Metro News Release

For immediate release: February 17, 2006

Gladys Mack is the new Chairman of Metro’s Board of Directors

This is a transcript of the remarks that incoming Metro Board Chairman Gladys Mack made on February, 16, 2006.

"It is an honor for me to be the newly elected Chair of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Board of Directors. I have been privileged to serve on the board of this critical regional transit agency for more than 20 years now, and I am ready to take on the challenges that lay before us as Chairman of this Board.

"I want to publicly recognize the outstanding job that Dana Kauffman did as Chairman last year in moving the agency forward and in refocusing our efforts on our service and our customers. Dana’s legacy includes the creation of the WMATA Riders’ Advisory Council, inclusion of citizen comments at WMATA Board meetings and the highly successful WMATA Town Hall Meetings. Each of these developments enhanced our ability to hear directly from our customers, and enabled us to improve our operations based on the first-hand experiences of our riders. The successful implementation of each of these endeavors is a testament to Mr. Kauffman’s vision and leadership and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his service. And I want everyone to know that we are going to continue to grow and build on the openness and outreach policies you began Dana.

"Despite our many successes and our many service improvements in recent years, WMATA still has many challenges ahead. This is an exciting but critical juncture for this organization. We find ourselves in a situation where the resources that support our products are increasingly stretched to meet a growing demand. I, for one, believe that we have the capacity, the energy and the know-how to continue to meet and overcome these challenges, but that we must have strong partners throughout this region if we are to ensure that Metro remains the premiere transit system in America."

"I am sure this will come as no surprise to anyone who has known me during my more than 20-year tenure at WMATA, but I want to make it crystal clear that my top priority as Chairman will be Metrobus. Let me repeat that: my top priority as Chairman will be Metrobus.

"Metrobus is one of the most vital services we provide to our customers, and is critical to the continued growth and livability of our region. I am committed to continued improvements and enhancements to this service to ensure that Metrobus is clean, safe and reliable for our riders.

"We recently took some positive steps toward improving our bus service, such as the modernization of our fleet with the addition of 111 Compressed Natural Gas vehicles and 12 new diesel-hybrids, we replaced 270 beat up old bus destination signs with new, more user friendly signs, and we implemented important route adjustments to increase efficiency.

"But we can -- and will -- do more to significantly improve bus operations in 2006.

"For instance, we are about to embark on a new bus cleaning system where our vehicles will undergo an extensive, top-to-bottom cleaning every month, on top of a new weekly in-house cleaning program. To put it simply, we are going to provide a clean product for our customers.

"We are also going to pay close attention to the critical performance measures that indicate the success or failure of our efforts to provide a reliable service. Improvements such as the addition of the new vehicles I mentioned have already begun to dramatically improve our operational effectiveness and efficiency, and we will do more. Performance indicators such as the ‘mean distance between failures’ are already improving, and with hard work and attention to detail it will continue to improve.

"Additionally in 2007, we are going to eliminate less-used bus routes in order to support more heavily used routes, we are going to increase supervision of our operations in the field, and we are going to continue to improve bus security.

"I also plan to seek additional information enhancements for bus patrons, including real time information on bus arrivals, increased placement of system maps on WMATA and local shelters, and I plan to develop a program to provide bi-lingual information for our Hispanic bus customers. I will direct staff to develop realistic timelines for when these improvements will be operational, so our customers will know what to expect from us, and when to expect it."

"In addition to our renewed focus on bus, we must prepare to tackle other critical challenges and priorities facing WMATA in the coming year. First and foremost among those challenges is the issue of long-term dedicated funding, to take us beyond the commitments of ‘Metro Matters.’

"As I stated recently when I testified before the D.C. Council Committee on Finance and Revenue on a proposal to create a dedicated funding source for Metro, WMATA is the only major public transportation system in the country without a substantial dedicated source of funding to pay for operating and capital needs and that the costs of operations, maintenance and rehabilitation have put an increasing burden on Metro’s finances. Metro is a critical asset to the national capital region, and we must work cooperatively as a region to keep it healthy and vital.

"The Metro Matters Agreement was a significant step forward for this region, both in terms of regional cooperation and the recognition that both Metro and the region need some certainty about future WMATA funding needs. But we must act now to take the next step to put Metro’s funding on a more predictable basis so that we can secure the systems future and to meet growing demand.

"We must work together, while respecting each others’ rights to deal with this issue within the context of their own jurisdiction, to accomplish this critical objective.

"Furthermore, it must be clear that dedicated funding needs to be truly dedicated and not subject to appropriations. And I think I speak for everyone at WMATA when I say that we welcome -- in fact we embrace -- the notion of establishing an Inspector General. Enhanced, objective evaluation of WMATA’s programs can be a useful tool for both the Board and management.

"But ultimately the region must act, and the federal government must come to the table as our full partner again, to establish a dedicated funding stream to protect the substantial investment that has been made in creating the WMATA bus and rail systems.

"I intend to focus my time and effort on other critical areas as well."

"For instance, I hope to implement a project to increase the number of canopies at Metrorail stations, which will protect our investment in our rehabilitated elevators and cut down on maintenance costs.

"Within rail operations, we are already seeing the success of our new 8-car pilot program. We must continue that effort, and continue to modernize our fleet of rail cars. Newer, longer trains mean that we can move more people faster, with fewer disruptions to our service. I am confident that we will see great improvements to our rail service in 2006 and beyond because of these efforts.

"We must also continue to improve the MetroAccess program. Moving to a new contractor and re-establishing the Metro Access program as a curb-to-curb, shared ride program has been challenging, and in some cases difficult for our patrons. But we are implementing a better, more efficient, technologically advanced system for our transportation disadvantaged customers that will also help Metro control the rising costs of providing this service. Already we are seeing dramatic improvements since the first few days of the new contract, and I expect -- and commit to you -- that the new system will continue to improve over the course of the coming weeks.

"Finally, as I take the gavel today and embark upon my term as Chairman, I want to welcome Mr. Dan Tangherlini to his new role as CEO and General Manager of WMATA. I look forward to working with Dan, and to relying on his leadership and enthusiasm to successfully implement an aggressive agenda for WMATA in the coming year.

"I also want to thank Mayor Anthony Williams and the DC City Council for their continued confidence in me to represent the interests of District residents on this Board. And I want to thank my colleagues on the Board for your support over the years and for your commitment to working cooperatively in the coming year.

"Together, we will continue to move this organization forward and we will ensure that WMATA remains America’s best transit system."

News release issued on February 17, 2006.