Written Testimony
of
Mike Litt, Sierra Club DC Chapter
For the District Department of Transportation Budget Oversight Hearing
Before the Council of the District of Columbia’s
Committee on Transportation and the Environment
2 June 2025
Chair Allen and members of the Committee, my name is Mike Litt. I am a car-free renter in Ward 6 and Chair of the Sierra Club DC Chapter, as well as Chair of our Sustainable Transportation Committee. The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In DC, we represent about 7,000 members and supporters across all eight wards.
According to DC’s Multimodal Long-Range Transportation Plan, also known as “moveDC”, transportation is the District’s second leading source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for 21% of such emissions. DDOT, therefore, plays a critical role in meeting the District’s goals for a 60% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2045, as required by the Climate Commitment Amendment Act.
Meeting our national and local carbon reduction goals and improving air quality and public health require immediate action to both shift more trips away from single-occupancy vehicles and make sure that vehicle trips—including those on transit vehicles—are powered by clean energy. The District should continually prioritize those areas with the greatest need for improved transit frequency, better access to jobs and destinations, and increased safety, in order to improve the city as a whole.
This testimony details our recommendations responding to Mayor Bowser’s proposed FY 2026 DDOT budget to align budget and policy priorities to improve transit service and infrastructure, bike and pedestrian safety, traffic safety enforcement, and demand management, and increase transportation electrification. Among our recommendations is the reversal of the mayor’s proposed diversion of funds from special purpose programs, which undermines the council’s spending authority and disregards the intended purpose of these funds, which are meant to address the community’s specific needs and goals.
Transit Service and Infrastructure Improvements
Bus Priority Projects and Service
The final FY 26 budget should restore the $36 million in cuts to bus priority projects proposed in the mayor’s budget, projects that will improve bus speeds and reliability across all wards. Bus priority is the fastest way to improve connections between DC neighborhoods. It is also essential to addressing the additional time that transit riders are effectively taxed with compared to drivers. Recent analysis published by Greater Greater Washington found that, on average, transit trips in the District take more than 2.5 times longer than car trips. This disparity, known as the “time tax,” is particularly unfair to Washingtonians who cannot afford cars.
According to moveDC, areas with the greatest transportation needs are defined by factors such as low proximity to frequent transit service and higher commute times. People of color, low-income residents, and people with disabilities make up a larger percentage of the population in these areas, underscoring the critical need for bus priority investments in these areas.
The proposed cuts to bus priority projects are particularly concerning, as DDOT has already fallen far short of its goal to implement 25 bus-lane miles by 2025, with only 13.3 miles of bus lanes built or under construction to date. As DDOT explained in its Performance Oversight pre-hearing responses, bus travel times and reliability have generally improved with the implementation of bus lanes and priority projects. We should be increasing, not cutting, funding for bus priority. Improving bus travel times is key to boosting ridership, reducing traffic congestion, and benefiting all District residents.
We continue to recommend that brief descriptions and timelines for each bus priority project be included on the projects map. Additionally, we urge DDOT to maintain a central list of all bus priority projects by ward, with corresponding details to help the public track progress across the District.
We also commend the proposed increase in funding for the Traffic Safety Administration to support costs associated with the joint DDOT/Metro Clear Lanes Project, which aims to improve bus travel times and bus stop safety by enforcing traffic violations in dedicated bus lanes and bus zones. We encourage DDOT to publish data on changes in illegal and obstructive activities in bus lanes as well as improvements in bus travel times as this data becomes available.
WMATA
We commend the expanded subsidies to keep WMATA funded. However, Metro needs long-term dedicated funding like other transit authorities. As a member of the DMV Moves Community Partners Advisory Group, we will continue to advocate for dedicated funding to ensure Metro can provide more frequent and reliable service. We also urge the DMV Moves Task Force to seriously consider “land value return” and congestion relief pricing (outlined below) as potential funding options.
We support the continuation of overnight Metrobus service, which provides 24/7 service on 14 routes throughout the District, thanks to the passage of Councilmember Allen’s Metro for DC legislation.
H Street Bridge
The H Street Bridge NE Replacement project is essential to address safety concerns about the Hopscotch Bridge, which handles inter- and intracity buses, and crosstown traffic. We urge DDOT to prioritize completing the replacement of the H Street Bridge safely, on budget, and on time, according to the current schedule of issuing a design-build RFQ and awarding a contract in Q4 2025, with project completion slated for 2032.
Streetcar Replacement
Given the proposed budget’s plans to end Streetcar service in two years, it is vital that its replacement offers equitable, frequent, and electrified service. This service should provide a much-needed transportation link for Ward 5 and Ward 7 neighborhoods, extending to the Benning Road Metrorail station.
Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Traffic Safety
Protected Bike Lanes
We would like clarification on how much of the operations budget will be allocated to support protected bike lanes, as DDOT’s reorganization makes that allocation unclear. We wholeheartedly support the vision of a city that is accessible to cyclists of all ages and skill levels, and we believe that protected cycling infrastructure will enable people to significantly and safely reduce their reliance on cars.
As we noted in our testimony for DDOT’s Performance Oversight hearing earlier this year, we recognize the recent progress in installing protected bike lanes, which use barriers to separate cyclists from traffic. However, we are concerned that DDOT only installed 4.2 bike lane miles toward its FY24 goal of 10 miles. We urge DDOT to resolve this failure, including securing the necessary contracts, and to prioritize hitting its protected bike lane goals moving forward. The final FY26 budget should ensure that DDOT has the resources needed to meet its bike lane targets.
We commend the proposed $5 million increase for Capital Bikeshare to expand and replace stations and bicycles. We support further investment as Capital Bikeshare’s ridership continues to grow. In 2024, Capital Bikeshare shattered records, reaching six million trips—a 37% increase over the previous record in 2023—and in March marked its 39th consecutive month of year-over-year growth.
We strongly urge the mayor and DC Council to restore protected bike lanes to the Connecticut Avenue redesign plan, which is essential to improving safety along this important corridor. We remain deeply disappointed by the Bowser Administration’s reversal on this plan, which we have supported for many years. This plan was the product of substantial community engagement and has been met with widespread community and Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) support.
In addition to expanding our network of on-street protected bike lanes, we support funding for the expansion of our trail network, which makes it possible to bike to many places throughout the District and region without needing to share the road with cars at all.
We also support continued funding for the Long Bridge Pedestrian & Bicycle Connect project, which will provide a long-awaited regional connection across the Potomac.
Vision Zero
We commend the 52% increase in the Vision Zero Division operating budget. So far this year, there have been 7 traffic fatalities, a significant decrease compared to 20 during the same period in 2024, which tied with 2023 as the deadliest year for traffic fatalities in the District in 17 years.
The Vision Zero 2022 Update shows that Wards 7 and 8 bore the brunt with the most crash injuries and fatalities in the District from 2017 - 2021. A 2023 DC Auditor report found that years went by without fully funding, targeting, or assessing the District’s Vision Zero efforts. The proposed budget increase is a step in the right direction and has the potential to help continue this downward trend in fatalities, but sustained focus and investment are critical to make further progress.
The final budget should reverse the proposal to make the Vision Zero Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Fund a lapsing fund, which would result in the remaining balance being swept into the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year. Funds designated specifically for improving the safety and quality of bicycle and pedestrian transportation should remain dedicated to those purposes, ensuring that resources are available for education, engineering, and enforcement efforts aimed at calming traffic and providing safe routes. The lapsing fund proposal would put an undue burden on DDOT Vision Zero staff to urgently allocate funds through fees collected towards the end of the fiscal year so as to avoid losing access to those dedicated funds.
We would like additional information on how the new DDOT reorganization, particularly the restructuring of the Traffic Safety Administration, is expected to improve traffic safety operations. The public should know how its success will be measured and that traffic safety efforts will not be curtailed.
We support capital funding for the Streetscapes and Beautification project, which includes longer-term corridor safety investments, and the Safety & Mobility capital project, which includes quicker-build projects, bike lane and infrastructure expansion, intersection improvements, and other activities to support Vision Zero. These physical changes to the right of way play an integral part in drawing people to trade car trips for walking or cycling, which protects vulnerable road users, and improves the quality of life for District residents.
We need streets designed to limit speeding, measures that improve visibility of cyclists and pedestrians, and enforcement against dangerous driving.
DDOT’s final budget should include funding for analysis of its safety improvements currently in use, such as its study on pedestrian crossing treatments, which has been on hold due to staffing and funding constraints. Such analysis is important for making the most effective use of limited resources.
Automated Traffic Enforcement
We commend the proposed increase of $6.4 million for the Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) Division. The expansion of ATE cameras has shown promising results, including last summer’s sharp drop in speeding on streets with new cameras. We look forward to seeing DDOT’s evaluation of the outcomes of each camera, which was scheduled to be completed in April. We also look forward to DDOT’s evaluation of its equity fine reduction pilot, recommended by the Mayor’s Task Force on ATE Equity and Safety and expected to start in Q2 or Q3 of FY25.
Although cameras play a role, without the ability to enforce fines or take cars with repeat offenses off the road, such expansion of cameras will yield limited results. Expanding ATE enforcement should be paired with stronger measures to ensure that habitual offenders face consequences that keep them off the road or explicitly show an improvement in safe driving.
STEER Act and Parking Enforcement Act
We urge the DC Council and Mayor Bowser to ensure full funding for Councilmember Allen’s Strengthening Traffic Enforcement, Education, and Responsibility Amendment Act (STEER Act) and Councilmember Nadeau’s Fraudulent Vehicle Tag and Parking Enforcement Modernization Amendment Act.
The STEER Act was partially funded in FY25 to enforce moving violations by drivers (both from DC and any state) with large unpaid balances and to limit the speed of reckless drivers. We commend the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for utilizing this law to file lawsuits against three Maryland drivers who failed to pay over $90,000 in fines for dangerous driving.
The final FY26 budget should fully fund all provisions of the STEER Act, including the creation of a new point system to prioritize the booting and towing of dangerous vehicles. Additionally, the parking enforcement law, which builds on the STEER Act to remove abandoned, unidentifiable, or dangerous vehicles with traffic safety infractions, should also be fully funded.
Both laws involve the authorities of DDOT, Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Department of Public Works (DPW), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and OAG, demonstrating the multi-agency approach and departmental coordination that is required to enforce our laws and help restore the social contract when it comes to making our streets safer for all.
We also look forward to DDOT’s report, which was expected to be published last quarter, on its project to test proactive interventions to high-risk drivers.
Reduced Vehicle Miles Traveled through Demand Management
While improved transit service, safe bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and traffic safety enforcement are critical for providing people in DC with viable alternatives to cars, DC must also price car use appropriately to offset its negative externalities and to reflect its true costs.
Congestion Pricing
One of DDOT’s policies laid out in moveDC is to “implement congestion management tools to support accessible, reliable, sustainable, efficient, and affordable movement throughout the District.” One such congestion management tool available is congestion pricing, also known as road pricing, which would require drivers to pay to drive into the most congested parts of DC, especially at the most congested times. This would decrease traffic congestion, reduce pollution, and help meet the District’s transportation and climate goals. It would also generate much-needed revenue that could be used to fund Metro, which is regularly facing budget shortfalls and in need of dedicated funding.
We are disappointed that DDOT has not yet released a critical congestion pricing study, despite its commission by the DC Council in 2019 and a requirement for its update and release last January. The public deserves to see whether decisions by DDOT are being informed by the best available data, and District taxpayers deserve to see the results of a study we funded. With a proposed budget that cuts many areas of funding for District programs and services, the administration should not be leaving any revenue stone unturned, especially those which may have positive outcomes seen in other jurisdictions that have implemented congestion pricing such as New York City. We call on this committee to compel DDOT to release the study.
Parking Cashout Law
The DC Parking Cashout Law is an innovative program to provide equal transportation benefits to employees of District employers with 20 or more employees that provide parking benefits, regardless of the method of commuting. This law recognizes that parking is not the only cost that workers encounter in their commute - those of us who take Metrorail, Metrobus, cycle, and even walk to work all face costs associated with those commutes.
The mayor’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act of 2025 would end the parking cash-out program, taking money out of the pockets of DC workers: those who can’t afford or don’t want a car, and those who simply choose an easier or faster commute method than driving to work. About 61% of DC resident commuters are not driving alone to work. The Parking Cashout Law recognizes that offering commuter benefits only to this minority of workers who drive is an unfair and warped incentive. Importantly, the repeal of this program has no apparent budgetary impact since this is a program that applies to private employers. We urge the Committee to strip the repeal of the Parking Cashout Law from the Budget Support Act.
Commanders Stadium Parking
The proposed Commanders stadium location at the site of RFK would be one of the most accessible locations for an NFL stadium via non-car modes nationwide. We recognize that, like RFK stadium when it was in use, some amount of parking will be necessary. However, through this budget and the District’s incentives for the development on this site as a whole, we urge the Council to take a judicious lens both to the development and the funding of this parking. We also urge the Council to prioritize investments in non-parking transportation infrastructure to bring fans to a new stadium should it be built, including increasing Metro service and potentially building a new Metrorail station, improving and growing bicycle infrastructure, and building a bike valet like the very popular facility at Nationals Park.
In addition, as the District budget faces cuts across many agencies in the mayor’s proposed fiscal year budget, we urge the Council to avoid waiving potential revenue sources such as sales tax on parking at the stadium.
Residential Parking
We urge timely completion of DDOT’s study on changing Residential Parking Permit (RPP) policies, which was delayed in FY24 and is expected to start in late FY25 and continue into FY26. As DDOT explains, “RPP parking is priced the same, regardless of location, demand, or occupancy patterns. In this way, the RPP program is inequitably implemented: some residents have plentiful parking near their homes and enjoy free parking near retail, while others have limited parking near their homes.” We look forward to seeing the study’s results on how changing RPP policies “could encourage residents to use safer and more sustainable modes of transportation.”
If the scope of this planned study does not include increases in RPP fees, we urge a separate study to address this. The current fee, starting at just $50 per year for street parking in the District, is significantly below its value. The District became a national leader when it increased vehicle registration fees based on weight and could similarly increase parking permit fees by vehicle size, as, for example, a borough in Montreal did in 2023. We urge a study on how such an increase could be structured, considering factors like vehicle size, parking location, and equity. Such a study should aim to minimize the inequitable impacts of fee increases on low-income and Black residents, who are less likely to live in neighborhoods with access to alternative transportation, as a DC Tax Revision Commission proposal on increasing residential parking permit fees noted.
Car-Free Zones
We are excited by the direction toward vibrant, weekly car-free corridors Councilmember Allen’s recently passed Public Life and Activity Zones Amendment (‘PLAZA’) Act will take the District and commend the Council for its passage. This law will help ensure DDOT prioritizes moving people and not just cars when evaluating transportation plans, and it should be fully funded.
Electrification
District-Owned Vehicles
The proposed Budget Support Act also delays the requirement that the District only purchase or lease zero-emission vehicles from 2026 to 2027, a delay with minimal budgetary impact compared to the climate and air quality impacts of replacing pollutant-emitting District-owned vehicles sooner. DC was designated with non-attainment status under the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, the primary component of smog. The American Lung Association recently gave DC an “F” grade for high ozone days and the 24-hour standard for particle pollution. Yet, there are currently over 100 electric vehicle models commercially available in the U.S., with decreasing upfront costs and greater lifetime savings compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. We urge the Council to remove this delay from the Budget Support Act to avoid delaying the procurement of District-owned zero-emission vehicles any longer.
Charging Infrastructure
Thank you for your leadership in introducing and passing the Comprehensive Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Access, Readiness, and Sustainability Act (B25-0106). Transitioning to a zero-emission vehicle future, coupled with reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT), will require electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure to meet the District’s goal under the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 for at least 25% of registered vehicles in DC to be zero-emission by 2030. Public charging is necessary infrastructure to incentivize EV adoption, especially for the many residents without access to charging at home or work.
Currently, DC residents face a limited public charging landscape in the District, and this bill recognizes a need for more charging infrastructure across the District.
We urge full funding for this new law to accelerate the installation of more EV charging stations across the District by establishing an EV charger deployment plan, launching a public education campaign, providing incentives for charger installation, ensuring a right-to-install provision for renters and condo owners, and setting charger requirements for residential and commercial properties.
The District cannot rely entirely on precarious federal funding to accelerate our own expansion of infrastructure.
E-bikes
Thank you for making the District Electric Bicycle Incentive Program possible, to help District residents afford e-bikes with vouchers up to $1,500. We were pleased to see applications open for all applicants during its second year, while still maintaining preferred status for District residents with low incomes. We urge continued funding of this program.
We also want to recognize e-bikes as the most popular option among Capital Bikeshare riders, accounting for 70.6% of all trips in 2024. This statistic clearly shows people love the convenience of getting around on e-bikes. The District’s incentive program allows more people to experience the convenience of an e-bike through ownership, which can also include cargo bike models.
Coupled with dedicated resources for protected bike lane infrastructure, electric bike rebates and expanded Bikeshare e-bike availability and service will help the District reach its climate goals, clean its air, and reduce its dependence on cars, and help District residents get around faster.
Tree Canopy
In addition to managing transportation, DDOT plays a critical role as steward of our public trees.\
The final budget should reverse the proposal to make the Tree Fund a lapsing fund. We are particularly concerned that if the remaining Tree Fund balance is swept into the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year on September 30th, there will be insufficient funds for the October–December tree planting season.
The final FY 26 budget should reverse the proposal to zero out of the urban forestry capital budget after FY26 and restore the $17 million in cuts to rehabilitate and expand the District’s tree canopy.
According to Casey Trees’ 17th Annual Tree Report Card, released in April, the District has done a good job with tree coverage, tree health, and tree planting. While DC has improved its overall score for tree protection, it continues to receive a failing grade for “fees and fines being used to plant replacement trees” and has earned an incomplete for “fees and fines required to remove Special trees keeping pace with inflation.” Protecting the trees we already have is critical to restoring our tree canopy, which in turn helps mitigate climate change.
We urge the DC Council to pass Chairman Mendelson’s Tree Preservation Enhancement Amendment Act of 2025, which would expand the definition of Special Trees from those with a 44-inch circumference to those with a 25-inch circumference, helping to protect more of our canopy. It would also increase the removal fee for Special Trees to account for inflation.
All fines for tree law violations should go to the Tree Fund, as required by the Urban Forest Preservation Act, to fund the replacement of trees.
Conclusion
The District’s transportation system is at a pivotal moment, and the decisions made today will determine whether we meet our climate goals and create a safer, more equitable city.
\We look forward to working with the Committee to turn these recommendations into the budget needed to create a more sustainable transportation future for all residents.
Thank you again for the opportunity to submit this written testimony.