Testimony of Aykut Yilmaz
on behalf of
Sierra Club DC Chapter
before the
DC Council Committee on Facilities & Procurement
Performance Oversight Hearing on
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 10:00am
Councilmember White and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter at this performance oversight hearing on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). My name is Aykut Yilmaz, and I am a board member for the chapter.
2019-2020 In Review
Metro has hit significant milestones and launched important initiatives this past year. Rail ridership increased after years of decline, thanks to improved service and reliability. Metrorail’s safety record continues to improve. We recognize and thank the years of hard work from Metro employees that helped make this possible, and we appreciate the focus on safety. Restoring and maintaining confidence in Metro should always be a top priority.
Metro also launched its 2025 Energy Action Plan, which will help Metro save money and cut emissions. Metro has a great advertising campaign that is getting the message out about how climate change is impacting our environment and our lives, and reminds users that, by taking Metro, they are helping reduce emissions that are causing climate change. We are also fans of new data tools like the Ridership Data Viewer that allows users and third-parties some transparency into the data that is driving decisions within Metro.
Metro has also initiated projects to put solar panels on parking lots, starting with four projects. This is a model that can be quickly rolled out on a scale that is orders-of-magnitude larger once these first few pilots are completed. We encourage any initiatives that will lead to the quick deployment of solar panels, but we think Metro is overlooking an opportunity by turning over ownership to contractors. With the price of solar renewable electricity credits being about $400 per MWh in DC, solar panels will earn a profit after about four years. With such a return on investment, Metro should not hesitate to raise or borrow the capital needed to fund these projects, and many more, on its own account. Otherwise, Metro will be leaving money on the table.
Bus Transformation Project
The Bus Transformation Project is a key initiative for WMATA, and we are happy to see that its final report, published late last year, includes many recommendations that we and other transportation advocates have asked for in the past, including priority lanes, more-efficient and less-polluting buses, and more frequent and reliable service. We support its recommendations and ask that the Council ensure that a task force is formed quickly to begin its implementation. The DC Council and neighboring jurisdictions will need to commit resources to the project to make it successful.
Metro Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021) Budget proposals
We are encouraged by many of the proposals for Metro’s FY2021 budget. We strongly support the proposal to eliminate fees to transfer between rail and bus and to add Metrobus to the pass products. Fees to transfer between these services only serve to punish riders for the shortcomings of the transit system. A customer should be free to choose the combination of modes that offers the most convenient trip, whether that is rail, local bus, or limited-stop bus. We are also happy that Metro is extending hours for late-night rail service, and it is a demonstration of Metro’s return to higher levels of service after the disruptions from SafeTrack. We also support a proposed $2 flat-fare for weekend trips to encourage more drivers to take the train when the system is typically underutilized.
We are concerned with other proposed cuts to Metrobus lines. We believe that there should not be cuts to service until the Bus Transformation Project has had a chance to comprehensively review the existing service from Metro and area partners. The project Final Report rightly notes that the region needs more bus service, not less. In the meantime, the Council should find dedicated funding streams for Metro, such as from decongestion fees or a parking tax, to help alleviate continued pressure for service cuts and fare increases. Service cuts and fare hikes will drive more people away from Metro and towards alternatives that are worse for the region’s traffic and environment.
Climate Change and Electrification of Metrobus
Sierra Club recognizes that public transportation is critical to reducing emissions from the transportation sector, which is responsible for almost a quarter of DC’s greenhouse gas emissions. As the sixth largest transit fleet operator in the country, WMATA needs to play a significant role in reducing GHG, particulate, and ozone emissions at the regional and national scale.
WMATA’s Sustainability Report as well as its 2025 Energy Action Plan demonstrate that it is taking meaningful steps to improve the sustainability of its operations, from LEED certification of new facilities to reducing and diverting waste to improving energy efficiency. The Sierra Club applauds these considerable efforts and looks forward to reviewing the next iteration of WMATA’s Sustainability Initiative Targets.
There is one area, however, where WMATA is moving in the wrong direction on climate change: its bus fleet. Currently, all Metro buses are fueled by fossil fuels, mostly diesel. It’s plan to purchase 100 new buses a year through 2025 -- zero of which will be electric -- is a step backwards for WMATA, DC, and the climate. Major transit agencies across the country -- in cold-weather cities like New York and Chicago, and even DC’s own Circulator -- have committed to fully electrify their fleets and already have electric buses in service. Electrifying the WMATA bus fleet would substantially reduce carbon emissions while simultaneously reducing total fleet costs. Electric buses are not just the future, they are the present, and by purchasing new diesel buses that will be in service for more than a decade, WMATA is missing out on the opportunity to save itself hundreds of millions of dollars in lifetime operating costs, unnecessarily adding to air pollution in the DC Area, and locking in greenhouse gas emissions that we cannot afford if we hope to avoid the worst effects of climate disruption.
The District government has paved the way for fleet electrification with the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act. The law requires the District to obtain 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2032 and for public buses and certain private fleets licensed to operate in the District to be entirely zero-emissions vehicles by 2045. WMATA’s most recent 10-year Fleet Management Plan (2017) proposes a decrease in hybrid diesel buses, an increase in diesel buses, and makes no mention of zero-emission electric buses. WMATA announced on April 22, 2019 – Earth Day last year – that it is “developing an electric bus deployment strategy to pilot and evaluate the use of electric buses in the fleet,” as part of the 2025 Energy Action Plan, but no information has been shared since.
DC has pledged to reduce emissions 50 percent by 2032 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. Meeting those goals will be impossible if Metro continues to rely on dirty diesel buses. The Sierra Club believes WMATA has the potential to be a leader in this area, and we call on WMATA to prioritize this work and share more information on electric bus pilots and planning.
Bus Lanes
We applaud WMATA for its recent work with the District Department of Transportation to establish bus lanes on H and I Streets NW. With continuous and proper enforcement, bus lanes can speed up travel times and increase reliability of service. We are concerned that enforcement has begun to flag and encourage WMATA to work with the DC Department of Public Works on better enforcement, culminating in establishment of automated enforcement on all current and future bus lanes. We know that automated traffic law enforcement works well in DC. In London, automated bus lane enforcement has reduced bus lane violations by 85 percent, and New York City has begun to equip its buses with similar equipment.
But a pair of dedicated bus lanes are unlikely to bring back the lost bus ridership we have seen in recent years. We need a true bus transformation to give efficient, safe transit priority use of the District’s streets. We have asked DDOT to begin implementing WMATA’s 2008 bus priority corridor network plan, establishing bus lanes and signal priority. WMATA should move forward with introducing pilots and broader plans to roll-out all-door boarding and off-board fare payment. And we need such a transformation quickly. Bus ridership in DC has declined for six years in a row, and speed and reliability of buses have fallen on many routes. This means more cars on the road, more time and fuel wasted by buses sitting in traffic, poorer air quality, and greater greenhouse gas emissions.
The Sierra Club has asked DDOT to establish a network of bus lanes quickly, and use the H and I Street approach as a blueprint – the bus lanes were established practically overnight, as a pilot project, and later made permanent. We reemphasize the need for WMATA to work with DDOT and other agencies like the Department of Public Works on enforcement for these projects so that they have a chance to succeed. Additionally, we look forward to finally seeing the bus lane on 16th Street NW open this spring, and we hope that the next bus lane will not take another five years.
Waste Diversion
WMATA should ensure that there is sufficient recycling infrastructure for riders at Metrorail stations and parking garages. WMATA should provide waste diversion data to the public for all of its facilities, including stations, offices, warehouses, rail yards, and bus garages. WMATA should set a waste diversion goal in-line with the District’s diversion goal – 80 percent diversion by 2032 – and make public the plan to achieve this goal.
Conclusion
Thank you for allowing the Sierra Club DC Chapter to testify before this committee about the service WMATA provides to this city and the importance of reducing emissions from the transportation sector. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.