On-time Metrobus performance declined in fiscal year 2025 from the previous two years, leading transit leaders to plan more aggressive moves to keep the buses on schedule.
“We’ll be focusing on things in our direct control,” said Jordan Holt, senior director of performance, benchmarking and customer service at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) at the Sept. 11 meeting of WMATA’s safety and operations committee.
According to data released at the meeting, Metrobus recorded an on-time rate of 75.7% for the past fiscal year that ended June 30. That’s down from 76.4% in FY 2024 and 77% in FY 2023, and it’s moving further away from WMATA’s target of 80%.
When it comes to trips completed, the rate of 97.4% in FY 2025 was down from 98.3% and 98.6% in the preceding two years and below the target of 99%.
Holt noted that some factors affecting the reliability of bus service are out of WMATA’s control.
Post-pandemic traffic congestion on the D.C. region’s roads led to a 3% decline in average bus speeds from FY 2024 to FY 2025.
“Congestion is our biggest threat to reliability,” Holt said, asking Metro board members to ask their jurisdictions to partner on initiatives giving transit buses traffic priority.
When it comes to in-house steps that could improve reliability, WMATA staff pointed to hiring more bus operators and continuing twice-yearly service adjustments.
Making changes every six months helps “ensure we are developing schedules that can be delivered reliably,” Holt said.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who serves on the WMATA board and chairs its safety and operations committee, said it’s good for members to hear both the successes and challenges of the preceding year.
“The culture of continuous improvement is so important,” he said.
It’s perhaps too early to tell whether the major revamp of Metro routes that rolled out in late June will positively impact the performance results.
One place where the transit system has seen improvement is on crime statistics.
In the FY 2025 service report released earlier this month, WMATA found a 43% drop in crime from June 2024 to the same month in 2025 and a 50% decline compared to FY 2023 — a trend that the agency attributed to efforts to crack down on fare evasion, more visible staff on trains and platforms, the use of crisis intervention teams and other strategies.
While seemingly separate issues, transit service and public safety are, in reality, interconnected, according to Tracy Hadden Loh, who represents D.C. on the WMATA board.
“All these pieces fit together,” she said. “Frequency and reliability of service also speaks to safety … If we keep people moving and not waiting around, the system is going to be safer.”
Alcorn agreed that riders spending “the shortest time on the system” possible “is actually a positive thing.”
