July 23, 2026 | The 51st
The ridership loss, meanwhile, is due at least partially to streamlining places where service overlaps with neighboring jurisdictions — particularly Montgomery County’s RideOn, Metro says. The transit agency also notes that overall travel in the region is down about 2.5 percent since the second Trump administration began. People who rely on the bus may be particularly likely to travel less right now.
“The loss of 100,000 jobs in our region has affected everything, including transportation – commute trips in particular and add to that this horrible crackdown on… our hard-working immigrant community,” said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the pro-transit Coalition for Smarter Growth. “Many of them may not be taking transit now for safety reasons.”
Meanwhile people who commute some but not all of the time “have gotten out of the transit habit,” he said. There are still more than 100,000 fewer daily riders on Metrorail than there were in 2019.