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The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ('''WMATA''') is a non-federal tri-jurisdictional government agency authorized by Congress , that operates Transit service in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area , and is funded by the District Of Columbia , Virginia , and Maryland . WMATA operates Bus service under the '''Metrobus''' brand and Rapid Transit service under the '''Metrorail''' brand. It is also part of the Public-private Partnership that operates the DC Circulator bus system. For the details of the rail system, see Washington Metro . For details of the bus system, see Metrobus (Washington, D.C.) . HISTORY WMATA was created on February 20 , 1967 , after the compact was approved by the Maryland General Assembly in 1965, and passed through the Virginia General Assembly and Congress in 1966. 1 WMATA 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 . NAMES Riders almost always call WMATA's Metrobus service simply "the bus," unless for some reason they need to distinguish Metrobus from another local bus system such as Alexandria 's DASH, or Montgomery County 's Ride-On. Metrorail is usually called "the Metro." The reason for the term "Metropolitan" instead of "city" in the names of many Washington, D.C. organizations (such as the Washington D.C. police, the Metropolitan Police Department , or MPD) is that Washington, D.C. is technically not a city, for obvious political reasons. WMATA itself is referred to as "Metro," e.g. ''"Today, Metro officials announced a fare hike."'' When the abbreviation is used, it is pronounced phonetically (''wuh-MAT-uh'', as in ''"For construction updates, visit wuh-MAT-uh dot com."''). ORGANIZATION The board is comprised of a total of 12 members. Of those 12, six are voting members, and six are alternates. Virginia, Maryland, and the District each appoint two voting members and two alternate members. The position of board chairman rotates between the three jurisdictions. Most board members have other jobs as well serving on, for example, the D.C. city council; the board appoints a CEO and general manager to supervise the day-to-day operation of the agency. From 1996 - 2006, Richard A. White served in this position. However, on January 11 , 2006 , the Board of Directors announced his dismissal. He was be replaced by board member Dan Tangherlini , as interim CEO, effective February 16 , 2006 . White had three more years in his contract to work for Metro, but had come under fire for mismanagement. Board members District of Columbia
Maryland
Virginia
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