Washington, D.C.— The MetroNow Coalition, a group of businesses and non-profit advocacy groups calling for immediate reforms to Metro governance, funding, and operations, made the following statement in response to reports that the Trump Administration’s FY 2019 budget will not include an expected $150 million in Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA) funds:

“The MetroNow Coalition is deeply concerned by reports this morning that the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget does not contain $150 million in critical capital funding for Metro through the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA).  Maintaining this funding, long believed by Metro officials and regional leaders to be assured by law, is crucial to continued progress to improve the state of repair for our system, and MetroNow’s goal of accomplishing long-term funding and governance reform this year.

With 35 Metrorail stations serving federal government facilities, and with federal employees comprising 39% of Metrorail’s peak period commuters, Metro’s health greatly affects the efficiency and effectiveness of our federal government. MetroNow is working with a bipartisan coalition of leaders in the MD and VA’s General Assemblies and DC’s City Council who are responding to the urgent imperative to provide additional funds for Metro’s capital and maintenance backlog, and to make governance reforms that improves accountability and outcomes from the needed investment. Leaders are setting politics aside and working together because Metro powers our economy and enables a high-quality of life for our residents, including the federal workforce.

MetroNow calls upon our Federal delegation to unite as a team to secure $150 million in the FY2019 budget, and work effectively together in a bipartisan manner to secure a long-term solution and expansion to federal authorization of WMATA’s capital program, federal assistance on operating costs, and needed governance reforms. Our region’s businesses, residents and elected officials are stepping forward to make critical investments and governance reforms this year, and we call for similar coordination and advocacy from our federal Members of Congress to maintain momentum and forward progress to return the transit system to a world leading position that drives our region’s prosperity. ”

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About MetroNow Coalition

The MetroNow Coalition is a group of regional leaders from organizations representing businesses and non-profit advocates who have come together to ensure that action is taken to put Metro – a vital component 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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2017

CONTACT:
Stewart Schwartz
703-599-6437
stewart@smartergrowth.net

CSG Press Statement – I-66 Tolls Should Stay

NORTHERN VA – Today Stewart Schwartz, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, made the following statement in response to the widespread outcry regarding the toll prices on the newly-open high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on I-66:

“We see the initially high tolls as reflecting that it’s not possible to accommodate all single-occupant commuters on limited road-space during the peak-of-the-peak commute hours. While the peak tolls are likely to settle down at a lower level, it’s important to note they are a market price reflection of demand.

The system set up for I-66 is designed to move the most people through the corridor during commuting hours as quickly and smoothly as possible. The tolling makes possible the maintenance of a 55-mph speed, provides for carpooling to remain free and uses toll revenues to expand express bus and other transit services in the corridor.

And its worth noting that single-occupant cars, which couldn’t use the corridor during peak hours in the past, now have that option – for a price based on market demand. Users now have more options than they did before: drive alone, in addition to carpool, more express buses, Metro and even bicycling options.

Proposals to eliminate tolls and widen the entire highway are simply not viable. The cost would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars and because of the phenomenon of “generated travel” (also called induced demand), an expanded highway like this would fill up in record time and traffic would crawl again.

While we’re sympathetic to the sticker shock drivers and politicians are experiencing this week, the combination of tolling, HOV, Metro, and new transit provides the most effective way to move the most people the most expeditiously as possible to and from work in the corridor. This comprehensive approach should stay in place.”

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth:
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2017

Contact:

Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
703-599-6437, stewart@smartergrowth.net

Edith Snyder, League of Women Voters of the National Capital Area (LWVNCA)
703-618-1642, edithholmes@aol.com

Ronit Aviva Dancis, Action Committee for Transit
240 432 9917, ronitadancis@yahoo.com

David Alpert, Greater Greater Washington
202-596-9449, alpert@ggwash.org

Fund-it/Fix-it Coalition of non-profits responds to LaHood report on WMATA

Washington, DC — Today the Fund-it/Fix-It Coalition, a group of non-profits representing smart growth, conservation, transit, and civic groups across the Washington DC region responded to the LaHood report on WMATA funding and reform, which was leaked over the weekend to The Washington Post.

“We are very pleased with a number of aspects of the LaHood report, particularly the strong endorsement of the importance of at least an additional $500 million in dedicated and bondable funding for Metro,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “We agree, too, with Secretary LaHood that dedicated federal funding is necessary and appropriate, given the large share of federal riders and the critical role Metro plays in supporting our nation’s capital and the federal government.”

“We wish Secretary LaHood had lent his personal authority to recommending specific funding sources that the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia should tap or develop, to add impetus to efforts to reach agreement on funding,” said Kathy McGuire, President of the League of Women Voters of the National Capital Area (LWVNCA). “We hope LaHood will share his recommendations in this regard because we need to break the logjam and identify funding sources that can be approved in early 2018.”

“We find it helpful that the LaHood team has evaluated the cost structure at WMATA and found it comparable to the averages for large transit systems across the country,” said Ronit Dancis for Action Committee for Transit. “This system – so essential to the economic competitiveness and sustainability of our region, is worthy of increased investment to restore it to world-class service.”

“A concern involves the evaluation of bus service and recommendations for service cuts. The report appears to treat Metrorail and Metrobus very differently, favoring efforts to increase rail ridership, but proposing reductions in bus service,” said Schwartz. “Certainly, we should work to make bus service better and provide high frequency, high-ridership service, but we also have many transit-dependent riders who live in suburban settings where it is hard to provide efficient transit service. This means we will need to provide transit coverage, which may be less efficient but represents an essential public utility service, much like water, police, and fire service.”

David Alpert, Founder and President of Greater Greater Washington added, “There’s no need to recommend cutting bus service and reducing riders to save money. It’s possible to improve service AND save money. The biggest opportunities to improve bus service and save money come from reducing delays. Buses spend time in traffic, waiting at lights, waiting for people to pay their fares one by one, and so on. If the buses, especially the high-ridership ones, had dedicated lanes through congested areas, ways to pay before boarding so people can get on quickly, and signal priority to get more green lights, buses could finish their routes faster, saving money, and offering better — not worse — service.”

The groups in the Fund-it/Fix-it Coalition have pledged to campaign for dedicated funding for Metro with a goal of winning new dedicated, bondable funding in 2018 in order to restore Metrorail and Metrobus with frequent, safe, and reliable service.

22 groups have signed on to this statement of principles but the following are those that have had an opportunity to review the LaHood report:

Action Committee for Transit

The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance

Clean Water Action

Coalition for Smarter Growth

Friends of White Flint

Greater Greater Washington

League of Women Voters of the National Capital Area (LWVNCA)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2017

CONTACT:
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director
stewart@smartergrowth.net
703-599-6437 (c)

Aimee Custis, Deputy Director
aimee@smartergrowth.net
202-431-7185 (c)

Statement on Greater Washington Partnership’s “Advancing our Region: Preface to a Blueprint for a Better Region” report

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Greater Washington Partnership released the report “Advancing our Region: Preface to a Blueprint for a Better Region.” Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, issued the following statement:

“The Greater Washington Partnership (GWP) report places a welcome emphasis on the critical importance of Metro and transit investments in general, including seeking better downtown to downtown higher speed rail connections. It notes how major corporations are seeking out Metro station locations to ensure transportation options and attractiveness to next generation employers, and the importance of addressing transportation if we are going to retain and attract next-generation employees.”

“We look forward to bringing our coalition of land use, conservation, housing, and transportation advocates to the table with the GWP. With over 20 years of experience on these interconnected issues at the local, regional, and state level, we have a lot to offer.”

“We will recommend from the outset that the GWP include and address the critical role of land use for addressing our transportation challenges. If we keep spreading out and separating homes from work and services, we will keep generating more and more driving and traffic.”

“The massive transportation needs wish lists that have been developed and are cited in the report, fail to address land use. They were generated without evaluating better ways to grow or accounting for the problem of induced travel (induced demand) which fills up new lane capacity in as little as five years. Therefore those wish lists and requested funding can’t be relied upon as a plan that we should implement.”

“The Coalition for Smarter Growth issued its own Blueprint for a Better Region in 2002 and we’ve shown versions of it hundreds of time in the years since. The vision we’ve promoted is one of a network of mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable, and transit-oriented communities linked by a restored and expanded transit network. The Urban Land Institute’s 2005 Reality Check conference and the Council of Government’s (COG) plan have validated this regional transit and transit-oriented development (TOD) vision, which COG adopted in its Region Forward plan. Today, elected officials in nearly every jurisdiction are advancing TOD — although in some cases not nearly fast enough.

Every resident who lives and/or works in a mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-oriented community has the opportunity to drive less, and use other modes — helping the road network in the process. Moreover, people are increasingly attracted to the health and quality of life benefits of walkable places with good transit. And as the GWP report notes, so are corporations. These include Marriott, Hilton, Nestle, Choice Hotels, and Amazon.”

“So this land use approach should be a core part of the regional Blueprint. Again, we commend the Greater Washington Partnership for this initial report and we look forward to helping bring a range of stakeholders to the table with the GWP to shape a more sustainable, equitable, and competitive region.”

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth:
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2017

CONTACT
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
(703) 599-6437
stewart@smartergrowth.net

Governor Hogan’s highways-first approach to transportation will fail Maryland communities

MARYLAND — Today, Maryland Governor Hogan proposed to spend (at least) $9 billion to expand three of Maryland’s major highways in the Washington, DC metro area. The plans call to expand the entire Maryland portion of the Capital Beltway by four high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes – two in each direction. I-270 would also see a four-lane expansion. Maryland would also take over the Baltimore-Washington Parkway from the National Park Service, and add four additional HOT lanes as well.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth urged the Governor to pause and consider the full picture of land use and transportation issues affecting central Maryland before deciding on the best approach.“The Governor and Secretary Rahn risk wasting billions of tax dollars and family resources from Maryland residents with this massive set of highway expansions,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “The fiscally-prudent approach is to study and adopt reasonable alternatives that include land use solutions.

“Smart growth, demand management, and transit investments are the only fiscally-responsible long-term approach, but the big multi-national toll road construction consortiums have been hijacking our transportation planning process promoting massive toll lane projects,” said Schwartz.“The public ultimately pays with these public-private partnerships, through federally-subsidized loans, direct public payments, their tolls, and the impact to neighborhoods and the environment,” said Schwartz.

“A four-lane expansion of the Beltway would be hugely expensive and have a destructive impact on neighborhoods, tree cover, streams, and the environment in the path. For such expense and damage, expansion is only a short-term fix, as experience shows that even with HOT lanes, traffic will return to the general purpose lanes, and attract even more travelers,” said Schwartz. “Even with HOT lanes the number of vehicles on the combined HOT and general purpose lanes would expand and those additional vehicles would then exit onto already overloaded connecting arterials. That’s why we have to look at alternatives that provide options to driving for so many trips.”

The Coalition for Smarter Growth called for an objective study of a more sustainable long-term approach to include:

1. Completing the first phase of the Purple Line and extending it all the way around to make a full set of connections to activity centers within and near the Beltway.
2. Focus on the primary bottleneck at the American Legion Bridge, providing a near-term express bus in a dedicated lane in each direction tying into the I-270 HOV lanes.
3. Advancing MARC commuter rail expansion plan with more frequent trains, expanded hours, and increased bi-directional service.
4. Investing in smart growth – mixed-use, walkable, transit-oriented communities at Metro stations, MARC stations, and other hubs with frequent transit, as well as reinvestment in the City of Baltimore.
5. In the DC region, addressing the Beltway means addressing the jobs/housing imbalance between Prince George’s and the west side of the region. Most of the worst traffic is peak hour westbound to Montgomery County and northern Virginia in the morning and eastbound back toward Prince George’s in the evening.  We need to complete transit-oriented development at all east side Metro stations.

Schwartz went on to say, “To quote from the late Ron Kirby, longtime director of the transportation staff at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, ‘Well, rather than widening the Beltway, it would be nice if we had more jobs in the eastern part of the region.’ Mr. Kirby said this in a seminal article in the Washington Post that sums up our critique of the ‘widen-first’ approach,” said Schwartz. “We urge the Governor and Secretary to read this article and to consider the central role of land use, jobs/housing locations, and induced demand.”

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

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