More federal employees soon may be back working full-time from their offices — at least those who don’t get laid off.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed staff on Tuesday (Feb. 4) to develop a communication and outreach strategy to inform workers who will be returning to the office, as ordered by the Trump administration, of the full range of available transit options and ways to make commuting less costly.
The campaign will focus on ways commuters can get to and from the office without relying on a single-occupancy vehicle.
“We want to be ready to assist them,” Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk said. “We have an opportunity to raise awareness.”
Lusk asked staff to promote commuter options in his area of the county, such as the new $53.4 million commuter garage in Springfield.
The request to provide an overall outreach campaign passed without objection.
While Metrobus ridership has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels, Metrorail service remains below pre-2020 figures, though it continues to rebound. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reported on Monday (Feb. 3) that the 92,600 rail trips taken from 8-9 a.m. were the most during a Monday morning rush-hour since 2020.
The board’s lone Republican, Pat Herrity representing the Springfield District, predicted “things are going to change pretty drastically” in terms of ridership increases on local transit systems due to the Trump administration’s back-to-office directive.
But Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said that while employees returning to the office would add to transit ridership, those opting to quit their jobs rather than give up remote work could lower the number of transit-riding commuters.
The net effect “remains to be seen,” Walkinshaw said.
Supervisors support ‘dedicated funding stream’ for transit
With one exception, Fairfax County supervisors on Tuesday (Feb. 4) signed on to a letter supporting a “dedicated funding stream” to help pay for Metro and other transit services across the region.
“Everyone has acknowledged that is a necessary component,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay said.
But with two panels — one at the regional level and the other at the state level — looking at the funding issue, “no one wants here wants to get ahead of the work” by suggesting specific funding options, McKay said.
The comments came during a discussion about the county government’s formal response to the $2.6 billion fiscal year 2026 operating budget and $12.5 billion FY 2026-31 capital improvement program proposed in January by WMATA CEO and General Manager Randy Clarke.
While on a stable financial footing for the next year or two, there remain many unknowns for the D.C. region’s transit network going forward.
“We’ve got a lot more work to do” to get the Metro system to fiscal sustainability, Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said.
“The longer-term efforts are really ramping up,” Alcorn said. “It’s important that we continue to participate in this process.”
The Board’s lone Republican, Patrick Herrity, abstained from voting on the letter to WMATA. “I’m not ready to go to a regional tax” to fund transit, he said.
McKay said there wasn’t reference to any regional taxes in the letter, but Herrity believed they were inferred, if not explicitly stated. Herrity remained concerned about Metro’s future in broader terms.
“What is really missing … is the long-term vision,” he said.
Herrity’s concerns about Metro’s budget and management echo those of his father, one-time Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman John F. Herrity, who made similar complaints during his tenure in the 1970s and 1980s.
County applies for federal grant funding
At its Tuesday meeting, the Board of Supervisors also authorized the Fairfax County Department of Transportation to apply for $68.2 million in federal funding for key transportation priorities.
The request seeks $25 million for the Richmond Highway bus rapid transit (BRT) project, $19.2 million for a cycle track on Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston and $24 million for multimodal improvements to Braddock Road.
Each of the requests comes with a requirement for a local matching grant of 30%, which Fairfax officials anticipate will be met by funding through the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA).
The supervisors’ vote came five days after the deadline for submitting applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s fiscal year 2026 Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. Staff submitted the proposal before the deadline in anticipation of action by supervisors.
According to county staff, the current project estimate for Richmond Highway BRT project is $978.6 million, the Sunrise Valley Drive project estimate is $32.4 million, and the Braddock Road project estimate is $97.8 million.
To date, the county has tentatively secured approximately $863.7 million for Richmond Highway BRT, staff told supervisors. Funding in the amounts of $10.1 million and $27.3 million has been secured for Sunrise Valley Drive and Braddock Road multi-modal improvements, respectively.
The board authorized staff to submit the same projects, along with a few others, for consideration under different federal grant programs earlier this year.
