Preliminary work for future bus rapid transit service from Tysons to Alexandria along the Route 7 corridor is taking another step forward.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) voted on Thursday (Dec. 5) to send out a request for proposals to firms interested in studying the easternmost leg of the corridor from Seven Corners to Alexandria.
A contract is expected to be ratified by March. The firm selected will have 18 months to complete the work, including a determination of whether the service’s eastern terminus in Alexandria should be at the Southern Towers apartments or the Mark Center.
It is the last segment of NVTC’s “Envision Route 7” plan to be studied, following reviews of the Tysons segment, which starts at the Spring Hill Metro Station, and the Falls Church area.
Federal, state and local funds are supporting the effort.
Route 7, currently served by Metrobus’s Route 28A, has evolved into one of the most transit-heavy corridors in the region. Bus usage is expected to grow by 25% — to about 30,000 boardings per day — once the high-capacity, high-frequency BRT network is in place.
Wins, losses for N. Va. in new transit-subsidy formula
Northern Virginia leaders say the recently revamped subsidy formulas governing how much localities pay to support Metro rail and bus service may not be perfect, but are more fair.
Recently ratified by the board of directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the changes will see Northern Virginia pay more to subsidize the rail network — in part due to the opening of the Silver Line — but less for bus service.
“A lot of work went on behind the scenes over a long period of time” to win final approval of the changes, said Matt Letourneau, who represents NVTC on the WMATA board.
Virginia jurisdictions will have to pay approximately $1.5 million more to support the transit system, bringing its total annual subsidy up to $463.5 million. D.C. will pay $685 million, a $1 million increase, and Maryland will pay $629 million, a decrease of $2.5 million.
“Getting agreement from Virginia, Maryland and D.C. — all of whom believe they pay too much — is not an easy thing to do,” Letourneau told NVTC members at last week’s commission meeting.
The last change to the Metrobus subsidy formula had been in 1999. The rail formula hadn’t been updated since 1977.
The formulas, old and new, use a combination of overall population, system ridership and other factors to determine how much each locality is required to pay into WMATA each year.
Under the new subsidy structure, Arlington will no longer carry the sole burden for ridership using the Reagan Washington National Airport stop, and ridership using the Dulles International Airport station will no longer be assessed completely on Loudoun County.
“We thought, frankly, that didn’t make much sense,” Letourneau said.
In addition, localities will receive credit for the percentage of riders who actually pay their fares. That will benefit Northern Virginia, which has a lower percentage of evaders than D.C. and Maryland.
At the Dec. 5 meeting, some NVTC members were critical of keeping a jurisdiction’s population as a major criterion in determining the subsidy they owe, rather than putting more weight on those who actually use rail and bus service.
Letourneau said Northern Virginia leaders attempted to convince their D.C. counterparts to put less emphasis on population in the formula, but were met with stiff opposition.
Anti-streetcar crusader wished well by transit body
Also at their Dec. 5 meeting, NVTC members approved a resolution thanking Arlington County Board member Libby Garvey for seven years of service on the commission.
The commendation noted that Garvey “understood the importance of educating legislators and the public on the challenges this region faces to provide a safe, reliable transportation system.”
Garvey, a Democrat, is retiring on Dec. 31 after 12 years on Arlington’s governing body. She previously served on the county’s school board.
While a proponent of regional cooperation on transit and other issues, Garvey’s tenure in elected office likely will be most remembered for her opposition to a planned $350 million streetcar line that would’ve connected Pentagon City to Skyline in Bailey’s Crossroads along Columbia Pike.
Fairfax County leaders were strongly supportive of the streetcar proposal, but Garvey and other opponents said the funding needed would impact other priority transportation projects.
Starting out in 2012 as the lone Arlington board member against the proposal, Garvey faced furious opposition but slowly picked up backing. After an anti-streetcar independent was elected to the body in 2014, two other Democrats switched sides and killed the proposal in November of that year.
Owing to the transience of the region and Arlington in particular, that decade-old controversy has begun to fade from public consciousness. Perhaps not surprisingly, Garvey’s NVTC colleagues didn’t reference the streetcar in their farewell commendation for her.
Letourneau said Garvey could be counted on for candor even when others shied away.
“You have the habit of asking the questions everyone is thinking,” he told her.
