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Norton to Host WMATA Roundtable, Asks D.C. Residents to Submit Questions

March 6, 2014

Roundtable in Preparation for Norton’s Role as Top Democrat on Highways and Transit Subcommittee, with Upcoming Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill

The roundtable is open to the public and the media.

D.C. residents should submit questions to NortonMetroRoundtable@mail.house.gov. See below for more information.

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the Congresswoman, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, is asking D.C. residents to submit questions for her Metro roundtable, entitled Metro in Transition for 21st Century Riders: What is Needed and What to Expect, on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at 6:00 p.m., at One Judiciary Square (441 4th St. NW), in the Old Council Chambers on the first floor. The roundtable discussion will focus on longer-term issues facing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). It will help Norton in her new lead role on the Subcommittee, which is writing a surface transportation reauthorization bill this year, and will be an opportunity for dialogue and discussion among some of the major stakeholders. The participants will be Richard Sarles, General Manager and CEO of WMATA; Klara Baryshev, Chair of the Tri-State Oversight Committee; Jackie L. Jeter, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689; and David Alpert, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington.

“Because the surface transportation bill we are working on focuses on a several year reauthorization this time, I am very interested in the longer-term issues facing our Metro rail and bus system and inadequacy of the system to meet our needs and expectations,” said Norton. “We need to bring fresh eyes to D.C.’s 50-year-old rail and bus system, as it undergoes the current maintenance transformation, to envision what is needed to sustain a system already experiencing pressures from population growth in the city and region.”

Norton asks that D.C. residents submit questions they would like to see addressed at the roundtable to NortonMetroRoundtable@mail.house.gov. Residents should also include their name and address in their email. Norton’s office will then select questions, which must relate to the subject of the roundtable. Among the issues the roundtable will take up are progress and timeframes concerning the transformation Metro is now undergoing, rider stability and methods for calculating and ensuring ridership, future financing for the system, the fare vs. subsidy ratio, the effect of federal and non-federal funding on capital improvement needs, the challenges WMATA faces with Metrobus and MetroAccess, and the effect, if any, of WMATA ridership on funding of local transit operations, such as the Circulator.

This roundtable was previously scheduled but was postponed in late January because of weather.

Published: March 6, 2014