Mass_Transit_March_2020 - 15

DASH

residents but it also prepares
DASH for the city to become
more densely populated and for
the upcoming arrival of Amazon
headquarters at National Landing. The southern area of National
Landing is Potomac Yard, which
comes into Alexandria and will
include a soon-to-be-constructed
Metrorail station.
"There's a whole lot of density that's being built up around
that future [Metrorail] station,"
Barna said. "Before Amazon was
announced, we knew there was
going to be a whole lot of density there...so we've already been
building towards a very frequent
service to that area."
The service is expected to come
across the city and to the Potomac
Yard area, allowing for easy connections up to Crystal City and the
Amazon headquarters.

Realizing a longterm vision

In light of this increase in population density, and with more
frequent service coming in 2021,
DASH is working with the city to

implement proposed dedicated
transit corridors and dedicated
rights of way. As of now, DASH
has one bus rapid transit (BRT)
corridor in operation, Route 1 or
Metroway, with two more corridors included in the ATV Plan.
These BRTs aim to provide more
frequent and expanded service.
NVTC reports DASH's annual
ridership has gradually declined
from 14,233 average daily boardings in FY15 to 12,550 average
daily boardings in FY19, fairly
consistent to FY18 which averaged
12,912 weekday boardings. Baker
explains while DASH's ridership
decline has started to level off and
looks to be on the rebound, this
doesn't prevent some push back.
"We've looked at expansion
and often take criticism when
people say, 'Why are you expanding when your ridership is
declining?' The answer is that
there's that pent-up demand potentially," Baker said.
But Baker notes demand is
only one factor. Better quality
service could attract more riders. Part of that quality service

translated to improvements on
DASH's AT1 and AT9 routes.
DASH was able to significantly increase headways on these
buses after receiving funding
from the Commuter Choice on
the I-395/95 corridor, a program
administered by the Northern
Virginia Transportation Commission and in partnership with
the commonwealth of Virginia
and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission. The funding is generated
from a portion of toll revenues
collected on the 395 Express
Lanes, which began when two
high-occupancy-vehicle lanes
along an eight-mile stretch on
Interstate 395 were converted to
three reversible high-occupancy
toll lanes.
"The creative way Virginia set
up the agreement with the operator of these lanes is that initial
revenues beyond the base contract
allocations are diverted to alternative transportation projects,"
Baker explained.

This means entities along the
corridor can apply for funding
to support alternative transportation projects such as bikeway
or pedestrian way improvements.
DASH applied and received two
Commuter Choice Grants which
will cover more than $5 million
in capital and operating expenses
for the AT1 Plus and AT9 routes

"I

believe
there is a pentup demand.
I think we're
going to hit
a turning
point and all
of a sudden,
we're going to
start [to] see
the demand
significantly
increase.
Providing higher
quality service
will draw more
people to the
system.
-JOSH BAKER,
DASH CEO
and General
Manager

DASH HAS
received
preliminary
funding for its
planned West
End Transitway
BRT line, with
the service
expected to
launch in 2028.

MARCH 2020 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit |

15
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