Alliance Urges Transit Commission to Assign High Priority to Regional Express Bus and WMATA Compact Revision
At the January 5th meeting of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, the Alliance urged the Commission to focus its 2017-2018 work plan document on those actions and programs that the Commission believes will make the greatest difference in improving transit in the region.
The Alliance observed that while the document included many proposed actions and tasks it did not prioritize them and failed to include developing a regional express bus network and WMATA Compact revisions among its actions.
In urging the Commission to assign high priority to essential regional express bus network improvements and services, Alliance Policy Director Nancy Smith observed,
“Billions have been invested to create Express Lanes around the region to form the basis of such a network and billions more are in the pipeline. [The] goal should be to have a regional Express Bus system plan in place by the time I-66 corridor improvements become operational [in 2021].”
The Alliance has long supported a robust regional express bus system as an important resource to enhance direct connections to major employment centers and supplement the existing Metrorail network.
The Alliance also urged the Commission to “acknowledge support for the necessary reforms to the WMATA Compact and personnel policies needed to ensure that WMATA has the ability to institute reforms necessary to restore Metro to a world class status system.”