Word in Black is a collaboration of 10 of the nation’s leading Black publishers that frames the narrative and fosters solutions for racial inequities in America.
The release of WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke’s 2025 budget proposal sparked anguish among some District residents, like Sherice Muhammad, who are cognizant of the hours-long treks that students take across the city to attend the schools of their choice.
During the winter break, Muhammad, a Ward 7 resident and parent leader, wrote Clarke a letter asking him to reconsider the proposed cuts. This outreach counted as the latest in Muhammad’s advocacy for transportation equity since 2012 when, as an advisory neighborhood commissioner, she helped launch a standing transportation and infrastructure committee in Ward 7.
In her letter, Muhammad said the proposed cuts, if brought to fruition, would be “catastrophic” for District public school and public charter school students and their parents. She went on to question Clarke’s rationale for the proposed budget cuts, asking whether, in reaching their conclusion, WMATA collected data about the revenue collected on the affected bus lines.
Muhammad also criticized what she called investments in the purple and silver lines over the years that caused WMATA further financial stress. She appealed to Clarke to consider asking U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about federal funding that could close the 750 million dollar budget shortfall that sparked talks about budget cuts.
As it relates to her ward, Muhammad didn’t shy away from demanding that the District explore creating Circulator routes for residents living near Benning Road.
All in all, any strategy that decimates already existing bus routes would further debilitate D.C. economically and exacerbate truancy, Muhammad told The Informer.
“The school system is going to implode. You’re cutting the primary mode of transportation that students need,” Muhammad said. “How do you come to the conclusion about lower ridership for shorter trips? How are you gauging your riders if there’s no emphasis on paying? I’m really concerned and imploring my friends on the State Board of Education to say something.”
A Defunct Bus System and Chronic Absenteeism
D.C. State Board of Education Representative Eboni-Rose Thompson, speaking in her capacity as the board’s Ward 7 representative, told The Informer that SBOE hasn’t taken a collective stance on WMATA’s proposed budget cuts.
Thompson however went on to say that the cut could affect communities in her jurisdiction, like Fairfax Village, where, without a nearby Metro station, residents have to depend on a singular bus line to leave their immediate surroundings.
A letter she’s drafting will make an appeal to Clarke to avoid any moves that would further complicate efforts to curb truancy.
“Ward 7 students already have to travel the furthest across the city to get to school every day,” Thompson said. “The proposed budget exacerbates not only educational inequities but quality of life issues for our families that already live in food, medical, and with these cuts, increasingly a transportation desert,” she added.
Clarke’s FY 2025 proposal affects 67 out of 135 bus lines.
Bus lines that would see reduced service include the 31,32, 33, and 36 bus routes going from Southeast to Downtown, D.C., and the 80, which goes from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to Fort Totten Metro Station in Northeast.
Bus lines to be cut entirely include the 96 bus which goes from East Capitol Street to the U Street corridor, the D6 which goes from Stadium-Armory Metro Station to Sibley Hospital, and the X3 which goes along Benning Road and the H Street corridor.
These bus lines serve students traveling from all corners of the District to attend Banneker High School, Cardozo High School, Dunbar High School, Jackson-Reed High School, MacArthur High School, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and School Without Walls in Northwest, along with Eastern High School in Southeast, and H.D. Woodson High School, Ron Brown High School, McKinley Technology High School, and Phelps Architecture, Construction, and Engineering High School in Northeast.
D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) Representative Brandon S. Best (Ward 6) told The Informer that the budget cuts would “compound the hurdles” that students face as they attempt to navigate the education system.
He also alluded to more pressing issues that, several years ago, inspired the Safe Passage program.
“We know from experience that reduced capacity can lead to overcrowding, which in turn can lead to student conflicts between neighboring schools,” said Best, chair of SBOE’s School Community and Wellbeing Committee.
“Moreover, these proposed changes threaten to increase truancy rates and limit students’ participation in vital out-of-school time activities—both areas we are actively working to improve upon this year. I call on our city’s decision-makers to take decisive action to protect the transit routes crucial for our students’ journey to and from school.”
At Least One Local Leader Asks for Federal Involvement
In addition to eliminating 67 bus lines and reducing service on 41 lines, WMATA’s FY 2025 budget proposal, $4.5 billion in total, will bring 20% fare and parking increases, create longer headways across the system, turnbacks on the Red Line and Silver Line, 10 station closures, and a 10 p.m. closing time across the system.
Such adjustments, WMATA officials said, will yield a net savings of $433 million. However, more than 2,200 positions will be eliminated and riders will experience crowding, longer police response times, and more frequent elevator and escalator outages.
WMATA’s FY 2024 budget proposal, which Clarke presented early last year, included $561 million of federal COVID relief funding infused into a budget of nearly $4.8 million. Such support, however, wouldn’t last for long Clarke warned D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and the D.C. Council during an Oct. 31 mayor-council breakfast in Room 421 of the John A. Wilson Building.
The level of support that the U.S. Department of Transportation would provide WMATA, if any at all, has yet to be determined. The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to gather comment from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration about its FY 2025 commitment to WMATA.
On Monday, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) expressed sentiments similar to Muhammad’s about the federal funding for WMATA, mainly out of concern about the regional public transit system having to divert capital funds to cover operating costs.
Mendelson told the Informer that he, along with D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee and City Administrator Kevin Donahue are in discussions with their state counterparts in Maryland and Virginia about WMATA funding. While he said he doesn’t know how much Virginia plans to contribute toward closing the $750 million deficit, Mendelson mentioned a pledge by Maryland Governor Wes Moore he said wouldn’t suffice.
In regard to Clarke’s budget proposal, Mendelson described it as a worst-case scenario, saying that cuts in the finalized budget can’t exceed what Clarke put forth. Even so, he didn’t shy away from suggesting that D.C. and its regional partners should be seeking federal support.
“Within the last decade, the federal government was given two seats on the WMATA board,” Mendelson said. “They should pay for them. Close to half of its workers use WMATA and federal workers comprise almost a fifth of the total ridership. I’m not clear why the region hasn’t been asking for more money.”