The mission of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is to provide the public with an efficient, affordable and safe means of travel, under the direction of the District’s Department of Transportation (Progressive Transportation Services Administration), which provides funding, policy recommendations, and coordination of services to the agency.

WMATA was created February 20, 1967. It is an interstate compact agency and, by the terms of its enabling legislation, an agency and instrumentality of the District of Columbia, State of Maryland, and Commonwealth of Virginia. This compact agency was created by the aforementioned states and the District of Columbia to plan, finance, construct, and operate a comprehensive public transit system for the Washington metropolitan area. A Board of Directors, with representatives from each of the three jurisdictions and the federal government, governs WMATA. The District has two voting members and two non-voting members on WMATA’s Board. The Progressive Transportation Services Administration of the District’s Department of Transportation (DDOT) oversees the District’s funding of WMATA and recommends policy direction, develops service initiatives, and monitors service quality. DDOT’s role is inclusive of all transit modes including Metrobus, Metrorail, and MetroAccess Paratransit service.

Note: In the "Tables" file (the Operating Appendices) for this agency, tables 40G-PBB and 41G were updated on September 11, 2015.