Metro delays create hassles for businesses, workers

Metrorail delays played a factor in Danielle Romanetti’s decision at the beginning of the year to close fibre space, her Old Town Alexandria yarn and knitting supplies shop, an hour earlier each day.

“We now close at [7 p.m.] instead of [8 p.m.], just so staff can get home in time to eat a proper dinner and spend time with their families,” says Romanetti.

In January, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced the suspension of all 748 of its 7000 series rail cars — which represent about 60% of Metro’s fleet — through at least mid-April while it investigates a wheel problem that caused a derailment in October 2021. This happened after the authority pulled all 164 of its 6000 series cars following separate incidents in 2020 involving couplers that link railcars. Sixty-two of those cars had been restored as of early March, says Metro spokesperson Sherri Ly, and the authority has accelerated efforts to return its 6000 series cars to service. In early March, Metro had 330 rail cars in service.

Rail riders have faced delays since last October, but the impact on the area’s workforce was limited by the pandemic, which has significantly cut weekday Metrorail demand from an average 638,000 daily riders during February 2020 to weekday ridership in the high-100,000s in early March. Most federal workers continued to work from home early this year.

“At any other time, this would be catastrophic,” says Julie Coons, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “We need to be on a path to resolving this problem. It is imperative to the long-term success of our region. Metro is an integral part of our transportation system.”

For workers who must show up to work in person, employers say they are being lenient. Around the corner from Romanetti’s shop, Ellen Klein, who owns Hooray for Books!, says some employees now leave early to avoid delays.

Dane Scott, a managing partner of Seasons 52, a restaurant in Tysons, says as many as 30% of his 25- to 30-person morning kitchen staff is late on any given day. Some are coming from night jobs and are resorting to alternatives, including paying for Uber rides.

“In an already difficult environment to hire and retain staff,” Scott says, “the Metro right now is certainly not doing anything to help that.”