A County Board member is urging caution around a possible increase in the cost of riding Metrobus.
With Metrobus ridership down across Northern Virginia and the broader region, Metro officials need to be “very, very careful about raising fares right now in the current environment,” County Board member Takis Karantonis said at a Nov. 5 meeting of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC).
Arlington’s elected officials on the County Board and in Richmond appear to have different ideas on who should shoulder higher costs for Metro service.
As part of an annual legislative work session yesterday (Thursday), Board members pressed legislators to find more money in the state budget for transit. In response, two senior lawmakers asked why Northern Virginia localities refused to use a new revenue tool they had been given.
Arlington leaders have joined counterparts elsewhere in Northern Virginia in voicing opposition to a proposed merger of local bus systems.
Speaking at an Oct. 21 regional forum on the issue, County Board member Takis Karantonis and Vice-Chair Maureen Coffey each suggested consolidation would be a solution in search of a problem.
A local program providing free rides in areas with limited transit access has expanded into South Arlington.
The “microtransit” program recently announced it will now serve residents in and around Green Valley, Pentagon City, Crystal City and Douglas Park.
A proposal to prioritize buses on portions of two major Falls Church roadways prompted plenty of questions from City Council members at a recent meeting.
The concept delivered to city leaders was “Business Access and Transit Lanes,” or BAT. It allows drivers to use bus-priority lanes only for making right turns or accessing businesses along the route.
Falls Church officials are pressing for a fast-tracked effort to create a bus rapid transit (BRT) route running through the city’s core.
At the same time, City Council members Justine Underhill and David Snyder are seeking attention to detail and careful branding for the BRT line planned to run down Route 7 from Tysons to Alexandria.
Competition among local jurisdictions could be fierce during the next round of I-395/95 “Commuter Choice” transportation funding.
Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) staff are bracing for “significant demand” from localities across Northern Virginia, said Jason Adle, an NVTC program analyst.
Bus ridership on Arlington Transit (ART) was up about 1.1% in the fiscal year ending in June, despite being held back by a seven-week government shutdown.
The local bus system had a ridership total of 2,669,853 passengers for the 12 months ending June 30, according to figures from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. That’s up from the 2,640,152 riders a year before.
A new transit program serving parts of Arlington with limited bus access has largely been connecting riders to Ballston and East Falls Church, data shows.
Arlington’s “microtransit” pilot initiative has provided about 1,500 on-demand rides since it launched in April, Katie O’Brien, spokesperson for Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services, told ARLnow. About 50% of these were near the Metro stations in either Ballston (27%) or East Falls Church (23%).
Arlington leaders are laying the groundwork for a 2027 referendum asking voters to increase the local sales tax from 6% to 7%.
“Arlington is very seriously considering it,” County Board member Maureen Coffey said at the July 2 meeting of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) board of directors.
Arlingtonians who have long dreamed of soaring between locations by way of an aerial gondola system appear to have a new champion.
A firefighter and lifelong Arlington resident, Danny Wang, has entered the fight for gondola-style transit with a 40-page report sketching out a highly ambitious proposal.
Inconsistent policies on bus fares and enforcement are creating confusion among riders and challenges for transit in Northern Virginia, Metro’s top official says.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority CEO Randy Clarke critiqued the D.C. area’s patchwork of rules for where riders must pay to ride the bus, along with the limits placed on the Metro system’s ability to enforce its payment requirement.
