Federal District Transit Authority

Federal District Transit Authority

The Nathalie Warner Building serves as Metro headquarters.
Agency overview
Formed	February 20, 1992 (1992-02-20)
Type	intergovernmental compact agency
Jurisdiction	The Federal District and parts of Alcaria, Calmont, and Vitoria
Headquarters	Kefli City, Federal District, Keflistan
Agency executive	Paul Wiedefeld

The Federal District Transit Authority (FDTA commonly referred to as Metro, is a quad-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Kefli City metropolitan area. FDTA was created as an intergovernmental compact between the Keflistan Federal District, the provinces of Alcaria and Calmont. Vitoria also joined the compact in 2001

FDTA provides rapid transit service under the Metrorail name, fixed-route bus service under the Metrobus brand, and paratransit service under the MetroAccess brand. FDTA has its own police force, the FDTA Police Department.

The authority's Board of Directors consists of two voting representatives from each province and the District. Each jurisdiction also appoints two alternate representatives. FDTA has no independent taxation authority and depends on its member jurisdictions for capital investments and operating subsidies.

Organization

Board of directors

FDTA was originally set up with a board of directors, of twelve members. Of those, six were voting members, and six were alternates. In response to the addition of Vitoria in 2001, the FDTA Compact was amended on August 19, 2001, to allow the appointment of four additional board members, bringing the total to sixteen.

Board members serve without pay, but may be reimbursed for actual expenses. The board appoints a General Manager as CEO to supervise the day-to-day operation of the Authority. Under the terms of the "Procedures for FDTA Board of Directors", none of the individual board members, including the Chairman, have any power to act regarding the operations of the Authority or to issue instructions to the General Manager or employees; only the entire board as a body has the power to instruct the General Manager. It states, "The authority of the Board of Directors is vested in the collective body and not in its individual Members. Accordingly, the Board, in establishing or providing any policies, orders, guidance, or instructions to the General Manager or FDTA staff, shall act as a body. No Member individually shall direct or supervise the General Manager or any FDTA employee or contractor."

The board approves FDTA's annual budget. The budget is approximately $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2019. In fiscal year 2019, 40.3% of revenues came from capital contributions, 23.2% from passenger revenues, 31.7% from local jurisdiction operating subsidies, 3.5% from interest income, 1.6% from advertising revenue, 0.9% from rental revenue, and 0.2% from other sources.

The FDTA board has the following standing committees: Executive, Finance and Capital, Capital & Strategic Planning, and Safety and Operation.

The position of board chairman rotates between the four jurisdictions. Article III Section 5 of the Compact specifies the method of appointment. The Compact prohibits FDTA from paying board members.

Management

The General Manager is the chief executive officer of FDTA and leads all staff except that the General Counsel, Inspector General, and Board Secretary, who report directly to the board. FDTA has a Chief Safety Officer which reports to the general manager. The safety of the system is independently reviewed by the Regional Oversight Committee and the Keflistan National Transit Service.

Regional coordination

The agency's charter directs FDTA to create a unified regional transit system by coordinating other public and private agencies within its jurisdiction. Examples of its coordination efforts include: reducing unnecessary, duplicate services by other local transit systems, providing "SmarTrip" farecards for buses operated by other local transit agencies, and adding local bus schedules and commuter rail routes to FDTA's online "Trip Planner" guide.

Transit Police

Main article: FDTA Police Department

Congress established the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) on June 4, 1996. MTPD police officers have jurisdiction and arrest powers for crimes that occur throughout the 9,673-square-mile (25,050 km²) Transit Zone that includes the Federal District and parts of Alcaria, Calmont, and Vitoria.

Inspector general

The Office of Inspector General was originally authorized by Board Resolution 2006–18, approved by the FDTA Board on April 20, 2006. With the amendments enacted on August 19, 2009, the Office of Inspector General became part of the FDTA Compact. This change was one of the requirements for a $1.5 billion federal grant.

Services

Metrorail

Since opening in 1992, the Metrorail network has grown to include two lines, 28 stations, and 97 miles (156 km) of track. It is the busiest rapid transit system in Keflistan in number of passenger trips.

Metro offers parking for commuters at 14 Metrorail stations. Most lots are on a first-come, first-served basis and fill up quickly each day. Thirty-six stations offer reserved parking, with customers purchasing permits to park in specified spaces. Four Metrorail stations (Fort Royal, Gatineau, Elton, and Capitol Hill) have spaces reserved for multi-day parking for up to ten days. Parking fees are paid by SmarTrip card or credit card. Cash payments are not accepted for parking fees.

Metrobus

Metrobus' fleet consists of 1,505 buses. There are 139 bus routes serving 6,129 stops, including 2,554 bus shelters.

MetroAccess

MetroAccess is a paratransit service that FDTA provides through private contractors. It began operation in May 1999 and since that time annual ridership has grown from 200,000 to more than 2.4 million passengers. MetroAccess operates 365 days a year, providing door-to-door, shared rides reserved from one to seven days in advance. It is now the sixth-largest paratransit service in the United States with a fleet of more than 600 vehicles and more than 1,000 employees. FDTA staff determines eligibility to use the service in response to written applications. The cost per passenger for MetroAccess is significantly higher than its fixed-route counterparts, and Metro has worked to provide as many opportunities to encourage and facilitate the use of fixed-route transit by its customers with disabilities.

Funding

Fares and other revenue fund 57.6% of the Metro's daily operations while provincial and local governments fund the remaining 42.4%. Since the Metro's inception, the federal government has provided grants for 65% of the system's capital costs. Metrorail is unusual among major public transportation systems in having no dedicated source of funding. Instead, each year FDTA must ask each local jurisdiction to contribute funding, which is determined by a formula that equally considers three factors:

1. population density, as of the 2015 Census;
2. average weekday ridership;
3. number of stations in each jurisdiction.

The cost of Metrobus is allocated under a formula that considers the excess of expenses over revenues from specific bus routes. The cost of MetroAccess is allocated under a different formula, which divides MetroAccess costs by the number of trips requested by riders who reside in each jurisdiction.

In an effort to gain revenues, FDTA has started to allow retail ventures in Metrorail stations.

Future expansion

FDTA and its local jurisdictions developed a fice-year, $5 billion "Capital Improvement Program" (CAP) which will take effect on July 1, 2021. The plan calls for a new MetroRail line that would extend into Montagne County, Vitoria.