How smart can public transportation be? Imagine Virginia without it.

If everyone in Northern Virginia who normally rides Metrorail had to drive a car to work instead, the resulting traffic jam would stretch from Washington, D.C. to North Carolina. If everyone who carpools in Virginia drove alone, the added vehicles would create two lanes of parked traffic from Richmond to Orlando.

Make no mistake about it- public transportation in Virginia is important. Three of the 75 largest transit agencies in the country operate here. Metrorail is the nation’s second most heavily-used rail transit system, with more than 700,000 average weekday passenger trips. The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter rail system is one of the fastest-growing commuter rail services in America.

Sixty public transit operators, 54 human service operators and 18 commuter assistance agencies carry Virginians to work every day in something other than their own cars. Carpools, vanpools, transit, passenger ferry, commuter rail, walking, biking and teleworking are all smart ways that Virginians can get to work.

Public transportation saves time and money. The average family can save more than $9,000 a year by using public transportation and living with one less car. Instead of sitting in traffic for up to 62 hours a year, they spend that time doing things like gardening, relaxing and playing with their children.

For thousands of people, public transportation is their only choice. Public Transportation is a lifeline for the disabled, the elderly, and anyone who cannot or chooses not to drive.

Public transportation riders aren’t the only beneficiaries. Every commuter railcar takes up to 125 vehicles off the road. A single bus can take up to 40 vehicles off the road and vanpools remove over 6,000 cars a year from Virginia roads. And when cars stay off the road, their pollutants stay out of the air. Public transportation reduces the nation’s carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons annually. To see a similar reduction, every household in New York City, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Los Angeles and Denver would have to stop using electricity.

To find out more about Public Transportation Grants, see the Transit Grants page.