General Assembly continued on page 2

The Growing Impact of Millennials

We have all seen the media reports about how the millennial generation -- those aged 16 to 34 -- are changing

the way that we move, however very few understand what that means for mobility across the Commonwealth.

This past January, when former Virginia Secretary of

Transportation, and current Virginia Secretary of Finance,

Aubrey Layne said “We’ve got to move more people, not more

vehicles” it helped many policy makers open their eyes towards

the changing transportation habits of younger Virginians.

According to U.S. Census Bureau and the Federal Highway

Administration data, over a quarter of driving eligible millennials

in Virginia do not have a driver’s license. If you compare that to

data from 2000 of the same age group, it would result in an

eight percent decline among Virginians between the ages of 16

and 34 who possess a driver’s license. Meanwhile, over 95

percent of baby boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1965 -- in the Commonwealth are licensed drivers,

which is an increase of nearly four percent over their counterparts from 2000.

A key reason why millennials are spurning driver’s licenses

at a higher rate than previous generations is because of a

preference for other modes of travel. According to a 2013

survey done by the University of Michigan, 69.2 percent of

millennials and younger Generation Xers say they do not

drive because they prefer to walk, bike, ride transit, or

share a ride with someone (or as it is now commonly

known: ridesharing). Another 6.7 percent of the survey

takers listed environmental concerns as a reason for

driving less.

Additionally, according to the American Public

Transportation Association’s latest demographics report

released last year, millennials make up 37 percent of

transit riders with generation X making up another 40

percent. The two younger generational cohorts account

for 77 percent of our transit passengers, while they only

account for 57.8 percent of our total population and 54.7

percent of our licensed drivers. And, contrary to popular

misconceptions it is not only non-drivers taking transit,

nearly two-thirds of transit users have a driver’s license

further highlighting their desire to utilize alternative

transportation options.

2018 General Assembly Update

With several major rail projects underway in the

Commonwealth (DC2RVA study, Atlantic Gateway,

Long Bridge study, ACCA Yard improvements) our

primary objectives heading into the 2018 General

Assembly legislative session was to protect our

Amtrak regional trains and the funding necessary to

advance several passenger rail enhancement

projects funded in the state’s six-year improvement

plan. To that end, we were successful. In addition to

our primarily goals, we focused our energy and

time on several pieces of legislation which would

grow the transportation pie for rail and transit

projects.

We followed HB 1137 (Delegate Sickles) and SB 683

(Senator Stuart) which would have created a

Commuter Rail Operating and Capital Fund

(CROC). Our initial concerns with creating CROC

was that the creation of such a fund would further

www.VHSR.com

Millennials continued on page 4

Spring 2018 News from Virginians for High Speed Rail

@Clem Onojeghuo

dilute already limited rail and transit funding. Our

concerns were mitigated when HB 1137 was

continued to next year’s legislative session and SB

683 was left in the House’s Appropriations

committee. However, the CROC concept was

merged within the Northern Virginia transportation

package discussed below with its own dedicated

regional revenue source.

We supported the Northern Virginia transportation

package included in HB 1319 (Delegate Sullivan)

and SB 856 (Senator Saslaw) which helped to fix

Greater Washington’s Metro transit system, as well

as invest in

o t h e r

N o r t h e r n

V i r g i n i a

t r a n s i t

s e r v i c e s

i n c l u d i n g

V i r g i n i a

R a i l w a y

Express (VRE) by way of creating CROC with its

own dedicated regional funding source. These

pieces of legislation were merged with HB 1539

(Delegate Hugo) and passed both chambers of

the General Assembly with strong bi-partisan

support. The bill is currently on the Governor’s desk

awaiting signature.

One piece of legislation that we opposed was HB

455 (Delegate Filler-Corn) which mandated that

Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public

Transportation (VDRPT) cover 84 percent of the

cost of VRE’s track access costs (the amount that

VRE pays Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, and CSX for

the right to run on their railroads). This legislation

would have put a strain on the state’s limited rail

funds by mandating expenditures -- without

dictating a revenue source -- which the state had

no ability to negotiate nor control. This legislation

was struck in sub-committee by its patron

Delegate Filler-Corn.

Another piece of legislation that we followed was

HJ 66 (Delegate Roem). This joint resolution

requested that the Department of Transportation

to study and develop best practices for

constructing, operating, and maintaining a rail

system in the Commonwealth. We offered some

General Assembly continued from page 1

Federal FY 2018 Omnibus Bill

On March 23, 2018 President Donald Trump signed the

$1.3 trillion FY 2018 federal omnibus legislation which funds

the federal government until the end of September.

This legislation which cobbles together funding packages

for each major department of the federal government

including transportation. While not necessarily the best

way to implement long-term policy priorities, there are

some good items that made it into the omnibus legislation.

Overall, transportation got a total of $86.2 billion which

was an increase of $8.8 billion over FY 2017. Of that

funding $45.3 billion goes towards

road and highway projects and

safety programs, $18 billion towards

our aviation network, and $980

million to maritime programs.

Another $13.5 billion -- a $1 billion

increase over FY 2017 -- is invested

in our transit network with an

additional $1.5 billion funding the

very successful TIGER grants. TIGER

grants have been used successfully in Virginia to build Bus

Rapid Transit in Richmond, fund the study for the Long

Bridge replacement in Northern Virginia/Washington, and

expand the port facilities in Hampton Roads. The rest of

the transit funding is broken down as follows: $10.3 billion

for transit formula grants, $2.6 billion for the New Starts

program including $716 million for Core Capacity and

$400 million for Small Starts, and $150 million for DC Metro

Rail.

The omnibus bill also invests $3 billion in our rail network

including $1.95 billion for Amtrak ($1.3 billion for the

national network and $650 million for the Northeast

Corridor), and $863 million for several safety and state of

good repair grant programs including dedicating $250

million towards implementing positive train control. This is

an increase of nearly $1.3 billion for rail over last year’s

funding!

minor language changes to this resolution, however the

study died in sub-committee on a 3 to 3 vote.

All-in-all, this was a productive legislative session. However,

the General Assembly is in special session to resolve their

budget differences and we will keep an eye on any

potential impacts to our passenger rail services.

@Virginia General

Assembly

@Whitehouse

factor of all our trains was 55.7 percent. The one

area in need of improvement is our train’s on-time

performance which clocked in at 73.5 percent,

well below the 77.7 percent average for all

regional trains.

Overall, Virginia’s passenger trains had a

significant impact on our economy and

environment last year. Passengers riding our

Amtrak trains to and from Virginia eliminated 517

million passenger miles from our nation’s roadways

which reduced gas consumption by 23.9 million

gallons and eliminated the release of 469 million

pounds of carbon pollution. Additionally, our trains

produced over $198 million in tourism spending

and generated $1.1 billion in economic benefits

which created or sustained over 11,000 jobs.

Thus far through the first third of FY 2018 our state-

supported regional trains are continuing to build

on their growth from last

year with the new

R o a n o k e e x t e n s i o n

leading the way. Our

regional trains have seen

their ridership grow about

3 percent year-over-year

compared to FY 2017.

Profit per seat mile is down

about 32 percent ,

however we continue to

maintain four of the top

five best financially

p e r f o r m i n g s t a t e -

supported regional trains

in Amtrak’s network. Our

load factors continue to

be strong at 54.9 percent

or six percentage points higher than the average

Amtrak train. Another bright spot is that our

regional’s on-time performance is up to 78.7

percent for the fiscal year.

So far FY 2018 is continuing the positive trends that

we have seen since Virginia first began making

significant investments in improving and

expanding rail service with the launch of the

Lynchburg (now Roanoke) Regional train in 2007.

During the last decade we’ve seen our ridership

grow nearly 70 percent, and if current projections

continue FY 2018 could be a record year for

passenger rail ridership in Virginia.

After Solid 2017, Amtrak Poised to Grow

During FY 2017, Virginia’s Amtrak trains saw their ridership

grow 1.8 percent over the previous year and reached their

fourth highest ridership total in the state with over 1.58

million trips taken. 53.8 percent of trips were taken on the

Commonwealth’s six state sponsored Regional trains with

46.2 percent of ridership taking Amtrak’s national network

trains (the Cardinal, Crescent, Silver Star, Silver Meteor,

Palmetto, Auto-Train) and North Carolina’s state sponsored

train the Carolinian.

Richmond’s Main Street Station continues to be one of the

fastest growing stations in the state reaching their highest

ridership total since they re-opened in 2005. Over the last

decade ridership at Main Street Station has increased 263

percent. Rounding out the top five stations by passenger

volume in the state are Richmond’s suburban Staples Mill

station, Lorton (auto-train), Alexandria, Charlottesville, and

Fredericksburg.

It must be noted that Virginia’s state-sponsored Amtrak

Regional trains continue to be some of the most top

performing in the nation. As measured by profit per seat

mile, Virginia has four of the top five (out of 29 routes) best

performing state-supported Regional routes with Roanoke/

Lynchburg at 1, Newport News at 2, Richmond at 3, and

Norfolk at 4. Combined our Regionals turn a profit of $0.046

per seat mile. The load factor (how many seats are

available minus how many passengers rode the train) of our

trains also exceeded the average Amtrak train (51.2

percent) at 54.2 percent. Combined with the national trains

that serve the Commonwealth and the combined load

5101 Monument Ave.,

Richmond, Virginia 23230

P: 804-864-5193 | W: VHSR.com

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While taking transit, biking, walking, or ridesharing is fine

for getting around a single community, intercity

passenger rail is the preferred alternative for traveling

between regions. In Virginia, the growth in our

passenger rail ridership is partially due to the 87.5

percent of our higher education students attending

institutions which have easy access to our Amtrak

trains, and the fact that our passenger trains serve

communities home to nearly 86 percent of the

Commonwealth’s millennials.

That is the good news. The bad news is that if millennials

had the same driving habits as their baby boomer

counterparts, then traffic as measured by vehicle miles

traveled (VMT) would increase nearly 9 percent

overnight, which is the equivalent of an additional

650,000 automobiles on Virginia’s roadways. This

increased traffic would be especially apparent along

the Commonwealth’s urban crescent (Washington-

Richmond-Hampton Roads) which would see an

additional 5.2 billion VMTs on their roadways annually.

And, there would be no easy way to mitigate this

increase in traffic.

Between 2010 and 2014, 71.6 percent of every federal,

state, and local dollar spent on surface transportation

went to building and maintaining our roadways. In

Virginia’s own 2018-2023 six-year improvement plan,

82.4 percent of every transportation dollar goes

towards roadways, with transit receiving about 13.3

percent of transportation funding and rail projects

getting 4.2 percent. Since 1990, Virginia has seen its

traffic increase 24.4 percent. Highway traffic has

increased 47.3 percent over that same time period.

Simply, we have tried to pave our way out of traffic

and it has not worked.

If millennials begin to mimic previous generations

driving habits it could be financially devastating to our

transportation budget and our economic

competitiveness. The cost to construct enough new

lane miles just to maintain today’s traffic levels should

millennials travel choices become similar to the baby

boomers would reach over $58 billion!

The key problem is that this change in travel patterns

by America’s younger generations is not being realized

in how we craft our transportation policy and fund our

transportation projects. The challenge moving forward

is not changing the travel habits of future generations,

but changing the mindset of our transportation

planners and policy makers to build the transportation

network that allows them to move how they want or as

former Secretary of Transportation Layne said “We’ve

got to move more people...”

Millennials continued from page 1 Virginia Project Updates

DC2RVA Study: The public comment period has

concluded, and the final recommendations and

record of decision should be completed by the end

of this year. For more information: http://

dc2rvarail.com

Long Bridge Study: The alignment alternatives were

released late 2017 and they are being further studied.

The draft EIS should be released later this year. For

more information: http://longbridgeproject.com/

Richmond to Raleigh Study: The study was finished in

late 2016 and a record of decision was released early

last year. For more information: https://

www.ncdot.gov/projects/sehsr/

Lynchburg Regional Train 2: Negotiations are

continuing between Virginia, Amtrak, and Norfolk

Southern on the final schedule for this train.

South Hampton Roads Trains 2 and 3: The initiation of

these trains remains on schedule.

Arkendale to Powell’s Creek 3rd Track Improvements:

Work is paused at the moment while the remaining

agreements between CSX, Virginia, and Virginia

Railway Express are finalized.

ACCA Yard Improvements: This project remains on

schedule. VDRPT anticipates completion by January

2019. There were two other project components with

the Acca Agreement: Carson to Reams double track

(completed), and three universal crossovers between

Richmond and Petersburg (2 installed with the final

one being installed this summer).

S-Line Transfer: The effort to acquire the S-Line is a

component of the Atlantic Gateway initiative. CSX

has reaffirmed its commitment to the Northam

administration, however no formal agreement is in

place at this time and final negotiations continue.