Reply to The Pandemic Hit Cities Hard And Then There's Washington, DC

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm more concerned about Metro. Will they ever get back to full ridership? They already had budget shortfalls before the pandemic.[/quote]
What’s “full ridership”? Ridership peaked in 2009 and has been downhill since. WMATA loses money on every ride and yet they have foolishly been suckered into running empty buses and trains because some dudes goaded them into it because it’s convenient for them. In 2 years they will have wasted their once in a generation life support and that’s when the real pain begins. [/quote]

How much money does DDOT get paid for our roads by people driving?  It's been losing money on building roads since forever.[/quote]
One difference between the two is that DDOT does not have a dedicated funding stream. WMATA and it’s boosters demanded a dedicated funding stream and now they have a dedicated funding stream. Once ARP funds disappear in 2024, they will need to figure out how to provide their services within the constraints of their fare recovery and dedicated local funding. [/quote]

DDOT has had dedicated funding streams from DC and doesn't make any money off it.  Roads get people places.  So does metro.  Why do you only look to Metro to earn money off it?[/quote]
This is all tangential but can you point me to DDOTs statutory dedicated funding from DC? Any given year DDOTs funding can be zeroed out. WMATAs dedicated funding is secured from sales tax revenue. Anyway, there is no point in this discussion because I don’t care about WMATA. The reality is that they will be facing another fiscal cliff very soon, like they do every few years and next time local governments will not be as sympathetic for a bailout because they gave them what they said they needed: dedicated funding.

WMATA is a fiscally reckless and wasteful agency. It always has been. Fed bailouts have staved off their day of reckoning but it will come all the same unless they get Fed bailouts in perpetuity. [/quote]

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