jonathan hernet

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as Metro, provides rail, bus and paratransit service to a 1,500-square mile area that includes Washington, DC, and surrounding jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia. The 106-mile Metrorail system is the second busiest in the United States, with 218 million annual trips, including more than 700,000 trips on a typical weekday. Metrobus is the sixth largest bus system in the nation, providing 132 million annual trips on 318 routes. MetroAccess provides paratransit service for more than 7,000 riders on a typical weekday. Metro is essential to mobility, business development, regional connectivity and tourism in the Washington, DC, area. The system is midway through a massive six year, $6 billion rebuilding program, called MetroForward, to improve the system's safety and reliability, and is laying the groundwork for its long-term strategic plan, called Momentum, which will allow the Authority to provide expanded service for future growth in the region.