Rider
Panel to Advise Metro on Service
Advocates Consider Agency's Initiatives 'Too Timid'
By Steven Ginsberg
Friday, February 18, 2005; Page B01
The initiative was one of many announced by
Kauffman to improve the transit agency's image, service and accountability. He
said that Metro will for the first time allow public comments at its monthly
board meetings beginning in April and will hold town hall-style meetings in
Material prepared for Metro board meetings will be
provided over the Internet starting in March. The Web casts will begin in June,
and board members will answer e-mails at boardofdirectors@wmata.com by spring.
Kauffman, who represents
The focus on riders follows a similar pledge by
transit officials in November to get "back to basics" and reconnect
with users who ride crowded trains and who have suffered through a series of
breakdowns, accidents and other service problems.
Metro Chief Executive Richard A. White announced
then that managers would be appointed to monitor each subway line and that station managers, train operators and other employees
would be retrained.
Despite the open-door policies, rider advocates
said they were somewhat underwhelmed by Kauffman's ideas.
"They're taking a lot of small steps, but the
bottom line is they're too timid," said Jack Corbett, co-founder of the MetroRiders.org
passenger advocacy group. Corbett added that the rider advisory committee
"is too timid a step given this board's lack of experience with Metrobus
and Metrorail."
Corbett said he is instead pushing for a seat on
the Metro board for a rider, similar to the setup in
Kauffman, who has served on the board since 1996
and said he has been a Metro user since 1981,
committed to creating the riders advisory committee by July 1. Transit
officials said the committee would include members from each jurisdiction Metro
serves, but other details have not been worked out.
Kauffman said that he considered the advisory
committee a first step and that if it didn't work out, he would weigh the idea
of adding a passenger to the board. He noted that such a move would require a
change in Metro's operating agreement that would have to be approved by
governments in
Sierra Club representative
Dennis Jaffe said he welcomed the changes, some of which he has been
recommending to board members. But he cautioned that the measures could be
toothless if they weren't developed properly.
"It's critical that the passenger advisory
committee have sufficient resources so it's an effective resource for
riders," he said. "More work needs to be done in fleshing out the
details."
In his remarks, Kauffman called on leaders from
across the region to hold a summit by the middle of the year to secure a
dedicated funding source for Metro. Kauffman also said the federal government
needs to be a bigger partner in Metro's future. A special panel concluded this
year that Metro needs a steady revenue source, such as a regional tax, to
maintain current service and grow.
"I don't underestimate the enormous challenge
all our stakeholders will face to establish the stable and reliable funding we
need to keep
Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the
House Government Reform Committee, plans to hold a hearing this morning on
Metro funding.
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