Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority - Definition

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is a non-federal tri-jurisdictional agency authorized by Congress, and funded by the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland that operates transit service in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. WMATA operates bus service under the Metrobus brand and rapid transit service under the Metrorail brand.

History

WMATA was created on February 10, 1967, and broke ground for its train system in 1969. WMATA's bus system is a successor to four privately-owned bus companies, which were sold to WMATA in 1973.

Linguistic features

While riders almost always call WMATA's Metrobus service simply "the bus," Metrorail is called "Metro" or "the Metro," never "the subway." It is also often used as a verb, e.g. "How did you get here?" "I Metro'd."

In addition, WMATA itself is frequently referred to as "Metro," e.g. "Today, Metro officials announced a fare hike."

WMATA is pronounced to rhyme with Ramada.

See also

• Washington Metro
• List of Washington, DC railroads
• List of United States railroads

External links

• WMATA website (http://www.wmata.com/)

Example Usage of Transportation