Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Department of Transportation's fiscal year 2019 capital and operating budget, as recently proposed by the Mayor.
I offer these comments on behalf of the District of Columbia Chapter of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. The DC Chapter is a grassroots organization with 3,500 dues paying members. Our top priority is combating climate change. We work to shift away from dirty fossil fuels and move towards a clean energy economy. Given that the nation's cars and trucks are now responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than its power plants, we believe that a rapid shift towards travel via electrically powered mass transit is imperative if the District is to meet its carbon reduction goals.
First, we applaud the addition of a dedicated funding package that enables DC to meet its full obligation under the inter-jurisdictional funding agreement for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. We have long supported appropriate pricing for parking and road access, and an increase in taxes on ride-hailing services is one such approach.
Second, we believe that expanding the DC streetcar is the District's best near-term opportunity to add much-needed transit capacity, powered using increasingly fossil-free electricity, to one of the fastest-growing corridors in our city. Electric rail transportation is the most space-efficient and energy-efficient of all forms of motorized transportation, and it will be necessary to complete the full east-west streetcar vision, from Benning Road to Georgetown. DDOT’s recent study projects a weekday ridership of 20,000 riders per day on the full east-west line. On a per-mile basis, this would exceed the ridership productivity of almost every light rail system in the country and would almost double the ridership level of the existing streetcar line. The planned downtown segment has already been designed to be the most advanced streetcar line in the country, with dedicated lanes on K Street NW to provide speedy and reliable travel down a signature boulevard through the congested center of the city.
As such, we strongly support $146.4 million to fully fund the Benning Road line and continued study of the Crosstown line, as proposed in item KA0-LMTCE, and item KA0-BR005 to fully fund the H Street bridge replacement at $195.2 million. We urge the council to consider restoring full funding to the crosstown streetcar line.
Third, regarding bus improvements. We were heartened to see that item KA0-LMCIR includes $51.5 million in critical investments over the next two years to improve Metrobus operations and electrify the Circulator bus fleet, including bus lanes on 16th Street NW, additional electric bus charging equipment, and a new bus garage for the Circulator. However, we object to plans to purchase 18 additional or replacement diesel buses for the Circulator.
Electric buses are uniquely suited for DC Circulator: they will eliminate air pollution and noise from DC's busy streets, cost less to fuel and maintain, and have been proven in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia. Cities from Montreal to Los Angeles have committed to all-electric bus fleets. Making that same commitment will directly reduce DC's dependence on fossil fuels and immediately improve local air quality everywhere Circulator and its five million annual passengers go, from Skyland to K Street to the National Cathedral.
We ask the DC government to commit to switch from dirty diesel to electric: to retire all of Circulator's dirty diesel buses at the end of their lifespan, buy only electric buses as Circulator replaces and expands its fleet, and build a zero-emissions, zero-toxic waste, all-electric bus garage. This will involve a marginal upfront cost, but operational savings over the long term.