Welcome to the first edition of DRPT’s Data Stories, and thank you for signing up for this new series! This series will offer engaging data-driven narratives on Virginia’s rail and public transportation. DRPT collects significant amounts of data that, out of context, are hard to digest. Data Stories will use our data to tell the story behind the numbers. Planned data-driven topics include transit ridership and recovery, freight rail’s economic impact, as well as this first Data Story: breaking down the budget and funding for rail and public transit providers across the Commonwealth.
DRPT’s draft Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP) for the upcoming fiscal year is live and set to be approved in mid-June, providing just over $1 billion in the upcoming fiscal year to public transportation, freight, and passenger rail, as well as commuter programs, paratransit, and statewide multimodal planning. But what exactly is the Six-Year Improvement Program, and how does it fund rail and public transportation across Virginia?