Reply to Real talk about the city’s economy, federal buildings leases, and telework impacts

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Fed refusal to go back to work is killing Metro as well; and Metro is already reeling from the pandemic drop in ridership (as well as the crime issues).  Do you like being able to take Metro to the Caps or the Nats?  They can't run an entire system for the benefit of Nats Park and the Verizon Center.  I also just flat out don't believe that people are as efficient working from home 5 days a week.  They just aren't---whether private or public.  And young people cannot learn job skills (soft or hard) sitting on their sofas at home.  We need a reasonable compromise on the work week---maybe Tu-We-Th becomes the new "in office" work week and Fri and Mo are the universal "work from home".  [/quote]

Subway ridership in NYC is still at about 60% of pre-pandemic levels also. So don't just blame federal workers; the private sector workers aren't using subways either. It would be nice if, instead of focusing on easy solutions (like forcing people into the office against their will), metro leadership focused on cleanliness, fare-jumping, crime, safety, and reliability.[/quote]

Don't forget that DC metro is a lot more expensive than NYC subway where your ticket price is fixed no matter what distance you go and you can purchase a monthly pass for 100 something bucks to ride unlimited on subways/buses, often subsidized by your employer and given for free to public school kids.   DC metro isn't affordable for people who need it.  For people who have options to drive metro has become undesirable due to crime.  [/quote]
It is not encouraging that WMATA is now trying to bully and prevent the Safety Commission from appropriately doing its job when the transit system has never proved that it can operate safely without that oversight - god forbid the Board would be expected to provide oversight. I’m not interested is riding in an unsafe transit system on trains that have a defect that causes them to derail that has not been identified that are operated by a transit system that doesn’t take safety seriously. No thanks. [/quote]

That’s not my impression of what Wmata is doing.  Seems like WMSC is trying to micromanage them.  If Wmata managers can’t make relatively small and simple decisions how can they do their jobs?  The operator training hoops they’re having to jump through doesn’t make anything safer, it’s a bureaucratic check the boxes exercise.

(Btw l don’t work for Wmata but follow it with interest) [/quote]
If the Safety Commission goes away, do you believe Metro can operating safely on its own? Yes or no?

That’s the only question that needs to be asked. And answer to the question is self-evident in the fact that the Safety Commission had to be created in the first place.

WMATA now thinks it doesn’t need safety oversight when it keep its operators actively trained nor even maintain records of operator training. That’s just negligence.

But fine, let’s have a test. Let’s end the Safety Commission and then let’s see what happens next. [/quote]

It’s not black and white like that.  You can have an independent safety commission / regulator (like all transportation modes in the US), but it doesn’t have to be a micromanager.  If you’re just answering audits all day it doesn’t leave time for other work.  [/quote]
Yes it is that simple. Either accept the regulation or take it away and roll the dice. You seem to be very uncomfortable with rolling the dice with your life. So they need to accept the requirements laid for by the regulator. There is no halfway here and trying to browbeat the folks responsible for safety into undercutting safety is a sure fire way to lead to catastrophe. The last thing they were trying to fight the Safety Commission over was procedures for monitoring and verification of the 7000 series cars. I am not going to be taking Metrorail until there is clear evidence that they actually have a safety culture, have been able to operate safely for some time and the 7000 cars are retired or otherwise fixed. WMATA created these problems and the fact that they prefer to act like a petulant child than change and be safe should not be encouraging for anyone.

I would just add that better operator training would have saved the life of Carol Inman Glover, who was killed by WMATA because the operators stopped the train in a smoky tunnel which was against policy. The idea that they are pushing back against operator training AFTER they killed someone as a direct outcome of poor training is unfathomable. Even worse is that there were two-years when Metrorail was barely operating and instead of being responsible to ensure that all operators kept their training and certifications up to date, they let them lapse and didn’t even bother to have a system to track it. That should frighten anyone.[/quote]

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