The following information was released by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro):

Metros Board of Directors today (January 28) approved a 10-cent increase on Metrobus, Metrorail and MetroAccess fares to help close an existing $40 million budget gap. The fare increase will take effect on or about March 1 through June 30, and it also will apply to weekly Metrobus and Metrorail passes.

The Boards decision was based largely on input from riders, who testified at a public hearing yesterday (January 27) or submitted written comments about staff proposals to close the budget shortfall. Eighty-eight people testified at the hearing and 596 provided written comments, a majority of which favored a fare increase and opposed service cuts.

We heard from our customers that they would rather increase fares than reduce service, said Peter Benjamin, Metros Chairman of the Board who was sworn into office today. Not a single member of this Board wants to increase fares or decrease service, but we need to take this temporary action to balance the budget this year.

The 10-cent fare increase is expected to generate about $9.6 million in revenue during a four-month period. The remaining budget gap is expected to be filled by making $2.2 million in departmental reductions, utilizing $6 million in insurance recovery from the June 22 Red Line accident, using as much as $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds from project budget balances to support preventive maintenance, adjusting call center hours to save $200,000 and tapping a $5.6 million reserve fund, as needed.

Metros Board directed staff to identify an additional $6.4 million in reduced spending that would have no impact on customers. Such reductions likely would include contract services and consulting work, according to Carol Kissal, Metros Chief Financial Officer and Deputy General Manager of Administration.