The Metro executives who are assigned transit agency vehicles all have hybrid Ford Escapes, except for one who gets a Chevy Malibu, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said Wednesday.
He did not provide the year of the vehicles or what bells and whistles, if any, they have, but the starting price for the 2012 model of the hybrid Escape sport utility vehicle is $30,570, according to Ford’s suggested pricing. The latest model Chevy Malibu starts at $21,975, according to Chevrolet.
General Manager Richard Sarles, Deputy General Manager Dave Kubicek, Chief Financial Officer Carol Dillon Kissal, Chief of Staff Shiva Pant and Assistant General Manager of Bus Operations Jack Requa all have cars assigned to them, as reported in Wednesday’s Washington Examiner.
Metro has said that Sarles takes the Yellow Line to work each day, but that some of the other executives do use the cars to commute to and from their homes on occasion as needed. Stessel declined to provide detailed information Wednesday on how much the executives are using the cars.
All told, seven of the 16-person executive leadership team members have agency vehicles because Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn also drives a Chevy Tahoe and Chief Safety Officer James Dougherty has a Ford Explorer as take-home vehicles, Stessel said. “They’re expected to drive them each day because they have safety/security response responsibilities,” he said.
An additional 115 other Metro managers and police officers have take-home vehicles as part of their jobs.
Nine other vehicles — Ford Fusion Hybrids and Chevy Malibus — are available in a pool for other Metro employees to use as needed for business-related trips. Stessel said the other employees can use the ones assigned to the executives if necessary.
The transit agency has said it does not track the annual cost of its take-home vehicle program.
