Establishing a joint subcommittee to study options for providing long-term, sustainable, and dedicated operations and capital funding with cost-containment controls to ensure that the public transit systems that serve Hampton Roads<em style="">, including all modes of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) service, local and express bus, light rail, passenger ferry, paratransit, on-demand microtransit, and seasonal trolley and shuttle services, other ridesharing and commuter programs, and any future modes of public transportation or mobility services that may be developed to serve the Hampton Roads region,</em> meet the growing public transit needs of the region. Report.
House Joint Resolution 28 creates a joint subcommittee to study how Hampton Roads transit systems can secure long-term, sustainable, and dedicated operating and capital funding, while also building in cost-containment controls. The study is aimed at the region’s public transit network, including Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), Suffolk Transit, and the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority, and covers bus, light rail, ferry, paratransit, microtransit, trolley, shuttle, ridesharing, commuter programs, and future mobility services.
The resolution directs the subcommittee to examine potential regional revenue sources that could supplement existing state and local funding, evaluate cost-saving strategies, estimate revenue growth and cost growth through 2037, assess land use and telework impacts on ridership, identify capital needs, review local bus route performance, and analyze HRT’s governance and organizational structure. It also sets membership, staffing, meeting limits, cost caps, reporting deadlines, and oversight requirements for the study process.
HJ28 does not change substantive transit funding law immediately; instead, it establishes a temporary legislative study body to develop recommendations that could inform future appropriations, revenue mechanisms, governance changes, or transit policy legislation. Its practical effect is to focus legislative attention on Hampton Roads transit financing and operations, with participation from transit agencies, planning bodies, transportation accountability entities, and state transportation officials. The resolution also imposes procedural limits on the study’s duration, meetings, and costs, and requires an executive summary and possible report to the General Assembly by the 2028 Regular Session.
The overall sentiment reflected in the resolution is supportive of Hampton Roads public transit and concerned about its long-term financial stability. The bill’s findings emphasize transit’s importance to jobs, congestion relief, access to education and health care, and regional economic competitiveness, while also acknowledging post-pandemic ridership declines, stagnant public funding, and rising operating and capital costs. The tone is pragmatic and solution-oriented, with a strong emphasis on accountability, transparency, and cost control.
The main points of contention implied by the resolution involve how to fund transit sustainably and what level of new regional revenue, if any, should be pursued beyond existing state and local commitments. The bill also signals possible debate over cost containment, route expansion or alteration, and HRT governance and organizational structure, all of which could affect agency operations, local service patterns, and future funding responsibilities. Because the resolution creates a study rather than immediate policy changes, the controversy is likely centered on the scope of future recommendations rather than the resolution itself.