The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) marked its 30th anniversary in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, and the agency celebrated not just by looking back on accomplishments but looking forward to the progress to come.

DRPT updated its mission and vision to reflect the agency’s goals and priorities: to connect and improve the quality of life for all Virginians through an integrated multimodal network that serves every person, every business, and every need. The agency also completed work on its strategic plan, which will serve as a map for how to improve rail and public transportation in the Commonwealth. DRPT is committed to working with its rail and public transportation stakeholders to meet these goals.

The Commonwealth sees a return on its investments in rail and public transportation through improved connections to jobs and moving more trucks off of Virginia highways, among other benefits. In FY23 DRPT invested $1.04 billion in state, federal, and local resources toward improving rail and public transportation capacity and service across the Commonwealth. Additionally, DRPT and transit agencies have brought back to Virginia millions of dollars in federal funding back to Virginia.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects continue to be a factor on ridership, particularly with telework still being a common practice with companies. However, transit agencies have innovated and adapted to attract passengers. Transit ridership in Virginia has increased, with more than 105 million passengers on transit in FY23, an increase of 128 percent since FY21, when ridership hit its lowest because of the pandemic. The Virginia Breeze, the DRPT-managed intercity bus program, set record-breaking ridership on all four of its routes in FY23. Virginia’s commuter assistance programs reduced 2.7 million vehicle trips and 93.4 million vehicle miles traveled in FY23, a 136 percent increase and 116 percent increase, respectively, over the previous fiscal year. And DRPT’s rail programs are moving more and more trucks from Virginia’s highways by diverting goods to trains, with 14 million trucks diverted in FY23.

Rail and public transportation partners have delivered improved service in FY23. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) opened the Potomac Yard Metro Station, which served as a key factor in the decision to locate the new Virginia Tech Innovation campus, slated to open in 2024, in Alexandria. It also completed the final phase of the 23-mile expansion of the Silver Line to Washington Dulles International Airport, drawing 2 million trips since it opened in November 2022. DRPT’s mission focuses on working toward public transportation accessible to all Virginians, no matter where they live. The agency has supported organizations bringing public transit options to rural communities through microtransit. It has also funded and assisted with the testing of transit services in the Town of Bedford and Shenandoah County, which now have transit service for the first time.

New legislation will go into effect that will change the funding mechanism for the Virginia Railway Express as well as improve oversight to WMATA, two systems that have faced ridership challenges due to the federal workforce not returning to offices full time.

DRPT completed its update to the Statewide Rail Plan in 2022, which provides long-term guidance for Virginia’s transportation leadership to ensure that the Commonwealth’s rail needs for people, communities, and commerce are addressed. Continued investment in rail infrastructure will ensure the mission and vision of the Commonwealth’s transportation network is achieved.

A record number of businesses have sought investments to move their goods on the rail network, easing the strain on highway infrastructure and reducing congestion. DRPT is also developing a bold plan to identify technology, equipment, and infrastructure enhancements to maximize the capacity and efficiency of Virginia’s transportation network by increasing the percentage of goods moving in and out of the Port of Virginia by rail.

DRPT is always moving. The agency has begun a study on an east-west Virginia Breeze route. It is also in the middle of a year-long process to create a guide for Virginia’s transit agencies to transition their fleets to low- and zero-emission vehicles, a document that will be most useful to smaller, rural transit agencies with limited resources that want to pursue a more cost efficient way to move people.