Nominaon of Sharon Bulova for APTA’s Disnguished Service Award 1 Nomination of Sharon Bulova for APTA’s Distinguished Service Award Transit opons in the naonal capital area would not When rail service was launched along the I‐66 and I‐ be nearly as expansive were it not for the dedicaon 95/I‐395 corridors in 1992, VRE operated 16 trains of Sharon Bulova, recently rered chairman of the from 16 staons and carried, on average, 5,800 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Transit users passengers daily. At the start of 2020, VRE operated throughout the Washington, D.C. region have 32 trains from 19 staons and carried about 20,000 benefited from her work in founding the Virginia passengers daily. VRE improves regional mobility by Railway Express (VRE) and championing Metrorail’s transporng the equivalent of one lane of traffic on Silver Line. Her decades‐long efforts to ensure the both I‐95/I‐395 and I‐66 during peak periods. region is served by high‐quality, high‐capacity transit Ms. Bulova was instrumental in helping VRE achieve make Ms. Bulova worthy of the American Public this remarkable growth in ridership, having served as Transportaon Associaon’s Disnguished Service chairman in 1989, the Operaons Board’s inaugural award. year, and again in 1991, 1995, 2003 and 2011. VRE’s Founding the Virginia Railway Express ability to provide safe, cost effecve, accessible, An original and the longest‐serving member of the reliable, convenient and comfortable commuter rail VRE Operaons Board, Ms. Bulova worked diligently service is due in large part to her labors. VRE honored in the 1980s to establish the rail service, helping VRE her in 2015 by affixing “Sharon Bulova” to the front of overcome funding shoralls, indemnificaon hurdles one of its locomoves. Now in rerement, she plans and opposion from private railroads. She began her to write a book chronicling the history of VRE. efforts on VRE’s behalf in 1984 as an aide to Audrey Leading the Governor’s Rail Enhancement Commiee a Fairfax supervisor whose seat Ms. Bulova Moore, Impressed by Ms. Bulova’s leadership and passion for won in November 1987. She connued to advocate transportaon, then‐Governor Mark Warner for commuter rail service as a supervisor and member appointed her in 2004 to chair the Governor's of the Northern Virginia Transportaon Commission Commission on Rail Enhancement for the 21st (NVTC). Century in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The “VRE had a prolonged and difficult birth,” noted resulng recommendaons led to the creaon of former NVTC Execuve Director Richard Taube in more effecve investment partnerships to fund 2008. “Of necessity its organizaonal structure is freight and passenger rail projects with significant complex. It does not own its rights of way and has public benefits. limited leverage in negoang with the freight Championing Metrorail’s Silver Line railroads for the opportunity to operate addional The opening of Metrorail’s Silver Line in 2014 trains.” Working within these confines to stand up a provided thousands of residents and visitors with rail service required extraordinary effort and access to Washington, D.C. and the Virginia and commitment, and Ms. Bulova lead the charge. Her Maryland suburbs and sparked economic growth perseverance, resilience and leadership allowed the from Tysons to Reston, Virginia. Silver Line Phase 1 Operaons Board and VRE staff to overcome what was the culminaon of a nearly 20‐year effort, which oen appeared to be insurmountable obstacles. included numerous polical bales that nearly killed “Transportaon is hard,” Ms. Bulova wrote in a 2018 the project. big constuent newsleer. “The pace for geng Piecing together a funding package was crical. Ms. projects accomplished can be glacial. These early Bulova and other rail supporters worked to persuade issues were eventually worked out and the VRE a majority of landowners along the Dulles corridor to Commuter Rail System is a success story today. Those foot a big part of the $5.8 billion bill. The process for early struggles demonstrated for me the value of establishing the tax district was complex and involved tenacity.” support from several governing bodies. An Nominaon of Sharon Bulova for APTA’s Disnguished Service Award 2 unexpected veto by the Herndon Town Council nearly happened and I sure learned during those four years sculed the financing plan. Ms. Bulova and her that you don’t want to stop growth, that growth is colleagues eventually endured, establishing two tax important. The way growth and development are districts to appease the town. They also obtained the happening today is to provide more walkable then‐largest federal Transportaon Infrastructure communies, more transit‐oriented communies. Finance and Innovaon Act loan to be issued. Phase That’s what the business community wants. That’s 2, which will extend Metrorail to Dulles Internaonal what the millennials want. That’s what your rerees Airport and beyond, will open in 2021. and empty nesters want. This is a beer way of Garnering Support for Dedicated Transit Funding developing.” With the region in agreement about the need for Developing an Interconnected Transit Network dedicated funding for Metro but lacking consensus on An ardent supporter of mulmodal transportaon, how to achieve it, Ms. Bulova stepped up to chair the Ms. Bulova used her posion as chairman to expand Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s the availability of travel opons in Fairfax County. She (COG) Metro Strategy Group, which consisted of helped launch Capital Bikeshare four years ago and in elected officials from D.C, Maryland and Virginia. Her 2018 announced a pilot program that added e‐bikes work in 2017 led to an agreement that will ensure the to the fleet in Reston and Tysons. Under her transit system’s long‐term financial sustainability. The leadership, the county focused on creang more eventual passage of landmark legislaon by each walkable urban places, especially in car‐centric areas jurisdicon provides a total of $500 million annually such as Tysons, that include public space, parks, to Metro. The transit agency is using the funds to buy public transportaon, bike paths, sidewalks, and new rail cars and buses, upgrade track and power circulang buses and vans. Her support of expanded systems, modernize staons, and make other Fairfax Connector bus service resulted in addional improvements needed due to decades of express bus routes into employment hubs in Virginia underinvestment and neglect. and D.C. She also advocated for several proposed bus rapid transit lines. “Bulova…has modeled herself as a leader who takes pains to weigh all sides of an issue before landing on a Leaving a Pro‐Transit Legacy decision,” wrote Antonio Olivo of The Washington Taking her leave from the Fairfax County Board of Post in a December 2019 arcle, A polical boss who Supervisors this past December, Ms. Bulova did so ruled with kindness leaves the stage. “As board having made an indelible mark on transportaon, chairman, she navigated Fairfax through the storm of especially public transit, in the naonal capital region. the 2008 recession and was a key figure in the Her efforts over the last 30‐plus years have Metrorail Silver Line extension toward Dulles contributed greatly to the quality of life and economic Internaonal Airport that has helped bring soaring vitality of the region and the Commonwealth of office towers and apartment buildings to Tysons and Virginia. A recent NVTC study noted that the Reston. Her legacy includes work in the early 1990s as addional 85,000 households and 130,500 jobs that a founding board member of the Virginia Railway Metrorail and VRE make possible in Northern Virginia Express commuter train service, which ed generate over $600 million each year in sales and Washington to suburbs as far away as Spotsylvania.” income tax revenues that flow to the state’s coffers. For every dollar the state invests in the two rail Encouraging Transit‐Oriented Development systems, it receives $2.50 in return. That study Well before the arrival of Metro’s Silver Line, around whose staons development has flourished, Ms. validated what Ms. Bulova has long known – an Bulova championed transit‐oriented development. investment in public transportaon is an investment future. That’s not to say she was always a supporter. “I in our actually was first elected and swept into office on a slow‐growth plaorm,” she told the online E‐Bird Extra last year. “People were angry and scared about growth. During that first term in office, a recession Nominaon of Sharon Bulova for APTA’s Disnguished Service Award 3 Sharon Bulova’s Embrace of APTA’s Core Values Diversity Leadership Early in her tenure as chairman, Ms. Bulova ed Fairfax County to increasing diversity One of the most approachable elected officials in the commi among its employees, parcularly in public safety naonal capital region, Ms. Bulova strives for agencies, and on cizen advisory boards. “Sharon consensus but is not averse to making difficult basically told us that a change in culture was decisions or casng a e‐breaking vote. “She doesn’t something that I had to coordinate, and this is exactly bring ego to the table. What she brings is a plain what we’re doing,” said County Execuve Bryan Hill in spoken ‘this is what the mission is and this is what we need to do,’” noted United Bank’s Kevin Reynolds, a 2018 arcle in The Washington Post looking back on past chair of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Ms. Bulova’s career. Commerce. She is roundly recognized for her willingness to listen and ability to bring together In a county of 1.1 million people and where more diverse groups to move her county and the naonal than 180 languages are spoken, “One of Fairfax capital region forward, parcularly in the areas of County's greatest assets is our diversity,” noted Ms.