Transportation Network Profile: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA/Metro)

Overview

WMATA was created by an interstate compact in 1967 to plan, develop, build, finance, and operate a balanced regional transit system in the national capital area.
The Authority began building its rail system in 1969, acquired four regional bus systems in 1973, and began operating the first phase of Metrorail in 1976.
Metrobus serves the nation's capital 24 hours a day, seven days a week with 1,500 buses.
Metrorail and Metrobus serve a population of 3.4 million within a 1,500-square mile jurisdiction.
Metro’s paratransit service, MetroAccess, began in 1994; it provides about 1.5 million trips per year.

Board of Directors

Consists of seven principle (voting) directors (two from MD, two from VA, two from DC and one from the federal government) and seven alternate directors (two from MD, two from VA, two from DC and one from the federal government).

Metrorail

National Ranking: Second largest rail system in the US
Service area: Over 1,500 square miles and a population of 3.5 million.
Stations: 86
Rolling stock: Over 1,100 rail cars
Employees: 10,000 employees with $2 billion annual budget
Lines: 5
- Orange: New Carrolton to Vienna
- Red: Glenmont to Shady Grove
- Blue: Franconia Springfield to Largo Town Center
- Yellow: Huntington to Fort Totten
- Green: Branch Avenue to Greenbelt
Miles of Track: 106
Ridership:
- Over 200 million passenger trips per year system wide
- Northern Virginia Average Daily Trips FY 09 (NVTC)
  - Weekday: 343,000
- NoVa FY 09 Ridership: 92,171,1084

Metrobus

National Ranking: 5th
Number of buses: 1,500
Routes: 350 (approximately)
System-wide average daily passenger trips (FY 2007)
- Annually: 130 million
- Weekday: 450,000
- Saturday: 230,000
- Sunday: 150,000
Northern Virginia average ridership FY 09 (NVTC)
- Weekday: 79,000
- NoVa FY 09 Ridership: 20,816,142

MetroAccess

Contact Information

600 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001