Media Credit: Anthony Peltier | Photographer
Some members of the Metro Board of Directors expressed support for implementing a $2 flat fee for riding the Metrorail.
News By Rio Matsumoto Apr 26, 2021 2:18 AM
Metro officials passed their fiscal year 2022 budget last week, maintaining current operation levels for at least another year and averting drastic budget cuts that could have shuttered stations and terminated weekend service.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority approved a $2.07 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2022 with approximately $720 million coming from federal stimulus funding, including the American Rescue Plan, according to a release from the agency. The budget will ensure standard operations will continue for at least another year after WMATA first proposed devastating budget cuts, like eliminating nearly half of its bus routes and staggering some train arrivals to every 30 minutes.
April 16, 2021 8:30 AM by Charlie Clark
The blue sign and multi-hued banners off of Washington Blvd. proclaim these Westover garden-style apartments as “Fisher House: Now Leasing.”
That’s not to be confused with the national nonprofit called the Fisher House Foundation, which builds for needy military families.
This one’s run by the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, which, as its inaugural project in 1991, purchased the early ‘40s-vintage apartments and named them in honor of the late congressman Joseph Fisher (1914-92).
His name ring a bell? Fisher became a hero to Arlington Democrats during the “Watergate election” of 1974, when he ousted 11-term conservative Republican Rep. Joel T. Broyhill. Fisher’s confidant and chief of staff John Milliken (a county board member in the early 1990s) recently recalled his close rapport with Fisher.
Today at 3:30pm
(Updated, 4:20 p.m.) Metro’s Board of Directors is set to approve a $4.7 billion capital and operating budget on Thursday (April 22) that includes $723 million in federal relief.
The influx of federal funds essentially renders concerns about drastic service cuts set to come in January 2022 moot. Those cuts would have potentially included closing 22 Metro stations across the system, shutting down Metrorail every day at 9 p.m., and limiting train arrivals to every 30 minutes at most stations.
Among the stations that were being proposed to close in 2022 were three yet-to-be-opened Silver Line Phase II stations Innovation Center, Loudoun Gateway, and Reston Town Center.
Virginia public transit grapples with reduced ridership, zero fare (FILE) By Katharine DeRosa | April 13, 2021 at 4:40 PM EDT - Updated April 13 at 7:39 PM
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia public transit systems from Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads are looking for a path forward after losing riders and revenue during the pandemic. Some transit systems have been harder hit than others.
“We are serving a market of essential workers that can’t stay home; they have to use our service,” said Greater Richmond Transit Co. CEO Julie Timm during a recent presentation.
Governor Ralph Northam issued a state of emergency in March of last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The move prompted limits on public and private gatherings, telework policies and mandates to wear masks in public, although some restrictions have eased.
/PRNewswire/ County of Fairfax, Virginia Department of Public Works and Environmental Services awarded F.H. Paschen the Award of Excellence for the Building.