C2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MAY 29 , 2022
commuterBY JUSTIN GEORGEFive of Metro’s Orange Line sta-
tions on Saturday began a closure
of more than three months for a
train platform replacement proj-
ect and station upgrades.
The stations, east of the Stadi-
um-Armory station in the District,
are New Carrollton, Landover, Ch-
everly, Deanwood and Minnesota
Avenue. N ew C arrollton, Landover
and Cheverly are the last of Metro’s
21 / 2 -year program to rebuild 20 out-
door platforms in the 91-station
system that are worn out from
decades of use and weather, ac-
cording to the transit agency.
The Deanwood and Minnesota
Avenue stations will undergo up-
grades, while workers also will
make bridge repairs at six loca-
tions along the Orange Line. The
work includes installing fiber opticcables for radio communication
and replacing track switches.
The new platforms are expected
to include slip-resistant tiles, LED
lighting, larger digital display
screens, stainless-steel platform
shelters with power outlets, and
new surveillance cameras.
The project has stopped service
between the Stadium-Armory and
New Carrollton stations in Mary-
land until Sept. 5.Metro is providing free shuttle
bus service between the closed sta-
tions to stations that are i n service.
Shuttle buses at all five closed sta-
tions leave every 15 to 20 minutes.
Parking at the closed stations is
free, the transit agency said.
Orange Line trains will operate
on weekdays between Vienna and
Stadium-Armory. MARC and
Amtrak service at New Carrollton
will not be affected.On weekends, Metrorail will n ot
run Orange, Blue or Silver line
service between the Stadium-Ar-
mory, New Carrollton and Ben-
ning Road stations.
Orange Line trains will operate
between Vienna and Ballston on
weekends. Metro suggests that rid-
ers transfer to and from the Silver
Line at Ballston to continue their
trips.
Trains on the Blue and Silverlines are operating between the
stations of Largo Town Center and
Benning Road; Stadium-Armory
and Franconia-Springfield; and
Stadium-Armory and Wiehle-Res-
ton East.
Free shuttle service will be pro-
vided on weekends between the
Benning Road and Stadium -
Armory stations, as well as be-
tween the five closed Orange Line
stations.5 Orange Line stations closed for 3 months for upgrades
BY LUZ LAZOMaryland residents can now
carry a digital version of their
driver’s license or identification
card on their phone, then use it to
get through security checkpoints
at two of the Washington region’s
airports.
The mobile credentials stored
in Apple Wallet are acceptable at
Baltimore-Washington Interna-
tional Marshall and Reagan Na-
tional airports, the Maryland Mo-
tor Vehicle Administration and
Transportation Security Adminis-
tration announced Wednesday.
The TSA has been working with
Apple and several states since last
year to enable the use of the
digital version of credentials at
airport security lanes. Maryland
is the second state to offer the
option. Arizonans in March were
eligible to store copies of their IDs
in their iPhone or Apple Watch,
and to tap the feature to present
their identification at TSA check-
points at Phoenix Sky Harbor
I nternational Airport.
Federal officials said the tech-
nology is available only for pas-
sengers at TSA PreCheck lanes,
but the agency is working to ex-
pand the capability to other pas-
sengers. TSA spokeswoman Lisa
Farbstein said expansion is limit-
ed by the availability of “creden-
tial authentication technology”
readers that TSA officers use at
document checkpoints.
Washington Dulles Interna-
tional Airport does not have the
technology to accept mobile driv-
er’s licenses, Farbstein said.
Supporters of mobile IDs envi-
sion they eventually will be ac-
cepted to enter government
buildings, for purchase of alco-
holic beverages and to show if
pulled over by police.
The availability of mobile li-
censes and their acceptance as
proof of identity marks a mile-
stone, officials said, adding that
the option will enhance security
and privacy for ID holders, while
providing a touchless option at
checkpoints.
“Maryland Mobile ID in Apple
Wallet offers additional security
and privacy benefits than the
physical state ID or driver’s li-
cense because Marylanders get to
review the personal information
they share with others, and use
biometric authentication with
Face ID or Touch ID to authorize
it,” MVA Administrator Chrissy
Nizer said in a statement. She saidthe agency expects the number of
locations accepting mobile ID to
grow.
More than 20 states have con-
sidered, tested or launched digital
versions of driver’s licenses. Ap-
ple last year announced plans to
roll out driver’s licenses and state
IDs on the iPhone and Apple
Watch as part of a partnership
with several states, including Ari-
zona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa,
Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma
and Utah.
The D.C. Council in December
approved legislation that would
allow the city to issue electronic
driver’s licenses and IDs. The leg-
islation would allow people to
present identification in an elec-
tronic format, such as on a smart-
phone, instead of a physical cre-
dential, except when prohibited
by federal law.
The Virginia Department of
Motor Vehicles said Thursday
that it is making progress on the
development of a mobile ID op-
tion it hopes to launch next year.
The agency successfully tested the
use of digital credentials in 2016
and concluded it was “technically
feasible” to provide the option.
In Maryland, residents who
have a v alid state ID or license canMd. begins issuing digital ID cards,
driver’s licenses for use at airports
get the mobile option in Apple
Wallet on an iPhone 8 or newer, or
an Apple Watch Series 4 or later,
with the latest version of the oper-
ating software.
To enroll, users can tap the
“plus” button at the top of thescreen in Apple Wallet on their
iPhone and select “Driver’s li-
cense or State ID” and follow the
instructions, which include tak-
ing a photo of their ID and a
headshot to send to the MVA for
verification.Even if using the mobile ID at
the airport, passengers should
continue to carry their physical
driver’s license or identification
card, the TSA said, noting that
they could still be asked to show
the physical ID.WASHINGTON POST ILLUSTRATION
Maryland residents can now store their driver’s license or state ID in their Apple Wallet for use on
their iPhone. The IDs can be used at TSA PreCheck lanes at BWI and Reagan National airports.BY JUSTIN GEORGEThe recent Metro safety prob-
lems and leadership changes can-
not obscure what lies ahead for
the transit agency: major funding
issues and possible service cuts if
ridership does not dramatically
improve. While there are signs of
ridership increases, the agency is
still a long way from closing a
projected funding gap that transit
officials estimated to be about half
a billion dollars before the award
of a large federal grant.
The Metro fare revenue decline
began early in the pandemic, but
the agency was saved by $2.4 bil-
lion in federal coronavirus relief
money. That money, however, be-
gins to run out next summer,
when the new Metro fiscal year
begins. The agency is also bracing
for a similar shortfall in its capital
projects budget in the coming
years, as Metro pays back bonds it
issued to expedite maintenance
and u pgrades during the pandem-
ic.
Michael Goldman, who repre-
sented Montgomery County on
the Metro board for eight years,
until last summer, shared his
ideas on how Metro can try to
avoid service cuts. He now serves
as chair of the Washington Subur-
ban Transit Commission, which
supported a recent proposal in
which the District, Maryland and
Virginia would increase their cap-
ital funding contributions to Met-
ro by at least 3 percent each year.
Goldman spoke to The Wash-
ington Post about how Metro
might navigate the next few years.
Responses were lightly edited for
clarity.
Q: The pandemic hurt all transit
agencies, but what were the
effects for Metro?
A: It really goes to the heart of the
Metro business plan and the
Metro model, which is essentially
a system that was designed to
transport federal workers from
their homes in the suburbs
downtown to federal office
buildings. That provided the
ridership base. It provided the
revenue base through the
employer travel benefits
program. It provided the revenue
share in terms of the larger
budget to make the Metro
operation sustainable for these
last 15 years to 20 years.
When you had that chunk of
money representing maybe
45 percent to 55 percent of the
operating budget in passenger
revenue, that was sort of the basis
for Metro then being able to go to
the jurisdictions to obtain the
subsidy to cover the other half of
the operating budget. Now, this
has all probably been shot. Some
new business plan and
projections are going to have to
be devised for Metro to survive
going forward.Q: Why does it seem like Metro
is going to have a harder time to
recover than many agencies?
A: The loss of commuters is a
problem throughout the country.
But I think the unique
demographics in the Washington
area with the major employerbeing the federal government
and, second of all, a lot of the
ridership being white-collar
rather than in a city like New York
or Chicago, where there is a larger
blue-collar portion of the
ridership, means that the impact
of lower ridership levels is going
to be more greatly felt at Metro.Q: What do the problems with
the suspended 7000-series cars,
which were found to have had a
defect that triggered an
investigation and shortage of
rail cars, say about Metro?
A: I think it sort of pulled the
Band-Aid off a number of long-
term cultural problems that
Metro has had that I noticed in
my few years there. One is the
kind of stove-piping where each
unit or department sort of does
its own thing and there is very
little coordination. I think we see
that here, where the operating
people were treating this initiallyas a warranty problem, and really
not bringing in the safety people
and coordinating a response with
them. They never really focused
on it as being a major safety
problem and a major concern for
ridership at a very high level.Q: What options does Metro
have with this looming fiscal
cliff, as you have called it?
A: What they can do first is to be
honest with the jurisdictions and
public and indeed, show them
this is coming. There are
probably three or four things that
could be considered as a way to
closing that hole. One, which is
probably the more optimistic, is
some kind of a regional sales tax,
which would provide a good
chunk of that money, essentially a
new source of revenue. A second
is obviously some increased
subsidy directly from the
jurisdictions, but I suspect that is
going to be a very hard road to besuccessful on, especially with the
Virginia jurisdictions that rely on
a property tax base for revenue.
The third area is to begin to
look at where services can be, or I
don’t want to say cut, let us be
more prosaic and say augmented
or refined or revised, to reflect the
new realities of what the revenue
stream would be. T hat might
consist of taking a hard look at
some of the long-haul commuter
bus routes that probably have
seen a significant decrease in
ridership. And I think that is
probably true of some of the
shorter commuter routes from
Northwest Washington and the
Virginia suburbs with the new
federal government and
employer acceptance of telework.
The other thing is to look at
some of the Metrorail operations.
I guess that comes down to
looking at things like the service
hours. How late do you want to
go? What kind of service do you
want to provide on weekends?
What kind of service do you want
to provide on the very expensive
Silver Line addition, which at
least in the last month that I was
there, it was estimated to cost
around $10 million a month or
over $120 million a year? The key
to the Metro budget is personnel,
and so you can reduce your
operating expense if you reduce
personnel, train operators and
bus operators, and that is where
you get back to what level of
service can you change.Q: Will the 3 percent annual
increase that the District and
Maryland have proposed and
that Virginia is considering for
annual capital budget
contributions help Metro avoid
its looming capital or
construction budget hole?
A: This is sort of the first drop in
the bucket. A 3 percent annual
increase is not going to cover the
gap of a billion dollars, which will
now come along in 2026 or 202 7
when the dedicated funding from
the District, Maryland and
Virginia is exhausted as a source
of backing up new bonding, so I
am very concerned about that.
I am very concerned about it
because e ven the current capitalneeds projections for Metro do
not reflect the cost of a fully
electric bus fleet now in its plans.
The budget projections are based
on replacement numbers as
though they were diesel or
natural gas-type buses. It does not
reflect the added costs for an
individual electric bus, nor does it
reflect the cost for charging in the
various bus garages.
I honestly am not sure how
much of the budget reflects these
new 8000-series rail cars that
have been ordered from Hitachi. I
see this as a major issue for
Metro. The problem I see is that if
you are running a railroad or rail
system, those reoccurring capital
costs on the rails are going to be
there whether you are running a
system that is 95 percent of pre-
covid levels in terms of ridership,
or 60 percent to 70 percent.Q: How do you sell the idea of a
sales tax to voters who are
frustrated with Metro because
of the train shortage, recurring
safety lapses and charges from
elected officials that Metro has a
management problem?
A: You have to have the National
Transportation Safety Board or
the Washington Metrorail Safety
Commission come up with a root-
cause analysis of why the wheels
separated from the axle, e ven
though they are small amounts,
in millimeters or less than an
inch. Then Metro has got to get
out there and say, “Well, we now
have an understanding of what
went wrong. We have a system to
make those changes. We are going
to engage in a process of weekly
or monthly or daily inspections or
whatever level of inspection we’re
going to provide to ensure that
this is a safe system.”
It probably has to be an
inspection process that is kind of
overly safe in the beginning for
the first year or two to show there
is this commitment to running a
safe and reliable service. And
above that, you are going to have,
this is more an exercise in public
relations, a campaign advertising
with public officials attesting that
they believe Metro is on its way
back, it is a safe system and they
are going to ride Metro again.Transit commission chairman o≠ers ideas for Metro funding problems
BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST
Michael Goldman, left, shakes hands with Jack Evans in 2019. Goldman, a member of the Metro board
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