Save the date! Public hearing on Metro’s FY26 budget takes place May 15

Our proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year has been released. You can read it here. 

The proposed $9.4-billion balanced budget reflects our commitment to serving you and addressing your biggest concerns: keeping our system safe, making your rides better and more frequent, ensuring everything is clean, and connecting riders experiencing homelessness with the support they need. 

The budget will be considered by the Metro Board of Directors next month. But before that happens, we’re holding a public hearing on Thursday, May 15, at 10 a.m. You can attend in person in the Board Room on the third floor of Metro headquarters adjacent to Union Station. The hearing will also be live-streamed; a link will appear at this site when the hearing begins.  

To listen by phone: Dial 888-978-8818 and enter Access Code: 5647249# (English) or 7292892# (Español)  

Here are some highlights of this year’s budget:  

Public Safety   

Metro continues to implement a comprehensive care-based approach to enhance public safety on our system. Instead of relying solely on a single strategy, a layered approach provides a more effective response by deploying the right resources to address the specific safety concern. The FY26 Public Safety Resource Deployment Proposed Budget of $392.5 million is 1.9% over FY25 and includes various efforts mentioned below. 

• Ambassadors 

• Community Intervention Specialists (CIS) 

• Homeless Outreach 

• Crisis Intervention Teams 

• Metro Transit Security Officers 

• Transit Community Public Safety Department (TCPSD) 

• Taller Fare Gates Pilot

• Tap-to-Exit Pilot

• CCTV Expansion 

• Weapons Detection Phase 2 Pilot  

Cleaning  

The FY26 Proposed Budget includes $316.1 million for comprehensive cleaning activities, reflecting a 13.1% increase over FY25. Below are the highlights:  

• 34 new custodial staff 

• 84 new service attendants  

• Bus: Daily cleaning; four terminals 7-days/week 

• Rail: Daily division cleaning; three end-of-line (EOL) cleaning shifts 7-days/week 

• New mid-line cleaning: Trains cleaned while in service 

• Stations: Rail custodial staff at 17 hot spots  

• Facilities: Graffiti control, power sweeping, trash removal 

• Station Experience: $9.9 million allocated to support program expansion 

Increased Service  

In FY26, we’ll open several projects poised to transform the way our riders get around, including the A Line Extension to Pomona and Section 1of the D Line Extension Project to Wilshire/Fairfax. 

Revenue Service Hours  

Increase our systemwide bus, rail service and Metro Micro plan by 2.2% over the previous fiscal year to 8.9M Revenue Service Hours in FY26.  

Enhanced frequency  

The bus service plan continues to improve through NextGen, resulting in an all-day network that is faster, more frequent, and more reliable. Efforts will continue to expand NextGen Bus Speed and Reliability initiatives, including new bus priority lanes and transit signal priority. 

Rail improvements include year-round operation of enhanced service frequencies. These upgrades are designed to accommodate increased ridership from the D Line Extension and improve systemwide rail ridership.   

• 8-minute peak weekday service frequency on the C and K Lines 

• 5-minute peak/10-minute off-peak frequency on the D Line  

• 10-minute all day frequency on the B Line after Section 1 of the D Line Extension begins operations  

Fare Programs  

The budget funds:   

• GoPass: The program provides free fares for K-12 and community college students in Los Angeles County and has 503,884 participants as of March 2025. 

• Low Income Fare Is Easy (LIFE): LIFE boardings continue to grow as customers participate in the program and utilize LIFE subsidies. The program has 435,391 total LIFE participants as of March 2025.  

• Fare capping: This program has saved customers money by ensuring that they never pay more than $5 per day or $18 per week for using our bus and rail system. 

• Mobility Wallet: This pilot program, launched in collaboration with LADOT, has helped reduce transportation expenses for low-income families. 

• Wildfire Fare Program: Metro is modifying the eligibility requirements for our reduced fare and discount fare programs, making it easier for you to access essential resources, recover and rebuild. 

We developed this budget by listening carefully to your questions and concerns over the past six months. We want to make sure the budget reflects what matters most to you. You can explore the details of our budget and leave comments at Metro’s budget portal feedback page or by emailing us at budgetcomments@metro.net.