Metro News Release

For immediate release: September 8, 2004

Officials pleased panel will tackle need for dedicated funding source for Metro

Metro officials were pleased at today’s action by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Board to establish a special regional panel to examine dedicated funding options for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). WMATA is the only transit agency of its size in the nation that does not have a dedicated source of funding. A recent report by the Brookings Institution, " Washington’s Metro: Deficits by Design," documented that the agency faces serious budgetary challenges due in large part to its problematic revenue base. The lack of a dedicated funding source makes the agency vulnerable to recurring financial crises, the report stated. The 13-member panel is being jointly sponsored by COG, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Federal City Council. It will include representatives from local governments, regional governmental and business interests, transit stakeholders, and commuters. It will review and analyze the current and future financial needs of WMATA then issue a report to the three sponsors and to the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia in mid-December. " We are extremely pleased that the region is joining with the business community to address the very serious issue of the structural funding issues that plague the Authority," said Metro General Manager and CEO Richard White. The Brookings study states that, " If the transit system becomes dysfunctional and continues to deteriorate, it will be far more difficult to concentrate development, and the region’s ongoing decentralization of jobs and workers will get worse. By denying WMATA a stable, reliable, dedicated source of funding, this region is doing just that. The passengers, businesses, commuters and governments that rely on WMATA deserve better and the states and local governments that support it deserve better." " The region and the Federal government cannot afford to let one of the finest transit systems in the country continue to fall into disrepair and become more unreliable," Mr. White said. " The health and economic vitality of this region, as well as the operations of the Federal government, rely upon Metro daily." More than 1.1 million trips a day are taken on Metrorail and Metrobus, combined, and nearly half of all rush-hour riders are Federal employees. The concept calling for the creation of a panel to examine dedicated funding options for WMATA was previously endorsed by several policymaking bodies this summer, including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the WMATA Board.

News release issued on September 8, 2004.