Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 7

17 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 7 ALEXANDR I A TRANS I T COMPANY (DRPT) and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA). There are six 100% electric buses on premise with eight more scheduled to arrive by late summer, including four 60-foot articulated or “bendy” buses. Equally impressive – the entire fleet is wheelchair accessible with almost all of the vehicles having a “low floor”; meaning there is just one step or a ramp to board the bus. Another important safety protocol is if a bus has been operated for 12 years or 500,000 miles, it’s at the end of its “useful life” and needs replacement. For that reason, almost the entire fleet is fairly new and in excellent driving condition. Helping to uphold this high standard is DASH’s inhouse maintenance team, which works out of a 147,000-square foot facility. Built in 2009, it’s where the team inspects, maintains, and repairs all its vehicles. The administrative department also operates from the building and there’s even a 90-bus indoor parking lot equipped with EV chargers for the electric buses. “We have six explains Josh Baker, Chief Executive Officer/ General Manager of DASH. “We’re the go-to for providing local transportation to move people around Alexandria. Working in partnership with the City of Alexandria staff, inclusive of their Transportation & Environmental Services division, we serve commuters in and out of the city and D.C. We’re a feeder system for WMATA’s bus and subway systems connecting them with Metrobus or Metrorail stops. We also operate the free, and quite popular, King Street Trolley. We’re a medium-sized transit company with over 100 buses and approximately 256 employees. There are 170 bus operators, and the rest are maintenance or admin employees.” The fleet is incredibly diverse, ranging in size from 30- to 60-foot transit buses. DASH is a leader in Northern Virginia for its electric buses; currently, it’s the only transit company in the region operating these buses, which have been funded by state and regional grants from the Virginia Department of Rail & Public Transit