Episode 003 of the FixWMATA Podcast was recorded in December, 2017 and features news and interviews about the WMATA Riders' Advisory Council with Dennis Jaffe (@DennisJaffe) and Colin Reusch (@ColinReusch).

 

 

 
Link to Ian Sutherland's Music:
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/ian_sutherland

Text of this episode:

I’m Chris Barnes and this… is the FixWMATA Podcast

This week we take a quick look back at the news from November 18th through December 2nd, 2017 and then the rest of this episode is dedicated to the WMATA Riders’ Advisory Council - also known as the RAC….

In WMATA news this week…

The Ray LaHood report is finally being released by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (McCall If) - the report seems to be too little too late after taking a thrashing in the month since it was leaked to the Washington Post.

A Metro train operator was fired after being caught on his cell phone while operating a train at 53 miles per hour. A rider caught the train operator in the act and took a picture with clear evidence.

Metro continues troubleshooting problems with the new 7000 series rail cars. They’re meeting with Kawasaki who manufactured the rail cars and as General Manager Paul Wiedefeld says the 7000 series “is a very complex computer” that requires continued tweaks. Riders have seen evidence of these problems with next station displays that don’t work and door problems over the last year.

The day after Thanksgiving WMATA announced 2 new policy changes. First there will be new levels of SelectPass which should be a benefit to riders using the monthly pass program. But a 2nd policy change has riders seeing red - WMATA plans to end a long-running program that allows a negative balance on your SmarTrip card. This is an important benefit to riders because WMATA is a time of day and distance based fare - meaning you may think you have enough money on your SmarTrip card only to find you can’t exit because you’re short. The obvious solution to that problem is to use one of the fare refill machines located inside the exit area to refill your card - but those machines only accept $1, $5, or $10 in cash. Riders are not happy about the change and WMATA says there are no plans to upgrade the exit fare machines to accept credit or debit.

WMATA’s largest union, ATU Local 689, teamed up with 2 Maryland lawmakers this week to announce new legislation to improve Metro. The legislation calls for “flat fares” of $2.50. When pressed for more detail the union admitted any current fare lower than $2.50 would remain at it’s current rate - which initiated a debate with the union and others about what exactly a flat-fare was.

WMATA began a 16-day shutdown of the Red Line between Fort Totten and Silver Spring which hasn’t been popular with riders. To complicate the situation WMATA chose to use private contracted coach buses instead of Metro buses for the shuttles between Silver Spring, Takoma, and Fort Totten. This upset the union as well as accessibility advocates. The union is upset over the use of private contractors and accessibility advocates are angry over the lack of accessibility on the private coach buses. The shutdown continues through December 10th.

Many took to the internet to declare WMATA is fighting a war on Christmas after rejecting a Catholic charity ad based on their current advertising standards that prevent issue-oriented advertising. Ironically the block by Metro followed by the internet outrage seems to have generated more publicity for the charity than the ad would have likely received on Metro buses.

And a Metro bus driver took to Facebook to claim WMATA is a “good ol...