SafeTrack Finishes on June 25th, But Metro Still Has a Long Way to Go.

Wyn Delano / Heather Curtis
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) SafeTrack ends June 25, concluding the year-long safety program that shut down and reduced service all over the D.C. metro system.

Yet the 25th is also when new operating hours and fare hikes go into effect on Metro.

Post SafeTrack Metro, however, will not be the return to the system that many D.C. residents once knew as leadership takes steps to ostensibly prevent SafeTrack 2.0.

New operating hours will go into effect June 25: Metro will close at 11:30 p.m. Mon-Thu, at 1 a.m. Fri and Saturday and 11 p.m. Sunday.

“First and foremost is the preventative maintenance program, which we will be executing within our extended hours of non-passenger service,” says Andy Off, Metro Assistant General Manager of Rail.

Translation: Metro will be attempting to do all of its maintenance and repair work at night.

“Our intent is…to limit daytime work. We’ve found that to be inefficient…and also extremely disruptive to our PM rush cycle,” Off adds.

But even with the earlier weekday closing times, overnight work will still not be enough. Metro Chief Operating Officer Joe Leader explains: “Some work can be done on an overnight hour, but then it would be extended for so long that it becomes so ineffective – you’ll be driving the cost of the projects way up.”

Weekend riders will feel the brunt of this catch-up work with one work zone on each line with no more than one shut down at a time, Assistant General Manager Off promises.

Not everyone is happy with this plan, though. Board member Michael Goldman is concerned that weekend work has cost the system riders:

“I’m concerned that we’re going to continue this pattern of putting the burden on the weekend rider in the weekend hours that we’ve experienced for the last few years,” he says.

He also wants to know if there’s another time the work can be done such as the time between Christmas and New Years.

With fare hikes that will increase most rail rides by 10-25 cents (as well as increase the maximum fares), lower the frequency of trains at rush hour, and increase bus fares what was once considered a red letter day for riders with the end of SafeTrack now seems like yet another bitter pill to swallow.

They can only hope the medicine works.