Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., enter MOU for WMATA Safety Commission

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser are moving one step forward in the establishment of a new Metro Safety Commission, an independent oversight agency that will ultimately direct the safety and security of mass transit systems in the Washington Metropolitan Area, including the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

 

Gov. Hogan, Gov. McAuliffe and Mayor Bowser signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will move Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., closer to establishing the new Metro Safety Commission. WMATA is the only public transit agency in the nation that is comprised of three separate, co-equal jurisdictions, which have worked together to oversee safety of mass transit in the region through the Tri-State Oversight Committee.

“The safety and security of public transportation is an area where Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., can act as one,” said Gov. Hogan. “WMATA gets millions of people in the region to and from work each day and the Metro Safety Commission is an important first step to ensure that riders have access to a world-class public transportation system.”

“The WMATA system is an enormous economic asset for the entire region and ensuring that it is as safe as possible must be priority one,” said Gov. McAuliffe. “I look forward to continuing our work with Maryland and Washington, D.C., to execute this MOU and establish the Metro Safety Commission as soon as possible.”

This MOU is an agreement by all three parties to commit resources and staff, share information and work together in a transparent fashion to develop strategies that will help to establish a fully-compliant oversight agency. Additionally, each jurisdiction has agreed to submit necessary budget appropriations of agreed upon amounts in future budgets to fund the Commission.

This MOU brings Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., a step closer in fulfilling a federal mandate as established by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act of 2012, which gave the U.S. Department of Transportation enhanced oversight over states and jurisdictions with rail fixed guideway public transportation systems and required eligible states to have a safety oversight program.

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