Norton Roundtable on Metro Postponed

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that Norton's roundtable discussion on issues facing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has been postponed from today to a later date, on a Saturday afternoon. The date and time of the roundtable will be announced shortly. The roundtable discussion will help Norton in her new role as the Ranking Member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, which will be writing a surface transportation reauthorization bill this year, and will be an opportunity for dialogue and discussion among some of the major stakeholders. Scheduled participants are 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.

Among the issues the discussion will focus on 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.

Published: January 22, 2014