Finally - WMATA policy overhaul

[Anonymous]

WMATA is expanding services and lowering prices, particularly on weekends. I really don't know what took them so long. The 8-car train thing seems like a no-brainer and should have been done 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

[Anonymous]

For those who want to read the General Manager of WMATA's full proposal, here it is: https://www.wmata.com/about/news/GM-FY20-Budget.cfm

I think the changes are good for riders - cheaper weekend fares to keep people using the service as opposed to ride-share, longer train cars so hopefully you're not waiting while 2-3 trains pass you by full at rush hour, and extending the line service the full length for every train instead of stopping halfway at arbitrary stations to offload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

[Anonymous]

I love all these changes - now lets hope the various regional jurisdictions will pony up the $$ to do it. I think this is WMATA calling their bluff, saying 3% cap was fine for infranstructure keeping status quo, but if you want us to expand and really be a 21st century transportation option for your constituents - it's gonna cost you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

Really? What about airplane pilots and cops? Because after 20 years many in those professions make six-figure base pays with hefty overtime, or in airline cases - strikes, bonuses.

I think the person who is ferrying the equivalent of a 747-passenger list every half-hour should get the pay that would keep us safe. I do think WMATA needs to institute better safety policies (including the amount of hours/shifts a operator can handle without time off) and a complete transformation of all the line tracks and infrastructure.

But I don't think the hundreds of millions they'll need to tear up those miles of 50-year-old tracks will come from cutting a few dozen salaries. It needs a federal infrastructure mandate with $500 million given to each major qualifying city to bring us up to the base standards of say Japan...or South Korea. At this point I'd even take France.

[Anonymous]

The 2 dollar weekend fare is a biggie. Get kids and family back on board

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

Really? What about airplane pilots and cops? Because after 20 years many in those professions make six-figure base pays with hefty overtime, or in airline cases - strikes, bonuses.

I think the person who is ferrying the equivalent of a 747-passenger list every half-hour should get the pay that would keep us safe. I do think WMATA needs to institute better safety policies (including the amount of hours/shifts a operator can handle without time off) and a complete transformation of all the line tracks and infrastructure.

But I don't think the hundreds of millions they'll need to tear up those miles of 50-year-old tracks will come from cutting a few dozen salaries. It needs a federal infrastructure mandate with $500 million given to each major qualifying city to bring us up to the base standards of say Japan...or South Korea. At this point I'd even take France.

PP, given the history of WMATA crashes, other disasters, and deaths, does paying shockingly high salaries seem to work for them now?

[Anonymous]

NP Is a plane now as easy to fly as a metro subway is? Maybe it is and I just don't know. A subway runs on a track and is very easy to drive. Subway drivers are paid more than bus drivers, but bus drivers have a much, much more difficult job and route. For being so well paid, WMATA workers are incredibly surly and unhelpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

Really? What about airplane pilots and cops? Because after 20 years many in those professions make six-figure base pays with hefty overtime, or in airline cases - strikes, bonuses.

I think the person who is ferrying the equivalent of a 747-passenger list every half-hour should get the pay that would keep us safe. I do think WMATA needs to institute better safety policies (including the amount of hours/shifts a operator can handle without time off) and a complete transformation of all the line tracks and infrastructure.

But I don't think the hundreds of millions they'll need to tear up those miles of 50-year-old tracks will come from cutting a few dozen salaries. It needs a federal infrastructure mandate with $500 million given to each major qualifying city to bring us up to the base standards of say Japan...or South Korea. At this point I'd even take France.

PP, given the history of WMATA crashes, other disasters, and deaths, does paying shockingly high salaries seem to work for them now?

First, the salaries are anywhere from $80,000 - $120,000 in base pay. I don't see that as shockingly high as I know plenty of paper pushers in the cubicles next to me who make the same to double that amount who don't hold peoples lives in their hands every day.

Second, the majority of the WMATA crashes, particularly the Red Line crash of 2009, were found to be a result of faulty mechanics and infrastructure failure. So again - when are we actually going to overhaul the entire train network and not just institute shiny cars? We need new tracking, new electrical work, tunnel reconstruction, better energy efficiency, high-speed rail systems etc. Everything needs to be rebuilt from the ground up so we can stop these accidents from happening.

If we can spend $600 billion annually on defense, why can't we allocate a measly $15 billion so that major cities like Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami, and Los Angeles can overhaul their entire train networks? Its a one-time deal that should happen more often, but all is necessary is once every 30 years at minimum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

Really? Why? The train operators are literally 100x more important than a random lawyer or GS-14. They deserve good, middle-class salaries!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

Really? What about airplane pilots and cops? Because after 20 years many in those professions make six-figure base pays with hefty overtime, or in airline cases - strikes, bonuses.

I think the person who is ferrying the equivalent of a 747-passenger list every half-hour should get the pay that would keep us safe. I do think WMATA needs to institute better safety policies (including the amount of hours/shifts a operator can handle without time off) and a complete transformation of all the line tracks and infrastructure.

But I don't think the hundreds of millions they'll need to tear up those miles of 50-year-old tracks will come from cutting a few dozen salaries. It needs a federal infrastructure mandate with $500 million given to each major qualifying city to bring us up to the base standards of say Japan...or South Korea. At this point I'd even take France.

PP, given the history of WMATA crashes, other disasters, and deaths, does paying shockingly high salaries seem to work for them now?

Does lowering salaries make any sense? No.

[Anonymous]

The biggest issue with metro is bad leadership. Is jack evans still in charge? As to the union, who cares, these jobs will be automated in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes to the 8 car train! How are they paying for this? I understand that was always the problem.

This is a great direction, but I confess I was hoping the policy change was about booting the lazy workers!

+1. WMATA doesn’t have an infrastructure problem. It doesn’t have a maintenance problem. It doesn’t have a financial problem. It has a severe personnel problem.

Breach the union contracts. Let them strike. They don’t do anything anyway.

I think the current changes are a good start, but I agree that a major problem is paid compensation. WMATA employees who have been working 20+ years make an unreasonable salary. It is unsustainable for a public transit system to be paying train operators more than many professional white-collar workers.

I agree that WMATA needs to breach the union contracts and force some sort of cap on salaries. The salaries are preventing WMATA from adequately funding necessary maintenance and updates to the system.

Really? Why? The train operators are literally 100x more important than a random lawyer or GS-14. They deserve good, middle-class salaries!

This is a silly reply - salaries are dependent on what the market will bear, or at least they should be. The qualifications to drive a bus are pretty basic while those required to be a lawyer are much higher. And I'm no fan of lawyers personally but what they do is pretty important and you need to be a lot smarter to be a lawyer than to drive a bus.