Metro News Release
For immediate release: January 29, 2009
Metro Board Chairman Christopher Zimmerman delivers outgoing remarks
Chair focuses on highlights of past year
Metro Board member Christopher Zimmerman delivered the following remarks on his last day as Chairman of the Metro Board of Directors, today, Thursday, January 29, 2009. Mr. Zimmerman continues to serve as a Metro Board member.
Remarks by Christopher Zimmerman
On assuming the Chairmanship last year, I noted that this Authority has had to shift “to respond to the challenges of managing a mature system.” I said that I saw two broad challenges facing us:
To focus on customer service, reliability, quality, and performance today; and to plan for tomorrow – fulfilling our leadership role in the region.
Over the past twelve months we have tried to address each of these. And, I think it can be said, we have seen one of the most successful years in the history of this Authority.
Delivering the “Best Ride in the Nation”
To ensure that WMATA delivers, in Mr. Catoe’s catchphrase, “the Best Ride in the Nation,” we needed not another study, but an action plan. The Board’s job was to establish “a cohesive framework” that would “constitute a blueprint for high performance and continual improvement.” That we did last March -- we set the framework, adopting (about 40) specific performance goals; and, delegated authority to the General Manager.
The Board consciously adopted this leadership model: We set out well-defined objectives, and we gave the general manager relatively free rein to run the agency. And now we – and the public – can fairly judge the result.
Surely there could have been no greater test conceived than the one that was conducted last week. And just as surely, few would dispute that Mr. Catoe and the men and women of this transit authority passed with flying colors.
But that record-shattering week was simply the coda to a year of record performances for WMATA, in both ridership, and service improvement. Eighteen of the top twenty days in ridership in Metro’s history have occurred in the past 12 months.
What is notable, and should give us all the greatest sense of accomplishment, is that, while Metro faced the greatest demands ever placed on it, the quality and reliability of Metro’s service improved across-the-board. Rail service, bus service, paratransit: All saw measurable gains. Examples include:
o Better on-time performance on both the rail and bus systems;
o Reduction of off-loads;
o Deployment of more 8-car train consists (50 percent on Inauguration Day)
o Implementation of door-to-door service for MetroAccess;
o Installation of “grab handles” on 25 percent of the rail fleet;
o Reduced claims for work-related injuries by more than 10 percent – and we had zero work-related fatalities.
o . . . just to name a few.
It should be remarked that this was accomplished in an environment in which economy measures were being undertaken in the administration of the authority. In this context, it is also worthy of comment that, for the first time in years, WMATA’s overtime expenditure is below budget.
While we can and should take pride in the genuine achievements of the last year, this is not to say that we are satisfied. Not every one of our objectives have been met, and even in the many areas where they have, the new standards can be pushed still farther on. Success is not something to rest on, it’s something to build on.
In the coming weeks, the Board will be reviewing specific performance objectives in detail with the General Manager, identifying the areas that still need improvement, and establishing new goals for which to strive in the coming year. Indeed, refusing to be satisfied, renouncing complacency, and continually setting new thresholds to attain is what it means to be a “goal-oriented, performance-driven organization.” It is this attitude and approach that must be institutionalized within this agency. I believe we have taken the first major steps toward that end.
Planning for Tomorrow
The second big area of responsibility for this Board concerns its role as the key transit-planning agency for the region. In this area, the year certainly ended much brighter than it began.
Almost exactly a year ago, the day I was elected Chairman, Mr. Catoe and I were summoned to a meeting on Capitol Hill with the Virginia Congressional delegation and the Governor, to hear the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the FTA Administrator explain that, despite all previous indications, they were not going to allow the release of federal funds for the extension of Metrorail to Tyson’s Corner and Dulles Airport. This major expansion of the system, on which so many have labored for so long, in which so much has already been invested, and which is so vital to the future of the region, was apparently dead.
I will not attempt to recount all that went in to reviving it, but much credit again goes to our General Manager and the staff here. By December, the project had achieved the coveted Full-Funding Grant Agreement, and we can finally say that Dulles rail is on its way to becoming reality.
With a new Administration that is clearly more favorably disposed to public transportation, and which has made explicit commitments on global warming and energy independence, we have reason to hope that we are entering a new era in which investment in transit infrastructure will be a national priority. There are plenty of signs that our region is ready to lead the way in this new era. I am very pleased to see that the “Purple Line” is finally advancing in Maryland. And, streetcar projects continue to make progress in both the District and in Arlington.
But it isn’t only about rail. On assuming the chairmanship last year, I argued that there is a great opportunity for expansion of transit capacity that has never been fully developed or promoted: That is, the effective use of our road systems as part of the public transportation network, through the establishment of exclusive (or semi-exclusive) lanes and the use of “queue-jumpers.” I specifically proposed that we build on the example of Minneapolis and other cities (including our own Dulles Access highway here in Northern Virginia) that have shown the potential of “bus-on-shoulder.”
I continue to believe that there is tremendous un-tapped potential in more-effective use of infrastructure that largely exists today to move a high volume of passengers past congested traffic and on to their destinations. (On January 20th the region got a small preview of the possibilities, with the 23 special bus routes deployed for the Inauguration, many of them on temporarily car-free roads and bridges.)
As I acknowledged, the difficulty for WMATA of realizing such a network is that so many of the key assets are outside of Metro’s control. The roads are owned by other authorities, and implementation therefore depends on buy-in across jurisdictions and different levels of government. Any hope of success, frankly, will require that those who own and manage the highways come to an understanding of their mission as moving people, not vehicles. I am quite cognizant that I was asking WMATA to take the lead on a project it cannot by itself deliver, and I understand the anxiety that attends such an undertaking. On the other hand, leadership for such a project must come from somewhere, and no other entity in the region is more appropriate to the task. I am, therefore, pleased that the General Manager and staff have accepted this responsibility with some enthusiasm, and have over the past year made real progress.
The priority bus corridor plan that Metro is now developing is the first rough draft of the blueprint that I believe the region needs, and that this Authority must promulgate. The plan is expected to be before the Board for action in the next few months, and I very much look forward to passing this milestone, and moving on to the next phase in project development.
I will not pretend that I am satisfied with where we are now. In particular, I would like to see us further along in working collaboratively with highway departments. But there are important dialogues taking place already, and signs of movement in the right direction. Mr. Catoe and I participated in a forum last month that included the head of the Maryland state highway department, who gave considerable encouragement to this effort, and surprised many in the very-much pro-transit audience by saying all the right things. (Now, if we can only get Virginia to think about something other than SOV travel . . .) We have a long way to go, but we’ve made a good start.
Riders Council
As Board members, we learn much from staff, but we also need to learn from our riders. One of the goals I set for myself was to forge a closer working relationship with the Rider’s Advisory Council. I visited the Riders Council at the beginning of my chairmanship, and again, this past month, at its end. In between, I benefited from regular consultation with the Council Chairman – and let me again thank Nancy Iacomini for the tremendous dedication she has shown to the work of the Council and to Metro. I believe that the Council has much to offer the Board as we seek to improve the quality of our service. The Board has seen numerous examples this past year of items that were influenced by their input. To maximize that value, I think it is important for all Board members to have regular contact with the Council. I have urged the Council members to seek opportunities to directly engage the Board members from their jurisdictions, and I encourage my colleagues to continue to do likewise.
Of course, there is no better way to learn from the rider’s experience than by being one. Using the system – bus and rail – is the best way to stay on top of what’s going on, and I believe that those who serve on the governing body of this transit agency should make every effort to immerse themselves in it. In that spirit, I issued a challenge to my colleagues, for a little friendly contest among Virginia, Maryland, and the District, to see which delegation could take the most trips on transit. While the final results are not yet tallied, I think it is fair to say that the victory has been “clinched,” and I must offer congratulations to our colleagues from the District of Columbia, who have established an insurmountable lead. Well done.
In concluding, I must acknowledge that, in the coming year the Board will have to cope with the most severe budget constraints this Authority has yet confronted. The great challenge will be to ensure, that, having made such progress recently, we do not find ourselves slipping backwards. To that effort, I will be working hard with my successor and all of you.
Finally, I want to offer my sincere thanks to all of those without whose efforts WMATA’s year would not have been so successful, and my year in the chair could not have been so satisfying. In particular, all of my Board colleagues for their support and cooperation; Mr. Catoe and his staff; our Board Secretary; and of course, the Arlington staff who support me in my work here, in particular, Lynn Rivers of our Transit Bureau, and Gus Vega from Management and Finance, who will be retiring from County service next month.
Thank you for a great year, and thank you for listening.
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News release issued at 4:42 pm, January 29, 2009.