VRE and the cancellation of a late-morning train

Today's "Sprawl and Crawl" column in the Examiner has a bit on the cancellation of the late-morning train on the Virginia Railway Express Manassas line. The writer says this train is relied upon by people who need to do something homeward before going off to the city for work, and that the train ridership varies daily.

OTOH, VRE cancelled the train because it has only 60 riders. That's a lot of money to spend on a train for 60 people. More like a private train car.

Maybe a solution would be to replace this particular run with a bus, in order to respond to the point made by the writer that ""Now I'll have to drive in on days like this, which will also render the VRE weekly and monthly passes less valuable. In effect it becomes a fare hike and a reduction in service."