A frontloader clears snow at the Rhode Island Ave - Brentwood Metro station (courtesy Larry Levine/WMATA)

Metro is reporting that the huge February snowfall has cost them almost $18 million dollars. The bulk of that, $9.7 million, is due to reduced ridership because the system was barely operational and only underground during the double blast of snow.

Metro is working with area governments to try and recoup the costs through federal disaster aid, said Carol Kissal, Metro’s Chief Financial Officer.

In addition to the almost $10 million in lost revenue, snow removal and overtime cost the agency $8 million. And revenue losses continue to mount from unusable parking spaces that are still unplowed.

The December snow storm cost Metro $2.7 million, and had already pushed the system beyond it’s annual snow removal budget of $2.5 million.

Samer Farha

Born in Lebanon, Samer moved to DC to go to college. A lot of good that did him. Twenty-two years later, he still lives in the area. When he’s not writing for a blog or tweeting incessantly, he wanders the streets (and the globe) photographing whatever gets in his way.