These are the people who will decide Metro's future

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) have created a task force charged with developing a unified vision for the region's transportation system and coming up with a sustainable funding model for Metro that is palatable to political leaders in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

The task force, dubbed DMV Moves, was unveiled in D.C. Wednesday at the first-ever joint board meeting of two organizations. The 20-person task force will be made up primarily of political leaders across D.C., Virginia and Maryland appointed by the Council of Governments as well as four representatives appointed by Metro.

“In bringing these two boards together, we are creating a historic and crucial opportunity for leaders across the DC region to develop a shared vision and path forward,” D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, one of the new task force co-chairs, said in a statement. "It’s not just for how the more than a dozen rail and bus systems can align transit needs across the District, Maryland, and Virginia, but also how we can collectively meet the challenge of sustainable and dedicated funding."

Both the COG and WMATA boards voted unanimously to establish the task force, which will hold its first meeting in June. The group will meet regularly over the next 12 months with a goal of securing consensus on three major initiatives: developing service standards for all local and regional transit systems; improving efficiency of transit systems through sharing of resources; and, most important, developing a viable plan for funding Metro that includes dedicated annual commitments from D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

"This is not an opportunity for another report to go on a shelf and collect dust," Clark Mercer, COG executive director, said at the joint board meeting held at the Mayflower Hotel downtown.

Metro's board last week approved a $4.8 billion operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2025 that largely averts previously envisioned cuts to bus and rail service but requires the transit agency to raise fares by 12.5% and shift $181 million from a preventive maintenance budget to fund operations. But Metro officials have said repeatedly that the transit system will face budget shortfalls in the coming years unless a dedicated funding scheme is created.

The task force is made up of five representatives from D.C., five from Virginia and five from Maryland, as well as four from Metro itself and one federal representative. But Mercer stressed that the task force is not just about funding Metro. There are 14 transit systems from across the region are represented and that they will have equal say in determining the future of the region's transportation network. For instance, students are defined differently across jurisdictions, which impacts who is eligible for fare discounts. The task force will address matters like this, too.

"There are no predetermined outcomes here," he said.

Randy Clarke, Metro's CEO and general manager, said the first-of-its-kind task force has the potential to shape the future of the region's transportation for decades to come.

“We are on the precipice of a huge opportunity to fully align our regional vision by working together to address these very important priorities," he said in a statement. 

Allen, a Democrat who also serves as COG's board chair, said he expects "concrete actions" from this task force will start to arrive by January 2025.

Here are the members of the 20-person task force: