FY2017 PROPOSED BUDGET

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Proposed Fiscal Year 2017 Budget
Appendix D
Allocation of State and Local Support
State and local funds account for approximately 45 percent of the funding for Metro’s annual
operating and capital budgets according to the approved subsidy calculations, described below.
Operating Budget
The operating budget subsidy is allocated to the jurisdictional funding partners using six subsidy
allocation formulas:
1. Regional bus subsidy allocation
2. Non-regional bus subsidy allocation
3. Rail maximum fare subsidy allocation
4. Rail base subsidy allocation
5. Paratransit subsidy allocation
6. Debt service allocation
Formulas 1 and 2: Regional and Non-Regional Bus Subsidy Allocations
The Metrobus subsidy is allocated using two distribution formulas. All bus routes are classified
as being either regional or non-regional, based on route characteristics.
Regional bus routes generally provide transportation between jurisdictions. Regional bus routes
may also include bus routes that serve major activity centers that operate on major arterial streets,
and carry high volumes of riders either in one jurisdiction or in multiple jurisdictions. The
following are the specific criteria used by the Regional Mobility Panel to classify bus routes.
• Inter-jurisdictional routes are defined as regional. Defining characteristics of interjurisdictional
routes:
o Cross a jurisdictional (independent city, county, state) boundary;
o Penetrate at least two jurisdictions by more than one-half mile in each; and
o Operate “open door” (allows boarding and alighting) over at least a portion of the
line in two or more jurisdictions
• If a route does not qualify as regional under the inter-jurisdictional definition, then it must
meet at least two of the following three criteria to be regional:
o Arterial Streets: Operates for a considerable distance on an arterial street and a
substantial portion (usually a majority) of riders use stops on the arterial street.
Routes which operate for a short distance on an arterial incidental to their service
area are not included
o Regional Activity Center: Serves one or more regional activity centers. A
conservative definition of regional activity centers is used, including only those
where there is virtually universal agreement as to their regional character. Routes
which feed Metrorail stations, but which do not directly serve any regional activity
center, are not considered to be regional
D-4