Metro News Release

For immediate release: December 15, 2005

Riders’ Advisory Council established

Appointees named

One is a high school student who rides the bus and train to school every day. Another is a former chair of a transportation commission who has been using the Metro system for more than 25 years. One is a small business owner who provides Metrochek for his employees who commute to work. And another rides MetroAccess five times a week. Together, they represent the broad range of riders on Metro’s first-ever Riders’ Advisory Council.

"Today marks a first in Metro history the appointment of 21 ethnically diverse and geographically dispersed individuals to Metro’s inaugural Riders’ Advisory Council," said Metro Board Chairman Dana Kauffman. "I’m delighted to say that the Riders’ Advisory Council reflects the faces and travel patterns of all of riders."

The 21-member Council includes six individuals from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, two at-large members and the head of Metro’s Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee. More than 940 individuals applied for the Council after Metro’s Board approved its creation in September.

The individuals on the Riders’ Advisory Council represent a cross section of the entire region. The Council includes people with different riding patterns, people who use Metrobus, Metrorail and MetroAccess; transit-dependent people; people with disabilities; people who travel short distances and others who travel long distances.

The members of the Riders Advisory Council are: Katy Chang, William Justin Chittams, Dennis Jaffe, Don Padou, Mary Williams and Lataya Young from the District of Columbia; Denise Brown, Sharon Conn, Rodney Elin, Susan Holland, Hitoshi Sakamoto and I. Michael Snyder from Maryland; Mary Blyther, Stephen Cerny, Pedro Erviti, Nancy Iacomini, Charles Metcalf, and Lillian White from Virginia; and Patrick Sheehan (chair of WMATA’s Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee), Manel Lacorte and Kevin Moore as members at-large.

The Riders’ Advisory Council is scheduled to hold its first public meeting in February. The members of the Council will serve staggered three-year terms.

Metro’s Board of Directors selected and appointed the 21 Riders Advisory Council Members after a selection committee for each jurisdiction narrowed the applicant pool.

The Rider’s Advisory Council is part of a series of initiatives to improve communications with riders. In 2005, Metro held three Town Hall meetings, provided e-mail contact for Board members, added a public comment period to Board meetings and posted Board presentations on the Web site.

"Today’s appointment of the Riders’ Advisory Council is a fitting culmination of these initiatives," said Kauffman.

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News release issued on December 15, 2005.