376/Maryland Manual
ex officio. Commissioners who are appointed
serve at the pleasure of the Executive, and com-
missioners who are not appointed from among
the members of the governing bodies serve for a
period of three years. By law, chairpersonship of
the Commission rotates on an annual basis be-
tween Montgomery and Prince George's counties.
The Commission was established for the pur-
pose of administering the activities and functions
of the Washington Suburban Transit District,
with powers to develop, on a bi-county basis, a
transportation system including mass transit facil-
ities for the needs and growth of both counties.
The Commission appoints two of its members
and two alternates to the Board of Directors of
the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Au-
thority (WMATA), the interstate agency charged
with the overall responsibility of planning, financ-
ing, and operating the regional rapid rail and bus
transit systems for the Washington metropolitan
area. The Commission works in conjunction with
the interstate authority in the development of the
regional rapid rail transit system, which has been
under construction since December 1969. The
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first segment of that system—4.5 miles extending
from the Rhode Island Avenue Station to Farra-
gut North Station in downtown Washington,
D.C.—began revenue operations March 29, 1976.
With completion of an additional 5.5 miles of
track, the Red Line was extended from the
Rhode Island Station to Silver Spring, where the
first Maryland Station was ceremoniously opened
for revenue operations on February 6, 1978.
In February 1973, the interstate authority ac-
quired the operations of the areas' four privately-
owned bus companies and began immediate
plans for improving transit service in Montgom-
ery and Prince George's counties. The Commis-
sion acts as the financial conduit through which
funding of mass transportation projects within
the counties take place. The Commission acts as
the coordinating body with regard to mass tran-
sit matters within the bi-county area, and as such
coordinates mass transit activities of the two
county governments with each other, with the
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authori-
ty, and with the Maryland Department of Trans-
portation.
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