After Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed Virginia’s landmark $154 million Metro funding bill, the MetroNow Coalition released the following statement:
“Today, Governor Ralph Northam signed Virginia’s legislation for dedicated funding for Metro, which was first passed in March by the Virginia General Assembly. We’re proud of and grateful to Governor Northam and the Virginia General Assembly, as well as our elected leaders in DC and Maryland, for their leadership on dedicated funding.
All three WMATA jurisdictions — Virginia, Maryland, and DC — have now passed and signed funding legislation, a total of $500 million in annual dedicated funding from the region. This is nothing short of a major, historic victory for our region. For the first time in its history, our Metro system will have a stable, dedicated funding stream — a necessary step in getting it back to being the transit system our region needs and deserves.
While we pause to celebrate this victory in Virginia today, the MetroNow Coalition calls for more than funding reform in 2018, recognizing that Metro needs governance reform to deliver greater accountability to riders. MetroNow looks forward to continuing to work with regional leaders to deliver solutions on governance and accountability to get Metro back to being the region’s safe, reliable and attractive transportation option.”
# # #
About the MetroNow Coalition
The MetroNow Coalition is a group of regional leaders from organizations representing businesses and non-profit advocates who have come to together to ensure that action is taken to put Metro—the backbone of Greater Washington’s transportation infrastructure—on a safe, smart and sustainable path forward in 2018 and beyond. We are dedicated to securing comprehensive improvement of Metro’s governance, funding and operational structures in 2018. Visit www.MetroNow.com for more information.