TYTRAN and the Future
of the Tysons Corner Urban Center
Over the
next few years, the Tysons Corner Urban Center will undergo major
redevelopment. The Silver Line extension of the Metrorail system is
scheduled to begin construction in early 2008 and last for
approximately five years. A major HOT lanes project is also planned
with several possible ramps into the Tysons Corner area being
considered. In the private sector, there are numerous construction
projects in various phases of planning and development. To address
this challenge, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has
appointed the Tysons Land Use
Task Force to make recommendations to update the 1994 Tysons Corner
Comprehensive Plan.
The vision for a twenty-first century urban center cannot
be achieved without input from the businesses and residents most
directly affected. Since 1981, TYTRAN has worked tirelessly to achieve
an effective, coordinated transportation system that supports the
community’s economic prosperity and quality of life.
TYTRAN’s primary goal is
to serve our members as “Tysons’s one-stop shop for transportation.”
Through our events, publications, and website, we will provide the most
up-to-the-minute transportation information and solutions for Tysons
Corner businesses, residents, and employees. We will also continue our
vital advocacy for transportation improvements, appropriate development
policies, and implementation of effective transportation demand
management strategies, accomplished through timely and informative
meetings and forums and coordination with like-minded public and private
organizations.
If you have
any specific questions, or recommendations on the future of Tysons
Corner, or on transportation and commuting today, please email us at
info@tytran.org.
Membership Information As a member of TYTRAN, you'll have access to a variety of opportunities to participate in the transportation decision-making process that shapes our region. The value and benefit of your company's membership in TYTRAN is represented in each program, service, activity, forum, issue, and action that TYTRAN provides. Meetings and Forums Attend monthly meetings featuring panel discussions and presentations on current transportation issues. - The Federal Clean Air Act
- Funding for Northern Virginia road improvements
- New technology transportation projects
- Innovative Commuter Program Services
- Legislative forums
Information and Publications Access to TYTRAN transportation resources, studies and staff to obtain up-to-date information on transportation issues. Receive the TYTRAN
update, a periodic e-mail compilation of the latest news affecting
Tysons Corner businesses, residents, employees, and land owners. View
the most recent Update. Networking Join with other Tysons Corner business and land owners to discuss transportation issues, programs, and projects affecting the Tysons Corner area. Time Savings However you choose to participate, as a member of TYTRAN you will be part of a larger group of businesses with the same interest in transportation issues. This equates to economies of scale in all programs and services that TYTRAN provides to its members, and translates into a greater, more effective and efficient voice for you through TYTRAN on all transportation issues affecting our region. If you are interested in receiving information on membership in TYTRAN call us or email TYTRAN@aol.com. 
Service Area 
Tysons Corner currently represents the largest concentration of retail activity on the east coast outside of New York City and has a daytime office population exceeding the 14th largest city in the country.
Tysons Corner comprises approximately 1,800 acres in Northern Fairfax County, Virginia within the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. Tysons is located at the crossing of several of the area's major roads: the Capital Beltway [1-495]; the Dulles Toll Road; Leesburg Pike [Route 7]; and Chain Bridge Road [Route 123]. Due in part to its strategic location - twenty minutes from the District of Columbia and the Pentagon, ten minutes from Maryland and twenty minutes from Dulles Airport, Tysons Corner has become one of the most successful suburban business areas in the United States.
Programs & Services TYTRAN offers many opportunities for participation in transportation programs and provides transportation and commuting services to members in Tysons Corner. Commuter Program The TYTRAN Commuter Program is a voluntary program that provides opportunities for member employees to participate in a variety of ridesharing activities designed to increase employee awareness of transit and transportation options into and around the Tysons Corner area. Current Commuter program elements include carpool and vanpool matchlist generation; provision of transit schedules and itineraries; general alternative transportation information; air quality and trip reduction educational program information; a guaranteed ride home program; and a quarterly Commuter News publication for employees. TYTRAN's Commuter Program achieves economies of scale and ensures the greatest level of success by eliminating the need for duplicative and often costly individual transportation programs, and by providing an expanded network of ridesharing options made available to the combined membership of TYTRAN.
Tax Free Commuter Choice Program The Commuter Choice Program: It is called Commuter Choice because it gives employees an attractive alternative to driving alone to work. Recent changes to the Internal Revenue Code make it easier for companies to offer public transportation benefits to their employees, currently an employer may give up to $65.00 a month or up to $780 per year in actual eligible transportation costs tax-free to an employee, or up to $175 a month in eligible parking benefits. Eligible Transit Modes: The $65.00 Commuter Choice tax free benefit applies to travel via public buses, trains, ferries or vanpools. In our area that means anyone using Metro, metro bus, Fairfax Connector; SmartMover; VRE; or any vanpool. Also, employees who have to drive to make a connection to public transportation may be eligible for the parking connection benefit, up to $175 per month to pay for parking at a location from which employees commute by public transportation, such as park-and-ride lot, transit station or facility, or vanpool staging area. Employees receive either the $65.00 transit benefit or the parking connection benefit. How It Works: The Commuter Choice program can be provided as a direct benefit to employees, a pre-tax deduction, or as a shared expense. Employers may elect to provide employees with transit passes worth up to $65.00 per month, or depending upon the employer's size and budget subsidize a portion of the $65.00. In other words, your employer may provide you with an actual transit pass worth $65.00 each month, or pre-tax dollars can be deducted from your paycheck and then applied to a transit pass, or your employer may match your contribution to equal the $65.00 and provide the transit pass. Direct cash benefits to employees is not allowed under the IRS ruling for the Commuter Choice program unless transit passes and/or tokens are not readily available from local participating transit agencies. Important Things to Remember: Each employer will have a different structure to work within based upon internal tax structure, size, and effects of this program on existing employee-directed tax deferred plans, such as retirement accounts. If you have any questions about how you can further the discussion in your company about the Commuter Choice Program -- contact TYTRAN at: tytran@aol.com and we will coordinate your comments and forward them directly to your Company's TYTRAN representative. Infrastructure Program Tyson Corner, with all of its amenities, and with access to major highway and secondary road systems, requires the involvement of the business community to maintain and improve the transportation system. TYTRAN responds to this formidable task by participating in numerous regional and state task forces to address specific issues; working to achieve project results through the legislative program; providing analysis and recommendations on proposed roadway improvements; and identifying new projects. Each month, TYTRAN holds meetings which are the forum for identifying transportation and transit problems and issues at the user level and elevating the issues to the appropriate regional implementation agency for action. These meetings also provide members the opportunity to elevate their concerns regarding transportation and traffic issues in and around their places of employment. Legislative Program A broad spectrum of transportation legislation is introduced each year that impacts the business community. To respond to this challenge, TYTRAN maintains a formal legislative program focusing on transportation issues and advocacy at all levels of government. TYTRAN monitors transportation legislation as it is introduced at the regional, state and federal level and determines its impact on area transportation improvements, the regional transportation system and TYTRAN program and services. Working with the TYTRAN Executive Committee and Board of Directors, positions are developed on legislation and specific concerns are conveyed to the appropriate legislative body. Through this legislative program, TYTRAN has consistently been a voice for action on transportation issues facing the Northern Virginia area.
TYTRAN Events
TYTRAN
Cosponsors Regional Mobility Seminar.
On Friday, April 20,
TYTRAN, along with
other local transportation-oriented organizations, cosponsored the first
of a three-part seminar series exploring our regional transportation needs
and how new technologies can meet those needs.
The keynote speaker was U.S. Representative Tom Davis. Presentations included:
The seminar was held at Booz Allen Hamilton, 8283 Greensboro Drive,
McLean, VA. A second seminar, which will be held on May 25, 2007, will
focus on the specific challenges for the Dulles, Tyson's Corner, and Fort
Belvoir areas and the potential for new transit and technology
applications to enhance their internal mobility and connectivity to the
rest of the region. A third seminar will be held on June 22.
TYTRAN Publications TYTRAN Direction Newsletter The TYTRAN Direction is published annually . For previous issues of the newsletter, please e-mail your request to TYTRAN at TYTRAN@aol.com. Marketing Brochure If you would like to receive a copy of TYTRAN's Marketing Brochure, complete with literature, newsletters and the Commuter News, please email your request to: TYTRAN@aol.com. Commuter News The Commuter News is a quarterly production of topical transportation information published for members of the Tysons Transportation Association. Previous editions of the Commuter News listed below are available upon request at TYTRAN@aol.com. - Fall/Winter 2001: Pedestrian Improvements
- Summer 2001: Local Transportation Project Update
- Spring 2001: New Bus Service and Metro Rail Extension
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