While much of the debate surrounding the transportation-funding bill the Virginia General Assembly will vote on Wednesday has been focused on its impact on roads, the package contains significant money for mass transit.
“The funding of transit is a core public service,” said Gov. Tim Kaine,who estimated annual state spending on mass transit will increase 45 percent under the bill. “Everybody realizes that in Virginia we have not been strong in funding mass transit.”
The new funding comes as more and more Northern Virginians use mass transit to get around. Ridership across the region has increased 17 percent over the past five years, according to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, and the number of miles passengers rode on trains and buses jumped 34 percent.
The bill lets Northern Virginia localities raise a series of taxes and fees to generate about $400 million a year for regional transportation projects. Some of that money is automatically earmarked for transit – Metro, for example gets the first $50 million of local money. When work is ready to begin on the second phase of the project to bring Metro to Dulles International Airport, another $20 million annually will be set aside.
“The transportation bill looks very good for transit in Northern Virginia,” regional commission chairman David Snyder said.
The measure also earmarks $30 million a year out of the Northern Virginia regional revenue for the Virginia Railway Express. The money will cover purchase of new locomotives and passenger cars and expand the service into Prince William County and Fairfax’s Fort Belvoir, which expects an influx of employees because of the federal Base Realignment and Closure process.
One of the many changes Kaine made to the bill would allocate about $40 million a year transit operating costs throughout the commonwealth. State officials hope to grow systems like the railway express to get traffic on crowded roads.
“We want to expand VRE,” Kaine said, citing possible service in the future to Gainesville, Fredericksburg and Front Royal.
“We could eventually see VRE running down to Richmond. That would help tremendously in the I-95 corridor.”
