Fewer Metro passengers: $22M budget gap

The transit agency's chief financial officer, Carol Kissal, told the board's finance committee Thursday that if ridership does not bounce back by December the cuts could grow. The estimated shortfall is based on July and August ridership numbers.

Metro forecast 3 percent ridership increase across the board this year, but rail ridership fell 3 percent and bus ridership dropped 5 percent during the first two months of the fiscal year.

Kissal attributed the ridership declines to higher unemployment rates, lower gas prices and the June 22 crash that killed nine people and reduced capacity on the Red Line, the rail system's busiest.

Metro General Manager John Catoe says he is putting a plan together to address the budget impact of the lower ridership. He would not say whether that means layoffs.

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