A task force sponsored by two regional heavyweights — the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments — recently concluded that the current Metro Board is contributing to the rapid decline of a transit system that not so long ago was a point of local pride and a key component of the region’s economic development. Underlying the many serious problems now facing Metro is an appalling lack of accountability to passengers, to taxpayers and to the local jurisdictions that support it, which is why the task force recommends a long overdue change in Metro’s governance structure.
During a meeting with The Washington Examiner’s editorial board, task force co-chairman Jim Dyke said that there has been a steady erosion of confidence in the decision-making structure used to build Metro 40 years ago. Citing the lack of a clear line of responsibility for maintaining and running the transit system, the task force recommends that a seven-member commission made up of the governors of Maryland and Virginia, the mayor of D.C. and regional transportation officials be set up to oversee the Metro Board, as well as eliminating its one-year rotating chairmanship and its one-jurisdiction veto.
Recommended Stories
The major advantage would be transferring buck-stops-here responsibility to the top elected officials in each of the three major jurisdictions that Metro serves. The two governors and the District’s mayor are far less likely to view Metro in narrow parochial terms and far more likely to demand bottom-line fiscal accountability with their own political reputations on the line.
Another good recommendation is replacing Metro’s general manager with a CEO who would have real authority to make changes in operations but would also be held personally responsible for failure to meet best-practice benchmarks. D.C. Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown was characteristically blunt about the need for urgency: “I don’t think we can attract a top-quality person to run the system in the chaos that we have now.”
One of the main hurdles is that the same Metro Board pilloried by the task force is now expected to implement its sound recommendations. But Washington business leaders are adamant: If Metro Board members procrastinate in changing the governance structure voluntarily, they will vigorously pursue other avenues to force the issue, including legislation and, if need be, changes to the interstate compact. Metro Board members can’t say they weren’t warned.
