The video from Reason.TV  says it all. .  For those who care to read, check the Reason Foundation’s blog  post, which gives a good idea of what is  wrong with DC’s WMATA and its escalator management..

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ioHIlPgOS4′]

And seen below a customer’s creative and preemptive response for the agency’s yet-to-begin-customer survey.  After seeing the video above, don’t you think he and other riders like him are shelling $$ on this system are justified to deliver such a verdit  (actually the video doesn’t even address the plethora of other problems beyond the elevators and escalators that is plaguing the system) I’m sure many rider in the DC metropolitan area feel the same way..

Image courtesy: @dcmetrosucks via Twitter

(Source: via Pinterest)

(Source: TransitTalent.com via Bernie Wagenblast’s TCN)

The incumbent is responsible for assisting with the management of activities for the Office of Media Relations. Serves as deputy chief spokesperson for the Authority and manages Metro’s media relations efforts with traditional media (TV, radio, print, online) and key external agencies. Assumes Director’s responsibilities when necessary. This is highly responsible professional and administrative work. Significant writing is required, as is the ability to provide professional, on camera and on-the-record comments on behalf of the agency.

Major Duties

• Manages the day-to-day operations of the media relations department (commonly known as the press office). Supervises public information officers.
• Serves as deputy chief spokesperson for the Authority on a variety of issues affecting WMATA and the communities served. The incumbent deals with print and broadcast media on a day-to-day basis, responding to inquiries and generating information pertaining to the Authority, including local, regional and national media outlets.
• The Manager, Media Relations & Deputy Chief Spokesperson is an official Authority spokesperson. This includes 24-hour on-call duty to provide support during service disruptions or emergencies, and to respond to media inquiries concerning Authority policies, business matters, and service issues outside normal business hours, including weekends and holidays.
• Advises and prepares the General Manager, Executive Leadership Team, Directors, and subject-matter experts for interviews with reporters and arranges such interviews.
• Develops and assists in the conception, production, implementation and administration of all strategic media plans. The individual analyzes and evaluates media plans for effectiveness and recommends alternatives, if appropriate
• Works closely with individuals in other departments and offices to coordinate media relations activities such as media photo opportunities, formal and informal press conferences, live interviews, taped interviews, group interviews, one-on-one interviews, and media roundtable discussions.
• Conducts and oversees special research and evaluations on media-related programs and projects to enhance the dissemination of information to the various media outlets and recommends improvements.
• Researches, writes, and disseminates news releases, talking points, media advisories, fact sheets and media/press kits.
• Edits news releases from Public Information Officers prior to release.
• Researches, writes and disseminates talking points/message points to appropriate internal audiences for their use in responding to media inquiries.
• Uses available technology to post news related to the Authority on Metro¿s web site, transmit information through email alerts or similar technology. Work in coordination with Social Media Manager to ensure news appropriately transmitted via social media channels.
• Builds professional relationships with reporters to establish credibility, positive rapport, and fair coverage of issues critical to the Authority.
• Develops management and administrative reports within the Office of Media Relations.
• Advises the Director of Communications & Chief Spokesperson on strategic and tactical matters to maximize positive news coverage. Must be able to meet tight deadlines and perform effectively in a fast-paced, breaking-news environment.
• Meets with colleagues in other departments and offices to help develop strategies for presenting these programs to the media and the public. The individual meets with the Director of Communications & Chief Spokesperson to develop media strategy on issues affecting the Authority.
• Must maintain confidences while working with confidential information.

The above duties and responsibilities are not intended to limit specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. It is not intended to limit in any way the right of supervisors to assign, direct and control the work of employees under their supervision.

Click here for more details.

(Source: Washington Post; Bloomberg)

The Obama administration will propose that the federal government take over safety regulation of the nation’s subway and light-rail systems, responding to what it says is haphazard and ineffective oversight by state agencies.

(Source: Washington Post)

Since the spring, Metro officials have barred independent monitors from walking along subway tracks to observe safety procedures while trains are in normal service, even if escorted by Metro employees, newly obtained records show.

The monitors, from the Tri-State Oversight Committee, wanted to determine whether Metro was following rules put in place in recent years after a number of workers had been fatally injured on the job.

Instead, they have spent the past six months pressing Metro in writing and in person for access — a period in which two Metro employees were struck and fatally injured on the tracks.

The monitors became so frustrated that at one point, internal e-mails show, they discussed formally notifying federal officials and invoking their toughest sanction: declaring Metro to be officially out of compliance with safety requirements. Such a move could cause Metro to lose part of its federal funding.

In July, the oversight committee made a plea in writing, telling Metro that without access to live tracks, it couldn’t ensure workers’ safety.

On Aug. 9, a track vehicle on the Orange Line struck and killed Metro worker Michael Nash.

A month later, committee members met with Metro officials, telling them that if they were unable to get on the tracks they would “elevate this issue,” notes of the meeting show.

At 10:40 the next morning, a train near Reagan National Airport struck and fatally injured Metro technician John Moore.

Now, more than six months after the dispute began, safety monitors said they remain barred from entering the right of way along active train tracks.

Metro officials told the monitors that they were looking out for their safety. On Friday, Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that there had been a “misimpression” and that committee members could approach the tracks if accompanied by safety escorts.

The dispute encapsulates what many safety experts and federal officials have described as a fundamental flaw with Metro and other subway systems: a lack of effective and enforceable oversight that leaves transit systems in charge of policing their own safety.

Click here to read the entire article (free registration req’d)

Transportgooru Musings: Does anyone care to explain what the term “misimpression” is that Lisa Farbstein has cited in her rebuttal?  Does it usually take more than 6 months and a ton of e-mails to resolve this issue?  What happened to the good old telephone to the Committee Chair? How about a phone call from Catoe to the Tri-state Oversight Committee Chair explaining how favorable “Metro” is for such random safety checks? Hey, at the very least, can’t someone at Metro administration send a memorandum explaining what Lisa said to WashPost – ” committee members could approach the tracks if accompanied by safety escorts.”.. Now by NOT doing any of the above, Metro & its management has to do a big battle to undo this public relations mess…Oh not to mention, may be its time to think about a having a chat with the Chief Safety Officer while cleaning up this PR mess..

(Source:  WUSA9.com & Moving Momentarily)

Washington’s aging Metro system will be getting a 21st century security makeover that will include video cameras capable of integrating with other “facial recognition” systems in use in the National Capital region.

Some $78 million in grants for enhanced security were recently approved by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.  Grants also include money for 20 additional transit police officers, 3 bomb-sniffing dog teams and security training for 9,000 “front line” employees. The lion’s share of of the grant money will be spent on enhanced video surveillance of Metro’s sprawling rail and bus system.

And $27.8 million in grants from the Department of Homeland Security will pay for cameras on buses, in ventilation shafts, at station entrances and near the end of platforms over the next few years. $7.1 million is designated to monitor passengers inside rail cars. Metro Transit Police officers will be able to view in-railcar cameras in real-time on portable computers.

Moving momentarily editor poses an interesting question to the readers and riders: How do you feel about Metro getting federal monies for facial recognition technology at stations? Does it make the system safer?  Register your thoughts below in the comments section.

(Source: Washington Post)

Forget about getting more money for Metro or whether to fire the general manager. The real issue is poor customer service: mysterious train halts, boarded-up escalators, rude station attendants.

That, at least, is the view of a bearded, 41-year-old former news reporter who writes the successful gadfly blog with the off-color title Unsuck DC Metro. He doesn’t want his name published, saying he’s received several threats over blog posts that embarrassed Metro employees. On that condition, however, he agreed to meet for lunch for his first full interview and discuss what he thinks ails Metro following the toughest three months in the transit system’s 33-year history.

The blogger, whose site is http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com, bases his judgment partly on personal experience but mostly on the thousands of e-mails, comments, photographs and Twitter messages he’s received since he started in January. He gets more than 1,000 hits a day and has nearly 1,400 followers on Twitter — very near the approximately 1,650 following Metro’s own Twitter site.

General Manager John B. Catoe Jr., whose contract was just extended for three years, should pay attention. The bloggers have come to speak for Metro’s core customers and serve as a kind of collective conscience for the system.

To its credit, Metro responds to bloggers’ queries and, despite some understandable tensions, deals with them professionally. Other bloggers following Metro include Greater Greater Washington, Moving Momentarily, Why I Hate DC, Infosnack and DCist (along with such mainstream media blogs as The Post’s Get There, which features Dr. Gridlock).

Mr. Unsuck decided to blog after he changed jobs in November and began commuting regularly on the Orange Line. He was surprised when trains stopped regularly mid-trip and when, in his first week, he had to get off and wait three or four times when a train was suddenly taken out of service. Compared with foreign systems he knew, “I just felt there was something wrong with this one,” he said.

His blogging is part-time and unpaid. On slow days, he works on the blog for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes after work. A lengthy posting might take several hours. The lunch I bought him (his share was $27.50) was the first material benefit he’d received.

Click here to read the entire article.

Note: Transportgooru congratulates fellow bloggers Greater Greater Washington, Moving Momentarily, Why I Hate DC, Infosnack and DCist for the great job they have done in getting the Metro to pay attention to the Metro riders’ issues.   If anything, the community is glad to have these platforms to share their agonizing commuter tales & Metro’s woeful performance/behavior.   Hat tip to all these bloggers for their community service!

(Source: Transit Wire & Progressive Railroading)

Amidst the flurry of negative publicity surrounding Washington, DC’s Metro rail system, there was some good news shining like a lone star in the dark sky! Metrorail passengers will soon be able to go online while underground. Four major cell phone providers have started to install the hardware that will enable riders to make calls, surf the Web, or send text messages from many of the Washington (DC) Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s busiest stations starting in October.

Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile recently began installing hardware at the 20 below-ground stations and expect to complete work by Oct. 16. According to the WMATA press release, during the next two months, the companies will install a wireless network at the following Metrorail stations: Ballston, Bethesda, Columbia Heights, Crystal City, Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Farragut West, Federal Triangle, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Friendship Heights, Gallery Pl-Chinatown, Judiciary Square, L’Enfant Plaza, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Rosslyn, Smithsonian and Union Station.

The companies will build, operate, maintain and own the new wireless network, as well as establish a second wireless network that WMATA will own, operate and maintain. The wireless contract will generate a minimum of $25 million during the initial 15-year term and an additional $27 million during renewal terms, according to the transit agency.

Customers at those stations will begin to see large, cabinet-like enclosures that will house the hardware at the ends of station platforms or on mezzanines, in areas that will not impede the flow of customers or impact the safe operation of the Metrorail system. New cables and antennae also will be installed as part of this work, which will take place late at night when the Metrorail system is closed.

“This is the first phase of Metro’s effort to bring expanded cell phone carrier service to the entire Metrorail system by 2012,” said Suzanne Peck, Metro’s Chief Information Officer. “After we complete the first 20 stations this fall, the carriers will install service at the remaining 27 underground stations by the fall of 2010. Customers will be able to use these carrier-provided wireless services in tunnels between stations by October 2012.”

Riders can now receive cell phone service from multiple providers at above ground stations, but the current underground wireless network only supports Verizon customers and Sprint phones that roam onto the Verizon network. In 1993, Metro agreed to allow Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, which later became Verizon Wireless, to build and maintain the current wireless network. In exchange, Verizon built a public safety radio communications system for Metro. Verizon also pays annual fees to Metro.

“Customers have been asking for expanded cell phone and Internet access in the Metrorail system for a long time,” said Metro General Manager John Catoe.  And now they are finally getting what they pleaded, fought and begged for years!