Virginia Discussing Regional Income Tax For NOVA Transit

[Anonymous]

Virginia lawmakers are proposing a regional income tax for NOVA Residents to fund transit. This is ridiculous, we already pay local sales taxes for transit, a portion of our property taxes are allocated to the metro, there is a real estate transfer tax assessed for transit funding, and a vehicle fuels tax for transit. WMATA always wants more funding and they never have enough. They need to stop taking more money from hardworking taxpayers and make do with existing funding.

[Anonymous]

Agree. The system is not self-supporting, and should contract in service scope until it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The system is not self-supporting, and should contract in service scope until it is.

That's not how public transit works. At all.

[Anonymous]

We already support the rest of the state. Enough is enough. Why is it that any major transit project in NOVA involves tolls that the rest of the state seems to avoid? Our representatives need to grow backbones and learn to play politics because rural and Hampton Roads lawmakers certainly know how

[Anonymous]

It is crazy to see NOVA trying to Maryland itself, which makes sense because this is what happens when you have 100% Democratic control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The system is not self-supporting, and should contract in service scope until it is.

This is idiotic. Transit is a public good. It’s not a private company and doesn’t have to make profits to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The system is not self-supporting, and should contract in service scope until it is.

Roads, too.

[Anonymous]

Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The system is not self-supporting, and should contract in service scope until it is.

This is idiotic. Transit is a public good. It’s not a private company and doesn’t have to make profits to be successful.

Transit benefits those who live near enough to use it. That isn't most households. Charge an amount required for it to sustain itself instead of burdening people who either didn't choose to live near metro or can't afford to live near metro. Transit advocates love to crow on about what a metro station does to property values- tax that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.

It's the other way around. Spending more on transit - and more importantly, figuring out how to persuade people to take public transit (why are rates declining? what would people prefer for them to choose public transit?) would be money well spent.

I've lived in Nova for 25 years - more traffic is not the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The system is not self-supporting, and should contract in service scope until it is.

This is idiotic. Transit is a public good. It’s not a private company and doesn’t have to make profits to be successful.

Transit benefits those who live near enough to use it. That isn't most households. Charge an amount required for it to sustain itself instead of burdening people who either didn't choose to live near metro or can't afford to live near metro. Transit advocates love to crow on about what a metro station does to property values- tax that

Roads benefit those who live near enough to use them. That isn't most households. Any given household lives very far away from almost all roads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.

Transit is inadequate, so most people can't use it, so we should ... make transit even more inadequate!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.

Transit is inadequate, so most people can't use it, so we should ... make transit even more inadequate!

It's inefficient and slow. NOVA is large and sprawling without any true center. Good luck figuring out how to make it fast and efficient

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.

Transit is inadequate, so most people can't use it, so we should ... make transit even more inadequate!

It's inefficient and slow. NOVA is large and sprawling without any true center. Good luck figuring out how to make it fast and efficient

Do you think less funding would make it more efficient and less slow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Transit ridership in NOVA has been on long-term decline since 2008, predating the pandemic. Current ridership is 60% below 2008 levels. Only 4% of NOVA commuters use transit, which is down from what was a steady 10% of commuters pre-pandemic.
https://novatransit.org/uploads/studiesarchive/2024%20Northern%20Virginia%20Transit%20Trends%20Report.pdf

Spending more on transit is a waste of money.

Transit is inadequate, so most people can't use it, so we should ... make transit even more inadequate!

It’s increasingly irrelevant due to the dispersion of jobs out of DC and across NOVA.