MetroNow Dispatch 3.2023
This month, we recap the District Strong conversation on regional buses, dish out the March ScuttleBus, and thank our transit champions of the month… we think you may know them.
50 Years of Regional Bus Service. What’s Next?
On March 22, Federal City Council and MetroNow hosted a District Strong conversation featuring Randy Clarke, CEO and General Manager of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and Kate Mattice, Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC). Co-moderating the discussion was Anthony Williams, CEO and Executive Director of the Federal City Council and Kathy Hollinger, CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership.
Better Buses & Regional Coordination
This year marks the 50th anniversary of MetroBus, the sixth largest bus network in the country, operating over 1600 buses, running 160 routes, and serving hundreds of thousands of trips each day. It seems fitting that on its 50th anniversary, WMATA is advancing the Better Bus initiative and its regional bus network redesign to better serve the regional economy, its workforce, and residents.
But WMATA is not the only bus provider in the region. Mattice and Clarke talked about the need to better integrate and coordinate across the region. In Northern Virginia alone, there are six bus providers. Mattice and Clarke can envision a system where the rider doesn’t even notice they are switching between different transit systems because service, signage, payment, and even the look and feel of the buses are the same. We obviously aren’t there yet but a regional strategic plan to better align providers is in the works.
Much of the remainder of the conversation revolved around two main topics:
How to provide safe, frequent, reliable service.
How to fund safe, frequent, reliable service.
Operators & Funding
MetroNow’s 2023 Bus Progress Report called out the significant challenges that transit agencies face hiring and retaining bus operators, but noted that the situation is much less acute than during the height of the pandemic. In fact, Clarke noted that WMATA’s operator vacancy rate is just over 2 percent, one of the lowest in the country.
The Progress Report also stressed the urgent need to find a regional funding solution to avoid drastic cuts to transit service. For all of its existence, WMATA has not had a reliable, dedicated funding source, creating regular squabbles among its three primary jurisdictions. 2023 is the year we must devise a solution or the regional bus network redesign could quickly turn into a bus network bust. Collectively, we cannot let that happen.
MetroNow looks forward to working with WMATA, NVTC, MWCOG, and leaders from across the region over the next year to make sure the time for better transit (and better buses) is now.
The ScuttleBus: March 2023
Mama always said life was like a box of ScuttleBus. You never know what you're gonna get. Here are MetroNow’s top transit picks this month:
⌛ 459 Days Until the Transit Cliff: WMATA’s FY 2025 budget starts July 1, 2024. That’s the one with the expected $700m+ budget gap. Nothing to see here.
🚇 Breaking Half-Records: Metrorail reaches a pandemic-era record for ridership, but it’s only about half of pre-pandemic ridership.
🏆 You Like Me, You Really Really Like Me: Most riders like Metro, survey finds, they just don’t ride it as often.
💰 Spending Money to Make Money: WMATA says it will spend up to $40 million to retrofit faregates to cut down on fare evasion.
🏙️ Black Developers Investing in Blue Line Corridor: Local minority developers are leading $767 million in investments into communities and transit-oriented development along the Blue Line Corridor, building on County Executive Alsobrooks vision for the corridor in Prince George’s County.
⚡ 3 Years Early, Hopefully Not Too Late: WMATA’s updated zero-emission bus plan accelerates the transition of the fleet by three years… to 2042.
😩 No Money, No Metro for DC: Declining revenue projections have put the Metro for DC Act in jeopardy, which would have made all Metrobus fares in DC free starting July. TBD on whether the District will find a way to pay for free fares this year.
✂️ Half of DC Circulator Routes May Be Cut: To save money, Mayor Boswer proposed getting rid of three of the Circulator’s six routes — Rosslyn to Dupont Circle, Eastern Market to L’Enfant Plaza, and Woodley Park to McPherson Square Metro.
🤖 ChatGPT to Drive Trains… NOT ACTUALLY: WMATA plans to return to automated Metrorail trains by December, a return to the self-piloting mode for which it was designed to operate.
🥈New Silver Line Stations Still Warming Up: In their first few winter-y months, the new stations accounted for only about 3,700 daily trips, or 1.4 percent of the rail system’s total. We need more transit-oriented development ASAP to heat up those stations!
Transit Champion of the Month: The Cherry Blossoms
Thanks to the organizers behind the National Cherry Blossom Festival and staff working overtime at WMATA, we get to enjoy four consecutive weekends with weekday Metrorail service free of daytime track work on all lines, starting last weekend. Metro already had its busiest Sunday since 2015! However, too many people driving to see the blossoms resulted in complete gridlock. Next year, let’s make Metro, bike and walk our regional cherry blossom modes of choice!
Cherry Blossoms, can you blossom all the time?
Subscribe + Share!
Sharing is caring! Share the MetroNow Dispatch with any friends, colleagues, or family members who want to join us for the ride!
Follow @MetroNow on Twitter for daily tidbits of transit gold.
Reach out to us directly with any feedback, hot takes, or ideas for future newsletter topics: info@metronow.com
The MetroNow Coalition is made up of regional leaders from the business, non-profit, and advocacy communities who believe that transit is designed to bring us together —at work, school, and play. Today, we believe our collective advocacy for better transit for the Washington DC region is more important than ever.
We launched the MetroNow Dispatch to bring residents, leaders, and transit agencies together to think about how we can make better transit today, during the pandemic, and “tomorrow,” as we look beyond recovery to how we can build a more equitable, sustainable, and accessible transportation system for our region.