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Facing budget gap, Metro to close most in-person sales offices

By Jack Moore

WASHINGTON — Facing a $300 million budget shortfall and the possibility of fare hikes next year, the D.C. Metro announced Tuesday it will close all but one of its in-person sales offices later this month.

Metro is closing the offices located at the Metro Center, Pentagon and Anacostia stations and an office at the Northern Bus Garage in Upper Northwest D.C. starting Nov. 15.

Only the sales office at Metro’s headquarters at 600 Fifth Street in Northwest D.C. will remain open.

The offices sell SmarTrip cards, bus passes and other products. Metro said the offices have seen declining demand in recent years. Each office handles fewer than 200 transactions per day on average, according to Metro.

Metro said most transactions can be done at station fare vending machines, online or even area CVS or Giant locations.

The closures are estimated to affect only 0.03 percent of Metro riders, the agency said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld issued a proposed $1.8 billion budget for the financially troubled transit agency that calls for 1,000 worker layoffs, running trains less frequently during peak times and increasing rush-hour fares by 10 cents.

Audit: Metro put millions of federal dollars at risk in failed Buy America program

By Max Smith
WASHINGTON — Oversight and contracting failures at Metro risked an immediate loss of millions in federal funding, a new audit report from Metro’s Office of Inspector General found. The audit of Metro’s Buy America contract award and oversight process found $68 million in bus, paratransit or rail car vehicle and parts purchases did not meet federal contracting requirements, and $517 million of the $1.4 billion in contracts reviewed did not follow the Federal Transit Administration’s nonbinding suggested best practices.
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