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.