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Annual
Northern Virginia
transit ridership among all local and regional transit
systems, including Metro, has increased 17% since FY
2002.
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Metrorail
and Metrobus carried over 115 million passenger trips in
Northern Virginia
in 2005 – the equivalent of 12 to 15 freeway lanes.
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WMATA’s
Metro system is the second largest rail system in the
U.S.
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Almost half of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies,
representing over $2 trillion in revenue, are
headquartered in
America
’s transit-intensive metropolitan areas. In
addition to enhancing employee recruitment, businesses
that are accessible by public transportation experience
more employee reliability and less absenteeism and
turnover. (APTA 2004 Public Transportation Fact Book)
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In addition to the success of regional Metrobus and
Metrorail, local bus systems began to emerge in
Northern Virginia
in 1984 with the creation of
Alexandria
’s DASH. Average weekday boardings
in that year were only 753. In 1986,
the Fairfax Connector and city of
Fairfax CUE
were created and local transit system ridership grew to
9,619 average weekday boardings. With
VRE and PRTC’s OmniRide starting in 1992, weekday
boardings reached 25,681. In 1996
Loudoun
County
began commuter service now known as LC Transit and in
1999
Arlington
County
’s ART began. As of the close of FY
2003, boardings grew to 63,827 on seven separate local
systems including VRE.