take to increase service frequency in the future to at least every 10 minutes for all rail lines and bus routes. An increase of this kind would make riding Metro a more convenient and appealing option for more people, increasing ridership and revenue and reducing global warming pollution. People would be more likely to choose Metro if there was an easy to remember, across-the-board schedule that truly felt frequent. This would help with marketing as well.
Improving transparency of spending on safety
We have a number of recommendations to make Metro’s safety spending easier to understand and assess.
In light of the removal of the 7000-series trains from service following last October’s derailment, and other known safety incidents at Metro, we would like to see a specific section in the proposed budget about the different types of safety risks being addressed by Metro, such as collisions, COVID-19, crimes, derailments, fires, and injuries.
We recognize that many items throughout the proposed budget are related to safety, including information in Appendixes D and I, but consolidating all information related to safety spending and targets in one place within the document will improve transparency and public confidence in Metro’s safety efforts.
Safety spending in the operating budget by department and division
There currently does not appear to be any information about how much of the operating budget is related to safety.
The "Human Capital by Department" chart in Appendix C of the proposed budget does show an increase in FY2023 staff of 30 people for the Department of Safety & Environmental Management, bringing the department’s total to 115 employees. However, this department still only makes up less than one percent of Metro’s total workforce. Given the department’s stated goal of zero accidents, injuries, and fatalities, the Sierra Club recommends increasing the number of staff dedicated to safety.
Safety spending in the capital budget
We appreciate the one page summaries in Appendix D of the proposed budget for each of the programs and projects that make up the capital budget, in particular the budgeted amounts for each program and project and the icons showing whether each item is related to safety, security, or reliability. However, that information is currently spread out over 144 individual pages for each capital program or project. Including that information in one chart would make it easier to understand how much is budgeted toward safety and in what ways. A simple solution would be to include that information in the list of Capital Improvement Program (CIP) investments on pages 101 - 104 of the proposed budget.
Crimes and injuries
According to the “Safety & Security Performance Data” in Appendix I of the proposed budget, the total number of crimes reported during FY2021 was less than Metro’s target of ≤840 in a year. However, the number of crimes per million passengers was more than it was in FY2020 and was twice as high as FY2019 numbers. Similarly, the total number of customer injuries in FY2021 was less than Metro’s target of ≤366 in a year, but the number of injuries per million passengers was more than in FY2020 or FY2019. The trends are concerning, and Sierra Club would like to see more specificity in the FY2023 budget about Metro’s plans to bring crime and injury rates down.
We would also like to know what types of customer injuries occur and what examples there are of “preventable” and “non-preventable” injuries.
COVID-19 safety
Sierra Club would also like to see more specificity in the proposed budget with regard to changes to Metro’s COVID-19 safety protocols and spending. For example, have there been changes to cleaning and air filtration in response to our improved understanding about how the virus is transmitted?
Metro’s Enhanced Cleaning and Air Filtration Improvements for Covid-19 web page indicates that Metro is working to move to MERV-10 filters on its buses and is piloting MERV-15 filters in its stations and MERV-13 filters and UVC systems on its trains. The proposed budget should detail the planned expansion of these systems.
Jumpstarting bus electrification and other sustainability goals
We urge Metro to frontload its electrification and sustainability goals. Metro’s proposed FY2023 budget allocates $12.2 million for an electric bus pilot project, which will acquire approximately 12 electric buses in the nearterm. Meanwhile, more than twice that amount of money has been allocated for fossil fuel costs, with that amount increased by $1.8 million from FY2022. Metro’s investment in electric buses also pales in comparison to funding allocated for the purchase of an additional 100 diesel and gas burning buses in FY2023 alone.
Sierra Club supports DC Council Resolution R24-0373, passed earlier this month, which calls on WMATA to only buy electric buses moving forward. The resolution cites improved public health and increased cost savings detailed in a 2020 Sierra Club report as reasons for the commitment. Metro should heed the council’s call and formally commit to buying electric buses only.
We also support Metro’s current goals to reach 100% zero-emission bus purchases by 2030 and a 100% zero-emission bus fleet by 2045. With that said, the Sierra Club would enthusiastically approve any attempt by Metro to hasten its timeline. The sooner that Metro can transition to an all electric bus fleet, the better.
According to the TPB Climate Change Mitigation Study of 2021, released last month, the scenario that gets us the closest to meeting the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ goals for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions includes having 100% electric buses on the road by 2030.
According to the District of Columbia's Multimodal Long-Range Transportation Plan, released in December 2021, transportation is the District’s second leading source of GHGs, accounting for 21 percent of such emissions. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has proposed electrifying the District-owned bus fleet by 2027 as part of its goal of moving to 75 percent non-auto commuter trips by District residents by 2032.
MetroNow, a coalition representing regional business interests, has also called for accelerated zero-emissions in its Bus Transformation Project progress report, released in January.
We would also like to call attention to Metro’s sustainability data in Appendix I of the proposed budget. It appears to show Metro falling short of its targets for water use, energy use, and GHG emissions for the past three fiscal years. Without significant changes to the proposed budget, we worry that these shortfalls will continue.
Conclusion
We make these recommendations with enormous gratitude to WMATA’s entire workforce for keeping Metro running despite significant challenges over the past few years. Metro is a part of what makes the DMV a special place to live. Our region’s ability to fully emerge from the pandemic, reverse global warming, and ensure a liveable community for all depends on Metro’s continued success. Please consider us willing partners to help Metro define and achieve that success. Thank you.