Recognizing that the pandemic had upended WMATA’s financial operating model and that federal pandemic relief was anticipated to be exhausted in FY 2024, NVTC convened the staff level WMATA Operating Funding and Reform Working Group (“Working Group”) in 2023 to examine and develop options for a new financial operating model for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The Working Group’s primary objectives were to develop a menu of new revenue sources to support WMATA and explore accountability and oversight measures for WMATA. This report serves as a technical companion to the NVTC’s 2023 Annual Report on the Performance and Condition of WMATA, published in December 2023, which provided recommendations on WMATA funding, accountability and reform.
The Working Group was charged with the following:
- Identify and evaluate potential revenue sources that could be used to fund state, regional and/or local components to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s share of dedicated operating funding to WMATA.
- Select up to 10 potential revenue sources, generate revenue estimates for them and detail the methodology used to calculate the revenue projections.
- Recommend a revenue structure and other related policy recommendations for the structure of any future revenues.
- Provide background on accountability, oversight, and reform measures for WMATA and comparable transit agencies in the United States as well as note potential areas of improvement.
- Summarize findings of this study, for consideration by the NVTC, WMATA, the Commonwealth of Virginia and other regional partners.
The report offers a menu of revenue options with funding estimates, findings on structural funding issues, recommendations on the structure of any future revenues and opportunities for enhanced reform and accountability for WMATA. While the Working Group initially focused on WMATA’s operating model, the effort evolved to recognize that a solution will also be needed to address WMATA’s capital funding needs and the long-term needs of local transit operators in Northern Virginia who have also felt the impacts of the pandemic on their operating model.
The effort culminated in a series of next steps in identifying long-term, sustainable dedicated funding for public transit in Northern Virginia and ensuring cost control reforms at WMATA. This report is considered to be a foundational component of a Senate and House of Delegates Joint Subcommittee, established under Senate Joint Resolution 28 of the 2024 General Assembly, which is tasked with studying long-term funding in Northern Virginia and cost containment controls for WMATA and will build upon the efforts of the Working Group.
