Metro News Release

For immediate release: February 15, 2007

Charlie Deegan's incoming remarks as Metro Board chairman

It is an honor and a privilege for me to serve as Chair of the WMATA Board of Directors. I will devote my full attention to carrying out these responsibilities.

Metro has seen a number of changes in leadership recently. In addition to my new role as Chair, we now have a new General Manager, John Catoe; new union leadership; and a new RAC chair, Michael Snyder. Our Board is also changing, with new members Emeka Moneme and alternate Tony Giancola from the District of Columbia. I believe that change is good for Metro. It gives us an opportunity to refocus our efforts and take advantage of new leadership. Metro has always prided itself on being an innovative, world-class transit system, and we need new ideas and a new direction if we want to restore our image as America’s Transit System.

As a regional board and a regional agency, it is important to focus on what is best for the system. As chairman this year, I take that responsibility seriously. While last year had the catchy slogan of “The Year of the Bus,” this year we need to focus on three key areas: safety, customer service and accountability. I will admit that “The Year of Accountability, Safety and Customer Service” doesn’t have the same ring to it. But truthfully, every year must be “The Year of the Customer.”

I fully support our new General Manager, John Catoe, and his vision to make Metro the safest transit operation in the nation. I am confident that this emphasis on system-wide safety will give all of us a renewed focus on safety on Metrobus, Metrorail and MetroAccess and in all of our daily operations.

Safety…To me, there are no more important functions at Metro than the ones performed by the men and women on the front line of our system. From driving a bus or operating a train to inspecting track or repairing escalators, our front line employees literally keep Metro running every day. And there is no more important responsibility for the Board of Directors and Metro managers than ensuring the safety of those front-line employees. We have a solemn obligation to make Metro the safest possible environment for our employees so all Metro employees are able to go home to their family at the end of their shift.

Customer service….One new effort that I will strongly encourage this year is for Metro - Board members and staff - to reach out to our riders. I firmly believe that we need to better understand the impact our service has on the lives of Metro riders from their point of view. The easiest way to do that is to ride the system and talk directly with our customers. I plan to ride our bus and rail system a lot over the next year, and to continually talk to customers and employees to find ways to improve the system. You can expect to see me a lot on Metro, and I expect to see our top managers out there, as well.

To some, it may seem like we have taken our customers for granted. Frankly, Metro can no longer afford to act like a utility with a monopoly on transportation services. Our customers have options, and we need to do everything in our power to convince them that Metro is their best option.

This year, we must focus our efforts on new, innovative customer service options to improve the experience of our customers. One way to do that is by making SmarTrip cards easily accessible at more locations throughout the Washington region. If we want to encourage a move away from paper farecards, since they are more costly by comparison, we need to make it easier for customers to get a SmarTrip card. I’d like to see the cards made available in drug stores and more grocery stores, which would make it more convenient for customers to get one while they are out doing their weekly shopping.

Eliminating paper farecard use and transfers would not only cut operating costs, it would improve the flow of traffic at Metro stations and help limit Metrobus delays. This would be a great service enhancement for our customers.

This spring, we hope Metro customers will also be able to use debit and credit cards, in addition to their SmarTrip card, to pay for parking at Metro-operated parking lots. Providing another payment method for our customers is a great way to improve their overall experience, and eliminate a frustration, particularly for our out-of-town visitors.

We also need a communications policy that requires a “must-answer” phone line in all Authority offices, so that our customers can talk directly to a WMATA representative, and all employees should update their voice mail “greeting” messages daily. I hope this can be accomplished as soon as possible. Our customers deserve a same-day response to a phone call.

Some good ideas have come from our customers and employees, and we need to encourage their input. To help me in this effort, I will establish a chairman’s email address, so that anyone can feel free to contact me directly with their ideas. I am committed to exploring and putting into action any suggestion that will improve Metro service.

Customer service and accountability really go hand-in-hand. We must do the most with what we have, to serve the public. To address accountability we need an Inspector General and we must make better use of performance measures.

Within the first 60 days of my chairmanship, I plan to oversee the hiring of an independent Inspector General for Metro. Filling this position is critical to improving accountability and restoring the trust of our customers and funding partners. The public and our jurisdictional partners need to know that we are spending their money wisely, and that we are holding the line on expenditures while maintaining a high level of service. An independent Inspector General will help us fine-tune operations so that we can provide safe, clean and reliable service in the most efficient way possible.

In addition, we must make better use of performance measures at WMATA. Every jurisdiction that funds WMATA does more to measure their results. This is a basic practice of governments to improve accountability and transparency. Governor O’Malley has made more intensive use of performance measures a hallmark of his leadership in Baltimore - through his CitiStat program. Use of statistics and measurements can help managers manage better and outsiders judge our progress.

As we move forward with these and other customer service and accountability enhancements this year, we must continue to look at the bigger picture and remember Metro’s role in the Greater Washington region. Everyone agrees that it makes sense to concentrate development around our Metro stations, supporting Smart Growth development and reducing automobile traffic. We must fix our joint development program - so that we are not a bureaucratic hurdle to Transit Oriented Development - but a facilitator of it.

Finally, I want to remind my colleagues and everyone here today that we are a regional transit authority. We must be committed to providing stellar service to riders throughout the Washington Metropolitan area - not just in our own jurisdiction. Every month when we meet in this Board room, I ask each of you to keep that in mind. Let’s all put our personal interests aside for the greater good of the region. Our predecessors were able to do that in building this transit system, and we certainly should be able to follow suit to maintain it. Working together, we can create a blueprint of success for future generations.

I want to thank our riders, my fellow Board members, Metro staff, our jurisdictional partners, RAC and JCC members, our local elected leaders, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, MDOT Secretary John Porcari and everyone else who has committed to enhancing Metro’s role in the Washington region.

Thank you for putting your confidence in me to lead this Board as Chair. I look forward to working with all of you in 2007 to keep Metro moving forward.

News release issued at 12:00 am, February 15, 2007.