MetroNow releases progress report to refocus region’s leaders on urgency of better bus

The MetroNow Coalition—comprised of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Federal City Council, Greater Washington Board of Trade, Greater Washington Partnership, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, the 2030 Group and Tysons Partnership—released the MetroNow Bus Transformation Project Progress Report. 

The report inventories and analyzes two years of progress by the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) and the D.C. region’s nine bus providers against the 2019 Washington Area Bus Transformation Project (BTP) Strategy and Action Plan. The report was shared with the WMATA Board, general manager and staff, and state and local officials. 

“The last two years laid bare just how big a role the bus plays in the health of our region’s economy,” said Tony Williams, CEO and executive director of the Federal City Council. “Better bus service has huge implications for improving people’s’ quality of life. The path to a strong, equitable economic recovery for our region starts with faster, more frequent, more reliable bus service.”  

The Progress Report enables readers to assess the progress each agency has made advancing the Bus Transformation Project’s four strategies and 26 initiatives, uplifts the work done by the region’s elected and transportation workforce over the last two years to improve the region’s bus systems, and highlights key projects to inspire regional action. The report also identifies key gaps in the 2019 strategy that should be addressed based on the rapidly evolving landscape over the past two years.  

Transforming bus service will require a combination of sustained political will and operating and capital funding. In developing the inaugural MetroNow Bus Transformation Project Progress Report, the MetroNow Coalition identified six key better bus initiatives for the region to prioritize in 2022: 

• Support WMATA’s Regional Bus Network Redesign Process 
• Build Ten Miles of New Bus Lanes & Implement Bus Enforcement Strategy 
• Create a Regional Strategy to Recruit & Retain Bus Operators  
• Create a Strategy for Zero Emissions Infrastructure & Workforce 
• Consolidate Regional Data on Bus Operations & Best Practices 
• Create a Regional Strategy to Address the Transit Funding Cliff 

A key finding of the report is that while progress has been made, most of the Bus Transformation Project’s recommendations are off schedule or have seen limited attention over the past two years – understandable given the impact of the pandemic on transit operations. The progress report is a call to action for the region’s leaders to put the Bus Transformation Project back on schedule, and to serve as a tool for readers to hold elected officials and transportation leaders accountable.  

In 2022, MetroNow will host the Bus Champions Roundtable, a series of targeted discussions with the region’s key business, transportation, elected leaders and advocates to cultivate a generation of “bus champions” focused on accelerating regional bus transformation.  

“Despite the pandemic upending all of our lives and the best laid plans, the report shows we’ve made a lot of progress, but makes clear that we have far more work to do to realize the high-quality, inclusive and rapid bus network this region needs to compete on the global stage,” said JB Holston, CEO of the Greater Washington. “The pandemic, ongoing Metrorail saga and a looming FY24 operating budget fiscal cliff facing our transit agencies shows that it is more important than ever that we double down on the transformation of the bus, and build a more efficient, effective, and resilient transit system. We have the plan, our transit agencies have the talent, and we even have new funding opportunities from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. With increased political will, our region is ready to go full-speed ahead on implementation.”  

Each Bus Champions Roundtable conversation will focus on one or more of the six key initiatives identified in the progress report and the coalition will promote attendance to a wide array of stakeholders. In addition, the coalition encourages people to consider adding their names to the growing list of Bus Champions today to receive tailored community updates and receive invitations to webinars, events and other opportunities to take action to support the bus.