Washington’s Metro subway system used to be the envy of other cities and a source of pride for local residents. No longer. With the decades-long acquiescence of ineffectual board members, Metro management and the employee union have run this once-treasured public transit system into the ground, putting the lives of passengers and even its own employees at risk. This is what happens when public safety is entrusted to arrogant bureaucrats who answer to no one. It took the largest number of fatalities in Metro’s history to finally convince the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Congress that Metro must have an outside intervention before anybody else is killed or injured. Both announced hearings after the news surfaced that Metro blocked outside track inspections during the same month that two of its own workers were run over and killed on the job. Metro officials then had the nerve to tell the independent monitoring agency that it blocked the inspections for the inspectors own safety. For too long, Metro officials have offered one such lame excuse after another for their failure to adequately maintain tracks and equipment, ensure that safety problems were immediately corrected, and communicate honestly with the public. It is now abundantly clear that Metro is incapable of fixing itself. But Metro is not solely to blame. The federal, state and local jurisdictions that fund Metro have a fiduciary duty to make sure tax dollars are being spent appropriately. Metro’s current problems are a textbook example of what happens when unaccountable officials are given billions of dollars of public money to spend without rigorous government oversight. This is also where the remedy will be found. Last year’s $1.5 billion congressional authorization to Metro should have included a freeze on any new construction until $11 billion in unfunded maintenance costs are addressed. Before a cent is spent extending rail to Dulles International Airport or handing out raises to its overpaid staff, Metro should be required to replace outdated and unsafe rail cars. But nobody insisted, so Metro is now playing Russian roulette with passengers’ lives. General manager John Catoe can be counted on to blame the latest loss of lives on a lack of money because that’s easier than changing an organizational culture that puts the safety and comfort of riders near the bottom of its list of concerns. But giving Metro more money without addressing its misplaced priorities will only encourage more of the same.
