Bend Over

Some takeaways from yesterday's Metro Board discussion on raising fares to close a $124 million budget gap:

"We are keeping the agency on a path of continued improvement." -- Carol D. Kissel, Assistant General Manager and Chief Financial Officer

It would seem riders and jurisdictions are being unfairly burdened with filling Metro's annual budget gaps. According to Metro, the pension plan for ATU 689 workers accounts for 65 percent of the base increase in Metro's costs. The average retiree's pension plan is worth $400,000, Metro said. There is NO employee contribution into that plan, Metro said. Who's gonna have the stones to get the union to face reality? ATU 689 likes to say "we make it work," but I think they mean "you."

Metro is planning for no wage increase in 2013, but they just shelled out a nine percent increase this year after a costly legal battle. I'm not sure how they plan to avoid a wage increase this time around given their track record. Maybe there was an agreement.

Despite stagnant-to-lower ridership, Metro had a revenue INCREASE between 2010 and 2011 of $54 million dollars, largely on your backs after taking you for $109 million more in 2011. That was offset by declining revenues in other areas, namely advertising. Who'd want to advertise on Metro, right? Oh wait, there's this outfit called Metroforward, and they're advertising EVERYWHERE.

Metro has 250 people involved in manual time keeping. Um, computers.

"This would mark the fourth year of stagnant or declining rail ridership. There is no good story yet about what's happening about the lingering aspects of the accident, [fare] elasticity and perceived unpredictability of the rail system during reconstruction. It doesn't bode well for us, and I would encourage staff to develop better data about what is happening with ridership." -- Board vice chair Tom Downs

Despite a relatively robust economy here in the DC area, Metro staff continues to blame its declining-to-stagnant ridership woes on the nationwide economic malaise. I guess they think stuff like this doesn't peel riders away.

Fare "changes and adjustments" means fare and parking increases. See the details of proposals here (starting on page 24). It was obvious from the discussion that the proposed fare hikes are going to meet with a lot of resistance from the Board's diverging interests. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Dig deeper.

Some Board members don't understand the current fare structure. I'm not sure (insert genius) would either.

"Our timing and distance [fare] system is actually a very good system." -- Kissel

Anyone (tourists) still using paper fare cards, could be be completely effed based on a rather arbitrary ring called a "visitor zone" idea. Paper fares (non SmarTrip) within it would be $3, while fares outside would be $6. Rosslyn to DC-$3; Clarendon to DC-$6. Just cough up the five bucks for the SmarTrip already.

250,000 riders are "price insensitive," Metro said. It was unclear just exactly who those riders are. Peak of the peak was meant to serve two purposes: raise revenue and reduce rush hour crowding. It worked bigtime to raise revenue, but did little to shift riders' habits, perhaps because a good chunk of riders--the conventional wisdom is 40 percent of Metro riders are Feds--have their rides heavily to completely subsidized and don't care about peak of the peak fares. Starting Jan. 1, if the transit benefit is not extended, this cohort will become way more concerned with price. Did Metro not know there was this group before instituting the insulting peak of the peak fares?

Things like paying for overtime (fatigue management), adding police on buses, preventative maintenance on the escalators and improving the radio system would be, in essence, up to the individual jurisdictions as to whether they want to fund them. This could end up with some wacky negotiations.

Sarles admitted that previous years' budget gap discussions of service cuts were red herrings. Thanks, man.

Metro blew a lot of money getting "transit strength" snow removal equipment--amount unknown. It seems snowmageddon triggered it. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst of the worst?

After listening to Kubicek's inartful tap dancing about Dupont closures, I need a drink. He really says "thaddaways" --all the time! The right hand man.

Other items:

• Examiner take
• Post's take
• GGW's take
  
• Post investigative opus reveals you don't think it's worth complaining to Metro, and you're cranky (WaPo)

Pickpocket Metro?

Several weekly bus pass users have written saying they've been having their bus fares subtracted from their main SmarTrip balance despite having bought passes.

Worse yet, Metro is giving them a nightmarish Catch-22 runaround in refunding their money. And EVEN WORSE, Metro does not appear to have let riders know of a major problem that is basically robbing them blind and apparently has been occurring since January!

Here's what one rider said, which is typical of the emails we've recieved:

WMATA's 7-day bus passes haven't worked right since they started, with a delayed roll-out. Users are often charged the bus fare after loading the $15 pass on the SmarTrip card.

My wife has lost about $20 just this week to bus charges with a valid pass. Many riders might not even notice the extra charges, as their cards seem to run down a bit fast. Despite months of problems, I've seen no notice to riders. Perhaps this is a WMATA effort to recover funds lost in countless liability matters.

Hope you can warn the public!

Another rider wrote the following:

SmartTrip card has been taking from my cash reserve instead of reading my weekly bus pass, and I keep getting the run around. WMATA says the readers are out in certain buses and you have to call in every day to get them to credit cash back through fare machines. They don't.

Many riders said they'd experienced similar problems, usually first noticed when the main SmarTrip balance seemed to dwindle faster than it should have, despite the presence of passes.

Another rider said they were warned by a clerk at a Montgomery Country TRiPS store not to ever buy the weekly passes because "passengers were losing hundreds of dollars."

Those who contacted Unsuck DC Metro said Metro promised refunds, but most have had to battle tooth and nail--including never-ending times on hold with customer service representatives--to recoup their money, if they've been able to refund the money at all.

I have wasted hours recovering about half of the unauthorized deductions from the "Service Center." [My husband] was also a victim on his personal SmarTrip card; he now keeps no rail money on the card for the bus pass, to avoid these phantom deductions. We have received NO replies to our repeated emails this week.

After huge email chains with this customer, Metro did, obliquely, acknowledge some kind of problem, but the email seems to be a cut and paste job from an email directed at those who manage transit benefits for organizations rather than the average rider.

Here's what their email said:

We, unfortunately, have encountered a problem with the new Autoload product that is part of the SmartBenefits migration process that you and your employees were participating in. It has been determined that the use of the new SmartBenefits® Autoload product disables the bus passes of subsequent customers. Our research shows that SmartBenefits® Autoload has been an indirect but significant contributor to the problems we’ve seen with use of the pass.

Therefore, we are delaying your migration to SmartBenefits® Autoload. It will not occur with June benefits. Your employees will claim their June benefits at the Farecards & Passes machine. A follow-up notice will be sent to apprise you of when the SmartBenefits® Autoload process will resume for your account. We apologize for the inconvenience to you and your employees.

We asked Metro about this, but received no response.

Why didn't Metro immediately let riders know they were being ripped off?

Is this Metro's stealthy way of shrinking the budget gap?

Perhaps, the skimmed money is going to a highly-paid army of PR officials. Who knows? Metro?

Other items:
Purple Line delayed as costs rise (Examiner)
Public/virtual input sought on budget gap (WMATA)
Vote for your favorite hypothetical Metro map redesign (GGW)

Seen this Show Before

It's starting to feel like we could just put this blog on autopilot and re-post each entry from last year. It would still be about as accurate as a Metro "schedule." Metro's like a bad re-run.

Budget gaps, threatened service cuts, a parochial Board engaged in brinkmanship and lacking a regional perspective. It's sorta like the train operator threatening to offload a train. After a while, it just doesn't register. Crazy sucky seems normal. Perhaps, that's the whole point.

Remember last year when Metro faced a "$154 million" budget gap? Scary service cuts were floated, public hearings were held, there was outrage, Metro "listened," and in the end ... meh. It was all bark and not a whole lotta bite. Metro shifted things around and suddenly, most of those horrific service cuts just melted into nothing, just like rush hour "service" on the Red Line.

Yet there was a price to pay. There were a few service cuts, things did get worse, and they continue to. Oh, and there was that pesky dime fare increase "because of the economy."

Yeah, you can still see those stickers everywhere. Guess the plan is to pay Metro employees to carefully put the next fare increase sticker over each of the old ones. Better make 'em bigger to reflect the size of the increase. Pretty soon, you won't be able to traverse the FareGates because the phalanx of fare increase stickers. And seriously Metro, how about keeping with the '70s color scheme this time? No more '90s lime green and white, please.

Sigh.

Like last year, this year, we heard similar, but even scarier threats of service cuts in order to close a "$189 million" gap. But lo and behold, that ol' Metro magic appears to have found a way to make it not so bad.

Yet again, there will probably be some cuts, there'll definitely be a fare increase (because "you" begged for it.), and the service will likely get even worse.

Instead of making big boy decisions, the highly political Metro Board seems to prefer a death by 1,000 cuts, all the while praying for the white knight of increased jurisdictional funding (or a gas tax) to suddenly appear. The whole thing feels like this.

Prediction: Next year, there'll be another "crisis." There'll be an uproar, maybe even a petition. Public hearings will be held, Metro will say they listened and, in the end, Metro will sink to a lower level in the transit death spiral and we'll all shrug.

Doors closing. Ding dong.

Other items:
Examiner's take

Catoe, former leadership Paid Handsomely to Warn

So the "big" management shakeup happened late Friday, and as with most high profile games of musical chairs played by other large, failing organizations, it's not likely to make much of a difference.

One need only look to Metro's abysmal safety record or ride a delayed, creaky, stop-and-go train a few times to see that the system is rotting. From the upper echelons all the way down to the bus driver who--incredibly--thinks it's OK to leave a full bus parked along the side of the road while he saunters off for some KFC, it feels more and more like a transit agency that has lost its way.

During last Friday's excellent online chat with Greater Greater Washington's Michael Perkins, Metro Board member Chris Zimmerman was asked the inevitable question about whether Metro GM John Catoe should be fired. Zimmerman, like the Washington Post, supported Catoe and pointed out that Metro's problems run much deeper than the GM, and, we would presume if that logic is applied, a few reshuffled senior staffers.

"It is very important to recognize that the problems WMATA has are not new, they did not arise when Mr. Catoe arrived less than three years ago, and no one has credibly suggested that he has somehow caused them. On the contrary, the fundamental problems at WMATA are related to long-standing underfunding of its capital needs — inadequate maintenance and replacement, insufficient investment in new equipment, "stretchouts" of the capital program, etc. Every GM and the Board has warned the region about the consequences of this for years."

One such warning came in an eerily prescient 2005 Associated Press interview with former WMATA CEO Richard White, who said Metro was heading into a "transit death spiral" within three years.

"When that happens you can't get out of the spiral," White said. "You're going to have service everyday, but you're going to have many days that are going to feel like a transit day from hell."

Sound familiar?

So, what has Metro management and the Board been doing over the decades besides warning?

Catoe and leadership before him shouldn't be paid handsomely to merely to warn, kick the can down the road and stick their fingers into dikes. Instead, they should be working to build political support for WMATA, to tackle the big issues, to negotiate fair but sustainable deals with labor, to make safety the number one priority, to make tough calls, to say 'no' to politicians who want a bigger Metro but refuse to pay for it, to stand up those who may not have Metro's long term best interest in mind.

But instead it seems Metro is constantly examining, looking into, studying, and considering, but seldom acting. If they're doing more, it's certainly not being communicated.

This is a failure not only of Catoe and Zimmerman, but of the authority leadership for decades. They've all known very well the precarious funding purgatory in which WMATA exists, yet over the years they allowed a system to be created that is unsustainable in that atmosphere.

Where has the leadership been?

Zimmerman brings up a great example of Metro's inaction later in the interview when discussing the budget gap, which now stands at $175 million.

"Unfortunately, there isn't much in the good ole 'waste,fraud, & abuse' line to cut," he said. "And all the 'easy' stuff has been done the last two years."

Does Metro only do the "easy" stuff?

He then immediately said "a recent WMATA study indicates that improving average bus speed from 10 mph to 13 mph on a set of routes could lower annual cost by $40 or $50 million.
This of course depends upon cooperation from the highway departments."

They're just now studying this? What is WMATA waiting for? Get it done. Push, prod, cajole. Lead!

Zimmerman also stated that another possibility to save money "includes proposals that would adjust MetroAccess to something closer to the federally-mandated level of service."

They've known MetroAccess was an exploding budget line item for a long time, and yet they still offer expensive service beyond what's required.

WMATA says curbing the service to federal mandates could save $2.8 million per year. That's not a huge amount compared to the $175 gap Metro faces, but we wonder how many other $40 million and $2.8 million items Metro is hemming and hawing about.

Acccording to News Channel 8, the Senate last night passed legislation that would provide the dedicated funding the authority has so long sought. If finally signed by the president, it will be interesting to see how Metro management conducts business without the dead horse of no dedicated funding to beat.

Other items:
Jackie Jeter letter to the editor (WaPo)

An Amazing Display

Metro doesn't have a room big enough to accommodate the hundreds of people who wanted to give the Board a little friendly advice regarding service cuts, fare increases or raiding the capital fund to bridge this year's budget gap.

That led to an awkward, three-roomed circus, which might have been hard to follow had the message from the crowd not been so overwhelmingly loud and clear: Get your act together. We're fed up!

It was amazing to see most people haven't been suckered by WMATA's false choice of four sucky options. Yes, they're probably the only realistic options this year, but years of mismanagement, degrading customer service and underfunding have led us to this choice of four piles of poop, some bigger, some smaller, depending on your perspective.

People of all races, colors, income levels and creeds, and impressively, some with severe disabilities came out tonight to vent, not just about the immediate situation, but at what a husk of its former self WMATA has become.

To put it into a little perspective, last year, we attended one of the budget cut hearings in Arlington. It was so sleepy you could hear other people breathing.

Tonight was punctuated by applause and vocal praise for some of the more colorful speakers. There was even a little drama.

Some speakers suggested WMATA employees give up their free ride perk. "When I worked at Foot Locker, I didn't get free shoes," said one.

Another woman, frustrated by the poor choices before the Board, tore up a piece of paper with the four options on them and tried to deliver them to a very puffy and red looking Jim Graham who seemed unable to pronounce even the simplest of names.

Many speakers hearkened back to a long-gone era when Metro ran smoothly and efficiently. One such speaker asked the Board to "resign, retire or leave." Amen, good sir.

Yet these cuts are probably nothing compared to what's down the rails. We'll be right back here in a short while, with even bigger problems as Metro takes on the very ugly 2011 budget.

Other items:
Metro's fate now lies in the hope a superhero will take over as GM (WaPo)
WaPo's take on last night's hearing
Examiner's take
Examiner cartoon

If a Tree Falls in the Forest ...

On Sunday, Metro GM John Catoe fired off an angry letter to the Washington Post, saying he was "profoundly disappointed" with the Post's coverage of the "elimination" of Emeka Moneme's position as Metro's chief administrative officer in charge of safety.

Yesterday, Metro issued a press release trying to bolster Catoe's charge.

The Post's headline and lede would lead one to believe Moneme was "fired" because he "oversaw safety when the transit agency banned safety monitors from live tracks in the spring."

Catoe has a point about the headline and lede, but Metro's high-priced communications consultants should realize the article doesn't represent the first time in journalism history that a headline and/or lede was sexed up for effect.

We read the whole article and came away with the sense that the job cut was for economic reasons--a whopping $500,000 on a $175 million budget gap, mind you, but mostly a penny pinching move nonetheless.

So, Metro scores a point point here, but the key is hardly anyone is listening to Metro. According to our poll, only 13 percent of you said you trust what Metro says. That's horrible even if you double it; it's still pretty bad if you triple it. It's not even very good if you quadruple it. Metro is losing the important battle of public opinion--in a big way, and letters to the Washington Post aren't going to turn things around.

In the current climate, even if Metro became a model of safe operation tomorrow, it would have a hard, perhaps impossible, time getting people to believe it.

What could Metro do to improve it's "rap gap" in your mind?

One idea for starters: Perhaps Catoe should let us all know that he's profoundly disappointed in how Metro has performed lately. We're not holding our breath.

###

With regard to the Tri-State Oversight Committee's ability to inspect the tracks or not, that has always seemed like a red herring to us. It does look as if Metro wasn't enthusiastic about letting the TOC conduct inspections at the very least, but even if the TOC had unfettered access, we're not sure they have the power to make Metro any safer. A more robust agency, the National Transportation Safety Board, can only make recommendations, which Metro can, and does, ignore.

We suppose allowing TOC officials on the tracks is a start, but it's a very tentative one, and much more strenuous oversight of Metro's practices is needed. Not holding our breath on this count either.

Mind the Gap

UPDATE:
Check the Washington Post's "Get There" blog for a rundown of events today. Bottom line: no fare increase, some bus service cuts.

WTOP is reporting that Metro leaders are confident they will be able to reach an agreement today to close the $29 million budget gap the service faces.

"I think we have done a reasonably good job of minimizing the impact (to service)," says Peter Benjamin, a Maryland Metro board member. "It will be about a 50/50 split with half coming in the form of service reductions and the other half coming from an increase in funding."

No sense at all where the "increase" will come from.

"The board is expected to finalize its list of cuts Thursday, then set a series of public hearings"

Other news:
Metro reports spike in crime rate
Volunteers offer to keep peace at two Metro stations

Metro is NOT Looking at Service Cuts

Reminder: avoid Pentagon this weekend!

According to this Adam Tuss story on WTOP, Metro is not looking at service cuts--yet. Last night the board held a meeting to discuss its $154 million budget shortfall. Here's the key quote:

"We are not talking about service reductions yet," Metro Board member Peter Benjamin said. "What we are doing is trying to find out how much might be needed, and see what other reductions might be made first so that we don't go out and say to the public that we need to make a change that we really don't need to make."

Say wha? Didn't Metro just spend the last couple of weeks getting everyone worked up over possible cuts? I guess the game plan was get everyone in a tizzy to rally support for the ailing mess of a transit system. That might work, but instead, we think it undermines broader support for WMATA in the long run, making Metro look repeatedly incompetent and mismanaged. It's especially dumb, we think, to play this strategy after almost non-stop boasting about how well the record inauguration crowds were handled.

According to The Washington Post story on last night's board meeting, "Metro staff workers have compiled a $325 million list of "shovel-ready" capital projects, including bus priority corridors, rail cars, buses and maintenance. Metro expects to make the list public next week at a regional transportation planning board meeting." This comes in anticipating of stimulus money the service could receive.

Quick hits:

• Apparently Metro accessibility played a role in DC United deciding to put their new stadium in Md. as opposed to DC.
• Interesting GreaterGreater article on how contributions to employee pension funds make up a large chunk of Metro's budget gap. The site calls for Metro to be "prudent," a trait we've never seen from the service.
• Oh and most importantly, Metro has posted a new audiocast.
  

Metro May Run a Surplus?

This is the kind of thing that drives us crazy about WMATA. First, the idea of major cuts is floated. The thinking there must have been to make these bus cuts go down a little easier. Oh, and we can't forget that WMATA contemplated using stimulus money to cover the budget gap.
Now, the DC Examiner is reporting that Metro might run a $9 million SURPLUS due to increased ridership.
WMATA, we realize your situation is not enviable as the ugly stepchild of MD, DC and VA who can’t seem to get their acts straight either and like to jerk your chain, but cutting service and reporting a budget surplus doesn't jive in riders' minds, and it makes you look bad.
Perhaps a little better estimating on potential revenues might be a step in the right direction. For “Metro TV” the potential ad revenue was projected at “between "$16 to $178 million.” For the high tech projecting ads at Farragut West, between “$84,000 to $168,000.”

Metro Opts to Tap Reserve Funds, Some Bus Routes Saved

We guess the rainy day is now.
Metro decided to tap a $13 million rainy day fund to close its budget gap, and while there will be some "service adjustments," there aren't as many as originally floated.
Arlington County’s ART bus service also will take over operating the 22B and 24P routes. Here's the rest.

"Under the new budget plan, four routes would be eliminated, one line would be restructured, one route would gain service and fares would increase on three routes. Metro riders who board the J7, J9 I-270 Express buses in Montgomery County and the W19 Indian Head Express in Prince George’s County would pay the $3.10 cash express fare or $3 with a SmarTrip card. Riders have been paying the regular $1.25 SmarTrip card fare or $1.35 cash fare for express service. The L7 (Connecticut Ave to Maryland line) route would be eliminated but extra buses would be added to the L8 route. The C7, C9 (Greenbelt to Glenmont) and some off-peak service on the Z2 (Colesville to Ashton) routes also would be eliminated. The 21 A, B, C, D and F (Landmark-Pentagon) routes would be consolidated into a single route."

Source: Metro
WaPo story

Photo: daquellamanera

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

It was just a few weeks ago when you could practically feel the glee as Metro announced they'd be receiving some $230 in stimulus money. Grandiose plans were outlined that were shovel ready, would create jobs and improve Metro. Everyone was thrilled.

But there was always that pesky budget gap that was first reported to be $154 million that Metro was able to shrink to $29 million "by raising revenue projections, cutting expenses and slashing more than 300 jobs."

We've already seen the kind of projections Metro is capable of.


Now this: "Metro’s board chairman says the transit agency is poised to scrap its plans for cutting transit service and instead use federal stimulus money to close what remains of a budget shortfall."

Benjamin [Peter Benjamin, who represents Maryland] added, though, that using a portion of the transit agency’s approximately $200 million share of federal stimulus funds to plug the hole would mean an even bigger challenge in coming years. The stimulus money is a one-time addition to the coffers, but Metro’s costs aren’t expected to drop. “The issue is: What is the second act?” Benjamin said.

He said the agency would likely need higher fare increases, bigger taxpayer subsidies or service cuts in the future.

Why make tough choices--like marginal service cuts-- now when you can pass them on to someone else down the line who'll have to really wield the chainsaw to your service? We don't think this bodes well for Metro's future.

A softer take from GGW

Metro Announces New Proposals to Decrease Expected FY12 Budget Deficit, Public Hearings to be Scheduled

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), facing a 72 million dollar budget gap at the start of the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2011, will hold public hearings throughout the region this spring to gauge public opinion on a variety of proposals that will help the agency maintain a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The proposals were approved yesterday by Finance and Administration Committee of the Board of Directors. The schedule of pubic hearings will be officially set at the next board meeting and released shortly thereafter.

The highlight of the new budget balancing measures is the “Fair Fare Fees” (FFF) program, which the Board of Directors, at the recommendation of the WMATA staff, hopes to implement for the start of the next fiscal year. “After the introduction of the peak of the peak fare last year and the accusations from some members of the public that we were unfairly targeting rush hour riders with the burden of additional fees, it only seemed right that we create additional fees so that riders at all times of day can partake in as many parts of our fare structure as possible,” said Board Chair Catherine Hudgins. “The proposed FFF program will achieve that goal. Additionally, implementing FFF will create additional revenue for the agency without raising fares, and riders will now be able to selectively choose to only pay for the parts of the system that they use or cause to experience wear and tear. Finally, WMATA has always been at the forefront of innovations in the American public transit industry, and we will remain at the forefront of revolutionizing fare structures to meet the needs of our current economic conditions.”

The following are the proposed fees that would be implemented under phase one of the FFF initiative:

• Peak of the Off Peak: A 15 cent surcharge will be charged for all trips during the midday rush at lunchtime between 11 AM and 1:30 PM weekdays
• Peak of the Overnight: In order to maintain consistent branding for the entire “Peak of the…” program, the regular fare period after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays will be renamed to be the “Peak of the Overnight.”
• Peak of the Peak remains unchanged
• Elevators will be charged at a rate of 15 cents for the elevator from the street level to mezzanine level and at a rate of 10 cents for the elevator from the mezzanine level to the platform level. The elevators between platform levels at transfer stations will cost 10 cents to use. A Smartrip card will be required to call the elevator. Senior & Disabled Smartrip cards will not be charged this fee. Passengers with large amounts of luggage, baby carriages, and the like who wish to apply for a waiver may do so by presenting themselves to the station manager, either before or after elevator use occurs. The station manager has the sole authority to determine whether a waiver should be issued. If the waiver is granted, the passenger must fill out the form provided by the station manager and send it to the Smartrip Regional Service Center by mail. It will be recommended that passengers who expect to request waivers should allow an extra 30 minutes at both the entrance and exit locations of their journey to locate the station manager, in the event he or she is not in the kiosk, engaging in socializing with fellow coworkers, or otherwise not accounted for. Passengers who do not have Smartrip cards will not be able to call the elevators. Additionally, infrared technology will ensure that the number of people who board the elevator is equal to the number of people who called it through the use of their Smartrip cards.
• Air conditioning will only be available in the first, second, and fifth cars of 6 car trains, and in the first, second, seventh, and eighth cars of 8 car trains. A 20 cent rebate will be provided to passengers who ride in one of the cars without air conditioning, made available through Smartrip targets that will be installed in each car and activated in the appropriate cars. No refunds will be provided for riders who do not claim their rebate on board the train.
• Seats will cost 10 cents per use. Spikes will be installed on all seats; these spikes will only be lowered after a Smartrip card has been used to pay the fee. Senior & Disabled Smartrip cards will not be charged this fee. In the event someone with a Senior & Disabled Smartrip card needs a seat, when that Smartrip is touched to the target for the seat the rider wishes to use, if it is occupied, a spring will eject the passenger who is occupying the seat. For riders who voluntarily give up their seat in the judgement of the Senior or Disabled rider, a 5 cent refund will be given to the passenger who vacated the seat. For riders who involuntarily give up their seat, no refund will be given. Passengers who wish to have guaranteed access to the railfan seat may join the WMATA Railfan Seat Club for a monthly fee of $10, an annual fee of $105, or a lifetime fee of $4200. Passengers in the WMATA Railfan Seat Club will be able to eject non-club members from the railfan seats on each train in the same manner Senior and Disabled passengers will force regular riders out of seats they wish to use. Other perks may be provided to members of the WMATA Railfan Seat club at a later date, and club members will not have to pay the application fee for MOBOOP, which is outlined below.
• Due to the fact that all the fare charts on the farecard machines in each station will need to be printed in size 2 font in order to list all the new fees and possible fares for each station, souvenir WMATA magnifying glasses will be on sale at all stations for 5 cents. It will be recommended that riders save their magnifying glass for future use to avoid having to pay this fee more than once.
• Riders who are discovered to post negative things about WMATA to online social media, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, message boards such as DC Area Transit Zone and Subchat, or blogs such as Unsuck DC Metro and Greater Greater Washington, before, during, or after traveling on Metrorail, will be charged a libel fee. Libel fees will be a minimum of 10 dollars per offense, but major offenses or repeat offenders may be charged up to 100 dollars. Riders who post complimentary things to the same types of social media listed above may be eligible to win waivers that will exempt them from some or all elements of FFF for varying lengths of time, depending on the level of the praise. These charges and waivers will be issued under the sole discretion of the Media Relations Office.
• For those who do not wish to participate in our new security initiative, “Metro Opens Bags”, a one time fee of $362.73 can be paid to join the “Metro Opens Bags Opt Out Program” (MOBOOP). Passengers in MOBOOP will have to pass a background check before being allowed to participate, at which time they will be issued a special Smartrip card that will indicate to the Metro Transit Police officers and Transportation Security Administration agents that they are exempt from Metro Opens Bags. Passengers who fail to pass the background check will still be required to pay the fee to cover the administration of the background check and other logistics involved in processing the application to join the program, even though the application was not successful. Although this capability will not be added to Smartrip cards until the next generation card is developed and issued, the Board of Directors plans to approve MOBOOP as part of FFF. It should be noted that a 5 dollar fee will still be charged for the purchase of the next generation Smartrip card, in addition to the one time MOBOOP fee.

Once the public hearing schedule is set and the official docket is released, instructions on how to submit public comments on FFF will be made available through a press release. “We look forward to hearing what riders have to say about the exciting innovations that we plan to implement to the fare structure next fiscal year,” Hudgins said following the meeting. If phase one of FFF is deemed successful, phase two would expand FFF to include Metrobus and Metroaccess, in addition to other aspects of Metrorail that are not included in phase one. The full Board of Directors will take a vote at its next meeting on whether to approve the recommendation of the Finance and Administration Committee.


Via: http://forums.dctransit.info/index.php?topic=1908.msg18334#msg18334 (h/t @perkinsms aka @smartpasses)

DUMBATA

As has been reported, WMATA hired some high-priced communications consultants to help them spin their never ending bad news.

First of all, if Metro stopped screwing up, they'd be able to forget about crisis management communications and save us some dough. Maybe the money could go toward the budget gap.

But we digress.

The first confirmed product under the consultants was displayed here.

Oops.

Yesterday, came another, bigger blunder--at least we think so.

Just as people were settling into work after some major Red Line delays caused by A PART THAT "BECAME DISASSEMBLED" FROM A TRAIN, what does Metro do?

They issue a press release about how they've spent $20,000 on two "T3" pimped out Segway-looking tricycles for the Metro Transit Police, and they may buy even more!

The release was accompanied by an unintentionally funny video.

Now, maybe these suped up Big Wheels will end crime as we know it on Metro. We're not experts, but to put this news out so soon after a major meltdown looks ... well, dumb--and completely disconnected from the riders' experience.

Next time there's a category III suckstorm, we suggest a press release about how Metro is planning to keep parts from falling off trains and delaying thousands. Or how they'll stop buses from hitting people. Or how they'll keep trains from colliding.

But it doesn't end here.

Late yesterday evening, Metro issued a press release about "a fatal pedestrian accident."

In the release is the following sentence:

"Service Operations Managers are continuing to convey the importance of pedestrian awareness to more than 2,400 Metrobus operators on the street and 950 bus maintenance personnel."

Pedestrian awareness.

So it has come to this: People who drive a bus for a living need a friendly reminder not to hit people on the street.

Seriously, what good is that going to do? Isn't pedestrian awareness something most of us behind a wheel automatically have without need for "reinforcements" and "conversations?"

Is that the best they could do to reassure an increasingly leery public? Obviously, there's something more fundamental, more systemic afoot at Metro, and more reminders probably aren't going to help.

Well done consultants!

If Metro is this dumb with a "little" money, what are they going to do with (if they get) a lot of money?

Other items:
Pedestrian accident ends in fatality (WaPo)
Medical Center plan revealed (GGW)

filin' griev. bk 2 wrk soon. cu ;)

Remember this Einstein?

What they lack in brain size, the apparently make up for with WMATAcles the size of a WMATA budget gap. Metro says they've filed a grievance to get their job back. They were "let go" back in March, a month after the pics were snapped.

The driver was texting despite a very clearly stated zero-tolerance policy regarding such behavior instituted by Metro in the wake of several embarrassing incidents of distracted drivers, including one train operator apparently dozing off while at the helm.

Back then, we half joked that a return-to-work-date had not been set.

That day may be closer then we ever thought.

Drivers are entitled to the process, but COME ON, they're texting ... surreptitiously ... behind the wheel ... of a WMATA bus ... filled with passengers ... in violation of DC law ... against WMATA rules ... wearing a WMATA uniform.

The evidence would appear pretty damning, but then again, we all know that in Metroland, and anything can happen, so perhaps they're going for a Hail Mary, employing the Big Lie tactic. Actually, with the union's success in filing grievances, it's more like a third and inches.

According to WMATA, "if the ruling is that the employee’s termination is overturned, and it is determined that a suspension would have been warranted, the employee will receive back pay minus pay for the time they would have been suspended."

Perfect.

As we wait for the process to grind to some conclusion, we can all rest assured that all ATU 689 members "go to work every day cognizant of their responsibility to perform a job on behalf of our customers – the riding public,” just like their president says they do.

Stories like this give us the same warm and fuzzies for the union that we have for the Board. (NSFW)

For those interested, here's the grievance process as quoted from the current union contract:

Sec. 104 - Discipline and Grievance Procedure
(a) Employees (and assisting Union representatives) shall fill out grievance forms to the best of their knowledge and ability. Grievances should be as complete and specific as possible including a statement of the facts involved, the sections of the agreement alleged to have been violated and the remedy sought. Management officials responsible for filing written grievance responses shall do so to the best of their knowledge and ability. Responses shall be as complete and specific as possible including a statement of the facts involved, references to relevant contract language
and reasons for the decision.

(b) Grievances shall be processed in the following manner:

Step 1 - Any employee who has a grievance shall (together with the Union representative if the employee so desires) discuss the matter with the employee's immediate superior in an attempt to settle the matter satisfactorily. If the matter has not been settled within five (5) working days of the management action which gave rise to the grievance, the employee may, within ten (10) working days thereafter, file an official written grievance form, a copy of which shall be filed with the employee's immediate superior and another copy shall be filed with the Union through the
employee's shop steward (or other officially designated representative).

Step 2 - If the Union, through the employee's shop steward (or other officially designated representative) finds merit to the grievance, it shall, within ten (10) working days after the date of the filing of the formal written grievance, confer with the superintendent of the division (or other management official in charge of the division, garage, or other facility where the grievant is employed) in an effort to resolve the grievance satisfactorily. The occurrence of such conference shall be noted on the grievance form and signed by the participants. The management official involved shall render a written decision on the grievance within ten (10) working days after such conference with the Union.

If the management action which gave rise to the grievance was taken at a level higher than the superintendent of the division (or other management official in charge of the division, garage or other facility where the grievant is employed) Step 2 may be waived and the Business Agent (or the Business Agent's designee) may proceed directly to Step 3 within ten (10) working days after the date of the filing of the formal written grievance.

Step 3 - If the Union through the Business Agent (or the Business Agent's designee) is not satisfied with the Step 2 decision, it may, within ten (10) working days of the receipt thereof, confer with the Office Director (or the Office Director's designee). The the participants. The management official involved shall issue a written decision on the appeal within ten (10) working days of the conference with the Union.

Step 4 - If the Union, through the Business Agent (or the Business Agent's designee), is not satisfied with the Step 3 decision, it may appeal the grievance by requesting a conference with the General Manager (or the General Manager's designee) within ten (10) working days of receipt thereof. The General Manager (or the General Manager's Designee) will hold said conference and issue a written decision within twenty (20) working days of the receipt of the Step 4 grievance or the Step 3 appeal.

Step 5 - If the Union is not satisfied with the Step 4 decision, it may, within sixty (60) calendar days after receipt thereof, invoke arbitration in accordance with Section 105 of this Agreement.

Other items:
Metro holding hearing on $709 million spending plan (Examiner)
Again with the consultants (WAPO)

Brutal Truth About Retail in Metro

Metro has issued this presentation to be given at the Feb. 26 Board of Directors meeting. For the most part, it contains nothing that hasn't been discussed at length here and in other outlets about bridging the budget gap, but we did find it interesting that in 2006, WMATA explored the idea of allowing retail in some of the stations. It went so far as to issue RFPs for potential retail locations in 12 stations. Mind you, this was June 2006, when things were still booming economically. The response?

Only three (3) unsatisfactory responses were received for the highest ridership stations, and staff subsequently rejected them. One proposal was for a shoe shine stand at Gallery Place-Chinatown station, one was for a newsstand at Rosslyn station and one was for a newsstand at Metro Center station. Both newsstand proposals included the sale of packaged food and beverages.

In 2007, Metro again investigated the idea and issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI). This time around there were eight responses, "four of which were from large, national operators of newsstands and retail kiosks." However, these operators said "newspapers and magazines account for less than 30% of the newsstand business. Newsstand operators advised that they would not propose for retail sites offered in an RFP unless the current prohibition on food and beverage sales was lifted."

Furthermore, the operators said that the traffic required to make installing a kiosk worthwhile can only be found at eight Metro stations.

Still, according to a WMATA survey, "57% of respondents said they would likely patronize newsstands and 53% said theywould shop at a convenience store with items such as souvenirs, flowers and light groceries."

We'd love to see Metro's stations livened up with retail. Metro's architectural style is "brutalist," and while interesting and perhaps even attractive to casual users, for the everyday rider, you begin to see why this style of architecture is named such. Terry Gilliam should have filmed the mass transit segments of his dystopian masterpiece "Brazil" in DC's Metro.

Metro seems to concur about the difficulty in installing retail locations in its unwelcoming atmosphere, writing "based on the information provided above, Metro staff views a mobile vending program as potentially feasible for WMATA. Some potential retail uses as part of this program could include florists, dry cleaning drop off/pick up, and take-home packaged gourmet dinners.

Another factoid we found interesting in the report was that "between $450,000 and $500,000 additional advertising revenue could be generated if Metro allowed for alcohol advertisements on Metrobus and Metrorail."

We wish them luck.

Other news:
DC readies for streetcars?
Congestion is getting better?

Photo: John Morris

Wizard of Sarles

Metro boss Richard Sarles' notion that Metro puts riders first is pretty funny.

Just look at the fare machines for proof that riders rank pretty low in Metro's eyes. Then, once you've done the calculus and handed Metro a ton of money, you only need ride Metro a few times to see it's really not at all about the riders.

Worse yet, if you judge the aloof GM by his actions, he doesn't even seem to care what the people who pay his $350,000 salary think.

He doesn't make himself, or any senior staff, available in the stations during rush hour to answer public questions or just listen to riders' concerns. Other transit managers do this regularly. Sarles could learn a lot through a little personal outreach, but I guess he thinks he knows it all.

Moreover, he doesn't hold public, online chats as former GM Catoe and other Metro GMs used to. He did once hold a Google hangout with the supine Washington Post where one hard hitting question was why some platforms are in the middle.

Sarles even killed off the blogger roundtables Metro hosted, holding just one over two years ago while he was interim GM.

He rarely even gives interviews and seems to only makes public appearances at carefully scripted escalator parties or when Metro wheels him out before the know-nothing board to give the regular spiel they all lap up without question.

Instead, Sarles has chosen to communicate with riders almost exclusively via increasingly out of touch op/eds, press releases, surrogates and ghost written advertorials in the Express newspapers that line the Metro floors.

In those missives, he touts how well Metro is doing when in fact, Metro can't meet the standards Sarles himself lowered!

Oh, and it's not just riders Sarles shuns. Metro employees say he's nowhere to be seen. They remember Catoe and other GMs at least showing up regularly to rub elbows with the front line workers, but Sarles, they say, communicates largely via an electronic newsletter and memos.

"I never really had high hopes for Sarles because this is Metro," said one employee. "But he doesn't even make a gesture to try to make us think he really knows or cares what's going on out here. The guy is totally out of touch and dependent on his downtown yes men. If you ask me, he's got the easiest job in town. No one looks over his shoulder."

Sometimes I picture Sarles as the Wizard of Oz locked away in some small, highly oxygenated room in Metro headquarters relying solely on self serving Metro staff for information from the outside world while, at the same time, being totally dependent on a massive PR machine to form his public image.

The Post once wrote that Sarles is shy. If true, he needs to get over it.

He's the head of a huge, multimillion dollar taxpayer-funded agency that a lot of people in the area depend on. He should be accountable to us.

For the entirety of the Sarles regime, Metro has been in crisis and is seen by many, including me, to be failing on a number of levels.

Sarles' much vaunted MetroForward campaign still has years to go. Frustration with weekend closures, long headways and track work is growing.

Furthermore, all the past work and inconvenience doesn't seem to be making anything better.

It's going to take more than a press release to get the public on Sarles and Metro's side.

For starters, Metro's GM needs to show--not tell--riders firsthand that he's in this with us. We want to like Sarles and Metro, but they've got to show they don't see us only as clueless revenue sources.

Speaking of, Metro is now running at a $28 million surplus shortly after they raised our fares.

Math.

Other items:
Metro projects $27 million budget gap next year (WMATA)
Nats-Metro standoff continues (DCist)

Bow Wow Wow Yippie Yo Yippie Yay

Reader Christopher has a novel approach* to closing the looming budget gap:

TOP TEN REASONS TO REPLACE METRO EMPLOYEES WITH CANINES

I am preparing for a big presentation before the WMATA Board of Directors on Monday. On the agenda: my proposal to replace train operators with dogs, in order to cut costs and improve safety.

1. Dogs enjoy sticking their heads out of windows
- This one's a tie: Metro employees also enjoy this aspect of their job

2. Dogs can bark
- Thereby, dogs are inherently more communicative. Train operators are decidedly unintelligible or incoherent in most every situation

3. Dogs have an innate sense of self preservation
- Current Metro employees have shown a tendency to be injured or killed by moving objects. As a side benefit, dogs can't apply for Worker's Comp.

4. Dogs have exquisitely sensitive hearing
- Current Metro employees consistently fail to hear the approach of, and consequently move out of the way of, a 620,000 pound (empty weight) train bearing down on them.

5. Dogs won't berate passengers
- The ability to berate passengers is an established hiring prerequisite among all WMATA service branches.

6. Dogs have no difficulty being trained to press a button
- Most train operators have proven unable to master this simple task

7. Dogs respond to positive reinforcement and food
- There are no known means to motivate current Metro employees.
- Evidence suggests food is a powerful reinforcement tool judging by the average girth of Metro employees.

8. Dogs can improve the overall customer service experience
- Dogs can direct a passenger to the appropriate train or signage. Metro employees have proven unable to do this courteously.
- Plus, dogs are cute.

9. Dogs are keenly aware of, and respond appropriately to, dangerous situations
- Human train operators, when faced with similar scenarios, have shown a proclivity for accidents involving riders, themselves, bystanders, all of which have caused millions of dollars in damages.

10. Dogs are unable to text or SMS while operating a train
- Dogs have paws. Phone keypads are small. Texting is next to impossible.

*In all seriousness, several subways around the world, Nuremberg for example, are experimenting with DRIVERLESS trains.

Other items:
Catoe: "The test of his life" (WaPo) Jim Graham: "We're having the heavens open, and all manner of demons have been unleashed." Ha!
Metro steps up patrols at after school trouble spots (WaPo)
Union head Jeter: New discipline 'crackdown' creating bad morale Wah wah wah! (WTOP)

There's No Such Thing as this Metro Anymore

Ah, the heady days of Metro. The quaint notion of getting to work early, staying "fundamentally alive" and high(er) production value commercials. Yes, for many, Metro is still better than driving to work, but of late, that margin has shrunk tremendously.

Sadly, one of the most accurate aspects of this '80s (or '90s) commercial is the Metrobus nearly crashing into the Metrorail station.

Other items:
Public hearings on budget gap this week (WMATA)

New Safety Scheme, Same Old Problems

If you're looking for a silver lining, about the best you could come up with is at least this latest collision took place when there were no passengers on the trains. However, three Metro workers were injured slightly, and, according to Metro, one car won't be able to be fixed in yet another ding to Metro's dwindling supply of rolling stock.

Eight-car trains, at this rate, will be an even rarer sighting..

The Post is reporting the damage at $9 million, another substantial blow to the budget gap.

Apparently, that big safety "shake up" a couple of weeks ago didn't magically solve all the problems. Then again, did anyone really think it was anything but a reshuffling of the deck chairs?

Maybe it's time for another standard trick, the ol' "safety stand down." That'll fool 'em.

Then again, maybe not. Less than 10 days after the last one, a WMATA subcontractor was electrocuted on the job.

Metro often whines about its poor public image, once going so far as to blame passengers.

While we've documented many sucky passengers on this blog, passengers don't collide trains.

Perhaps if Metro made some real changes, like making its management and operators publicly accountable when something goes awry, the "reputation deficit" might start to turn around, but instead Metro appears to persist with the smoke and mirrors routines, and that's just not going over so well these days.

Other items:
Fired? Think again. (Examiner)

Why So Many Old Ads?

Several people have asked why there are so many old advertisements or empty advertising space on Metro. Thanks to Jared for digging into this.

Q: This ad was in car number 6080 on my way back from National Airport yesterday after picking up some tickets. It's almost April. metro claims to have a $29 million budget gap. But we have ads in the Metro cars from December....fully five months old. Why is Metro failing to maximize ad revenue?

A: It is important to note that Metro receives a guaranteed level of revenue from its advertising contract with a third-party advertising broker, and these revenues are significant. The broker itself chooses whether and how to seek ads to fill the available space as part of its normal operating decisions. Metro is guaranteed the revenue from the contract whether the broker sells 100 percent of the ad space in the Metro system or zero percent.

Sometimes, as in the current economic recession, market demand for advertising space declines, and customers may notice unused advertising space in rail cars and Metrobuses.

Ron Rydstrom
Director
Office of Marketing