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Record of Proceedings

Loudoun County Transit Advisory Board Business Meeting Summary - March 26, 2026

Commissions & Advisory Boards — Thursday, March 26, 2026
BodyLoudoun County, Virginia
SessionCommissions & Advisory Boards
DateThursday, March 26, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 35:11

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it
0:02

You're ready.

0:03

All right.

0:04

Well, I'm happy that everybody made it out in this beautiful weather we are experiencing it.

0:09

Lovely 86 degree weather today.

0:20

Sarah, would you like to formally introduce Mr.

0:24

Joseph?

0:25

Uh yes.

0:26

Uh this is Joseph Yankovia.

0:29

Uh he is our new hire working under Steven as um go ahead and tell you that we're tight.

0:36

Transit program manager.

0:39

So transit program manager.

0:42

Yeah.

0:43

Thank you.

0:44

He's been here just a couple weeks.

0:46

Yeah, seems like a few weeks.

0:48

And he will be transitioning into the staff liaison role.

0:53

So my this meeting, I walked through everything and just had him observe the different steps that I take at the next meeting for May.

1:03

It's my hope that he'll do those with a little bit more guidance from me, and then maybe by the November meeting.

1:11

Um it will be full-on Joe.

1:17

We have a good teacher, Jim, so you can yeah, I do actually.

1:21

Yes, right.

1:22

Okay.

1:24

Um, do we have any public comments?

1:28

No, you just hand them your presence.

1:32

Wonderful.

1:34

Great.

1:34

Moving right along.

1:37

We have an approval of January 14th business week new minutes.

1:41

I do have a correction to make.

1:43

Um, Kevin had an opportunity look to look over the minutes, and uh in his public comment statement, um they he was talking about the route three two two rather than the route three three three two three.

1:59

So uh I made that correction in the draft that you are not seeing because I just made it.

2:09

All right, I I don't have it with me, but I think it was a small title at the very end.

2:17

Do you remember and second it by red?

2:24

Or is that been corrected?

2:25

Maybe uh there was one that did you email that one to me.

2:31

Yeah, I think I think my people was not all that month ago, I think.

2:36

Oh by memory something.

2:38

So basically, corrected.

2:41

Okay.

2:44

Any other observations in the minutes?

2:51

Do we have a motion to accept the minutes of adjusted?

2:56

Second.

2:57

Any discussion?

2:58

Any discussion, any disquestion?

3:01

Seeing none.

3:06

Are you in favor?

3:08

Okay.

3:08

A lot of polls.

3:13

You can vote.

3:14

I will opt at all.

3:15

You're allowed to vote, you know that, right?

3:16

Sure, if I wasn't here, something like that.

3:18

They write or wrong.

3:19

Yeah, I'm just gonna think.

3:28

All right, so unanimous with Davis abstaining.

3:32

Okay.

3:40

All right.

3:45

Uh so January, you know.

3:49

Overall, if you look at the overall ridership, um, it looks kind of black from December, but even mine we had a pretty significant impact operations in January.

3:59

We lost a whole week of commuter service.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Transportation Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████50%
Procedural██████████████16%
Personnel Matters██████████████15%
Public Engagement██████████████15%
Disability Rights████4%
Summary of Proceedings

Loudoun County Transit Advisory Board Business Meeting - March 26, 2026

The Loudoun County Transit Advisory Board (TAB) met on March 26, 2026, at the Transit & Commuter Services Office, 209 Gibson St. NW, Suite 100, Leesburg, Virginia. Chair Ray Delpesche presided, with Vice-Chair Vlad Ovchynnikov, Members Evelyn Ingram, Charles Liles, Rushi Shah, and Fred Shwaery present. Staff Liaison Sarah Kleckner and Transit Program Manager Steven Pairo provided updates, and new Transit Program Manager Joseph Yankovia was introduced. Note: the agenda provided with the source materials is dated Wednesday, March 11, 2026; the date used in this summary is the date specified for the meeting, March 26, 2026. No public commenters spoke during the public comment period.

Organizational/Business Matters

  • The TAB approved the January 14, 2026 business meeting minutes after a correction to a route reference in a prior public comment by Kevin Potter. The motion passed with one abstention by Davis.
  • Staff Liaison Kleckner announced that the May 13, 2026 meeting will remain at the Transit & Commuter Services Office. The July 8, 2026 meeting is planned as an all-virtual meeting, pending adoption of a resolution allowing fully remote meetings at the May meeting. The September 9, 2026 meeting will be held at Sterling Library and the November 12, 2026 meeting at Brambleton Library.

Staff Updates

  • Steven Pairo reported that January ridership was affected by a full week of lost commuter bus service due to snow, unsafe sidewalk/bus-stop conditions in Washington, D.C., and federal workforce telework status. Local, fair transit, and microtransit services also experienced some days of impact. Riders per revenue hour were flat from December to January, with ridership beginning to climb in February and March after the normal winter downturn.
  • Pairo introduced Joseph Yankovia as the new Transit Program Manager, who will transition into the staff liaison role. A transit operations manager was scheduled to start the following day, giving the transit team its first full operations staff in four years. Pairo credited the move to General Services with improving the team's operational focus.
  • Effective April 1, 2026, all commuter bus service will relocate from the Dulles Transit Center to Loudoun Gateway Metro Station. Commuter bus riders parking at Loudoun Gateway will receive free parking through a first-of-its-kind bus-to-parking-garage transfer; until WMATA finalizes the technical fix, riders' SmartTrip cards will be charged and automatically refunded nightly in a batch process.
  • Also effective April 1, commuter bus fares will be discounted 50% for seniors using Senior SmartTrip cards, disabled riders using reduced-fare ID SmartTrip cards, and WMATA Metro Access users. Local buses remain fare-free. Loudoun County has begun distributing Senior SmartTrip cards at its office with proof of age, becoming the first regional partner to do so, and plans tabling events at senior centers and similar locations.
  • Sarah Kleckner reported that the revised TAB Bylaws and TAB Annual Report have been accepted for the March 18, 2026 Transportation and Land Use Committee (TLUC) meeting as a consent item, with no formal presentation, and are expected to go to the Board of Supervisors on April 7, 2026 as a consent item.
  • Kleckner announced that, after reviewing 15 applications, Kevin Potter was confirmed as the Metro Connection rider representative and Krishna Sari was confirmed as the Long Haul Commuter rider representative; both confirmations occurred at the March 3, 2026 meeting.

Concerns Raised

  • Evelyn Ingram relayed a concern from a Disability Services Board meeting: a representative of Loudoun Safe Haven reported that Virginia Regional Transit (VRT) on-demand service sometimes drops passengers off before the destination opens, leaving them waiting outside in cold weather. Steven Pairo explained that VRT is a standalone agency funded partly by federal rural transit grants and county funds, and that the county is beginning conversations toward formalized MOUs with funded organizations. He recommended riders take the issue directly to VRT, and suggested alternatives such as VRT Route 40 to the government center and then microtransit, or county paratransit for qualified registered riders within the service area.

Key Outcomes

  • Minutes approved with one abstention.
  • Commuter bus service relocation and fare discounts confirmed to take effect April 1, 2026.
  • TAB Bylaws and Annual Report placed on TLUC consent agenda and Board of Supervisors consent item.
  • New rider representative appointments announced.
  • 2026 meeting schedule updated: May 13 at the Leesburg office, July 8 virtual, September 9 at Sterling Library, and November 12 at Brambleton Library.

Meeting Transcript

You're ready. All right. Well, I'm happy that everybody made it out in this beautiful weather we are experiencing it. Lovely 86 degree weather today. Sarah, would you like to formally introduce Mr. Joseph? Uh yes. Uh this is Joseph Yankovia. Uh he is our new hire working under Steven as um go ahead and tell you that we're tight. Transit program manager. So transit program manager. Yeah. Thank you. He's been here just a couple weeks. Yeah, seems like a few weeks. And he will be transitioning into the staff liaison role. So my this meeting, I walked through everything and just had him observe the different steps that I take at the next meeting for May. It's my hope that he'll do those with a little bit more guidance from me, and then maybe by the November meeting. Um it will be full-on Joe. We have a good teacher, Jim, so you can yeah, I do actually. Yes, right. Okay. Um, do we have any public comments? No, you just hand them your presence. Wonderful. Great. Moving right along. We have an approval of January 14th business week new minutes. I do have a correction to make. Um, Kevin had an opportunity look to look over the minutes, and uh in his public comment statement, um they he was talking about the route three two two rather than the route three three three two three. So uh I made that correction in the draft that you are not seeing because I just made it. All right, I I don't have it with me, but I think it was a small title at the very end. Do you remember and second it by red? Or is that been corrected? Maybe uh there was one that did you email that one to me. Yeah, I think I think my people was not all that month ago, I think. Oh by memory something. So basically, corrected. Okay. Any other observations in the minutes? Do we have a motion to accept the minutes of adjusted? Second. Any discussion? Any discussion, any disquestion? Seeing none. Are you in favor? Okay. A lot of polls. You can vote. I will opt at all.

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