Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is a non-federal tri-jurisdictional government agency authorized by Congress, that operates transit service in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including the Washington Metro. WMATA is jointly funded by the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland.

Services

WMATA operates rapid transit service under the Metrorail brand, as well as bus service under the Metrobus brand. WMATA is also part of the public-private partnership that operates the DC Circulator bus system. WMATA also has its own police agency, the Metro Transit Police.

Colloquially, Metrorail is known as "Metro" and riders refer to WMATA's Metrobus as simply "the bus", unless they need to distinguish Metrobus from another local bus system such as Alexandria's DASH, or Montgomery County's Ride-On. WMATA is also often informally referred to as "Metro".

History

WMATA was created on February 20, 1967, after the compact was approved by the Maryland General Assembly in 1965, and passed through the Virginia General Assembly and Congress in 1966. WMATA broke ground for its train system in 1969. WMATA's bus system is a successor to four privately owned bus companies, which were sold to WMATA in 1973.

Future of Metro

Currently, the Metrorail is being extended on a portion of it's Virginia orange line. This will provide service to the Tyson's Corner area, with further extention to Dulles Airport. Phase I to Tyson's Corner will be completed in 2011. Phase II to Dulles will be completed in 2015. No stations will be opened until the completion of each phase. This will add another color to the Metrorail system, which has not been determined yet. Drilling began in mid-2006. There are other rumors of a Georgetown Metro, another line along I-395 or Columbia Pike, and the imfamous Purple Line, which is a circular line to go along DC's Beltway. While these are rumors, they are in zero planning stages. The Dulles line alone took more than 10 years to start construction.

Organization

Board of directors

WMATA was set up with a board of directors, comprised of a total of 12 members. Of those 12, six are voting members, and six are alternates. Virginia, Maryland, and the District each appoint two voting members and two alternate members. The position of board chairman rotates between the three jurisdictions. Most board members have other jobs as well serving on, for example, the D.C. city council; the board appoints a CEO and general manager to supervise the day-to-day operation of the agency.

Leadership

At the outset, WMATA was led by general manager, Jackson Graham, a retired general in the Army Corps of Engineers, who supervised the planning and initial construction of the Metrorail system. He retired in 1976, and was replaced by Theodore C. Lutz. Richard S. Page, head of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, took over as general manager of WMATA in 1979. Page resigned in 1983, amid increasing financial difficulties for WMATA. and was replaced by Carmen E. Turner, who served for seven years. Former New York City Transit Authority chief, David L. Gunn took over as head of WMATA in 1991, followed by Lawrence G. Reuter in 1994, and Richard A. White in 1996. White would serve as general manager for the next ten years.

Current leadership

General manager

On January 11, 2006, the Board of Directors announced the dismissal of general manager, Richard E. White. He was be replaced by board member Dan Tangherlini, as interim CEO, effective February 16, 2006. White had three more years in his contract to work for Metro, but had come under fire for mismanagement.

Board members

District of Columbia:

Gladys W. Mack, chairman and voting member
Jim Graham, voting member
Marion Barry, alternate
Dan Tangherlini, alternate

Maryland:

Charles Deegan, first vice chairman and voting member
Marcell Solomon, alternate
Gordon Linton, alternate

Virginia:

Christopher Zimmerman, second vice chairman and voting member
Dana Kauffman, voting member
William D. Euille, alternate
Catherine Hudgins, alternate

Funding Problems

In 2004, the Brookings Institution released a report entitled, Deficits by Design" that found the agency's serious budgetary challenges owe in large part to its problematic revenue base. Most notably, Brookings found that WMATA's extraordinary lack of dedicated funding sources has necessitated an over-reliance on annually appropriated support that makes the agency vulnerable to perennial financial crises. As a result, the region's political and business leaders created a committee to look at new ways to fund the system, including some type of dedictaed tax.

In 2005, Rep. Tom Davis introduced the National Capital Transportation Amendments Act that wold provide a one-time cash infusion of $1.5 billion if the governments in the Washington area can come up with a dedicated revenue source for the agency..

References

External link

Washington Metro | Intermodal transportation authorities | United States interstate compacts | Bus transit

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