Fairfax County officials are working on ways to reduce financial subsidies required to support Capital Bikeshare — with finding a countywide or regional sponsor as one potential option.
That would make the local rental bicycle and e-bike service more like Citi Bike in New York City, which is able to run without taxpayer subsidies thanks to high volume, somewhat higher rider costs and a financial partner in Citigroup.
Fairfax County officials sent mixed messages last Friday (Feb. 13) over General Assembly progress, or lack of it, toward dedicated transit funding for Northern Virginia.
Legislation to establish dedicated transit funding is unlikely to be acted on during the month remaining in the 2026 legislative session, county staff reported at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Legislative Committee.
Fairfax County supervisors voiced cautious optimism last Tuesday (Feb. 3) about Metro’s proposed fiscal year 2027 operating and capital budgets.
“A financially stable and reliable transit network is essential to the economic vitality of Fairfax County, Northern Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and the entire metropolitan region,” county leaders said in a letter to Valerie Santos, who chairs the Metro board of directors.
Lower-income Fairfax County residents rely more on their own vehicles to get to and from work, and are less likely to be able to telework throughout the week, than those at the top of the income spectrum.
Though not necessarily surprising, the data from the 164-page 2025 State of the Commute report recently issued by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) does have public policy implications.
Fairfax Connector will not provide any bus service during the upcoming Winter Storm Fern.
With heavy precipitation and ice accumulation expected, the county bus system announced this afternoon (Saturday) that it will suspend service starting at 9 p.m., continuing through Sunday (Jan. 25).
Post-pandemic commuting trends appear to be stabilizing in the D.C. region, with workers spending more days at the office, but remote work remains prevalent.
“We seem to be approaching a much more settled ‘new normal,'” Dan Sheehan, transportation operations program director for the Transportation Planning Board (TPB) said at a Jan. 21 meeting, where staff unveiled the new State of the Commute report.
Fairfax County elected officials seem in alignment on their top priority for the 2026 Virginia General Assembly session.
“Number one is always K-12 education funding,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said at the annual legislative public hearing, held Saturday (Jan. 10) at the Fairfax County Government Center.
A key Tysons leader is working to ensure state leaders provide dedicated new funding for transit that she says will help the region thrive.
“Transit in Northern Virginia is cool again,” said Katie Cristol, CEO of the Tysons Community Alliance.
It wasn’t unanimous, but the leaders of Virginia’s largest locality have gone on record supporting a regional plan for funding to sustain Metro into the future.
With a 8-1 vote on Dec. 9, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors backed the DMV Moves initiative started by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to identify dedicated funding options for the rail and bus transit system.
Despite political drawbacks, a sales-tax surcharge across Northern Virginia could end up being the main source to increase transit funding in the coming year.
Increasing the sales tax regionally is “probably going to be looked at,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said in a Dec. 4 legislative forum sponsored by the Dulles Area Transportation Association (DATA).
