Metro News Release
For immediate release: February 25, 2010
Peter Benjamin's incoming remarks as new Chair of Metro Board
Focus on improving system safety and communication with riders
Metro Board Chairman Peter Benjamin delivered the following remarks at his first meeting as Chairman of the Metro Board of Directors, today, February 25, 2010.
Remarks by Peter Benjamin on assuming Chairmanship of the Board
“Metro is about Moving People, Safely”
Metro’s job is not to run buses and trains. It is to move people, to provide mobility, and to create transportation alternatives for the region. It is to get people to work, to school, to Nationals Park and to the Zoo. Most of the people who ride MetroBus and MetroRail are not dependent upon transit. They own cars. They will ride Metro only if it is safe, clean, reliable, and comfortable at a reasonable price.
To attract these riders Metro must have a customer focus. We need to value, respect, and listen to our customers, because they are why Metro is here. We must make our operational decisions based upon how it affects the customer, not on what is easiest for us. We need to plan our maintenance activities to minimize the impact on our riders. We need to make it simpler to use the system. We need to provide more and better information to our riders.
We also need to have a better understanding by our customers of Metro’s limitations. We have a 34-year old rail system, which is not like it used to be when it was new. It has old rail cars, track bed, power equipment, and communications. Some of our bus garages are 100 years old and some buses are 15 years old. As the equipment and facilities age they become less reliable, break down more often, and need more maintenance. We will have more service disruptions and delays than when the system was new.
If there is a serious problem on the rail system during rush hour, we have few options to provide alternative service, and it takes quite a while to set it up. Practically all our buses and operators are already in service, and finding available buses and bringing them to the area of the disruption can take substantial time. Trains hold 600 or more people; buses hold 50 to 60. So it takes ten buses to carry the people on one train. By the time any buses arrive, many trainloads may have arrived with people looking for alternate service. We are unlikely to be able to provide it.
So it is important for us to share the best information we have available and trust our riders to make their own travel decisions based on what we can provide. However we frequently do not know, early in an incident, exactly what has happened and how long it will take to resolve. This means that if we share what we know, our customers will have to forgive us if we change the information as we learn more.
Above everything else we must provide safe service, and in the past year we have had accidents which have shocked and saddened all of us. We need to change how we handle safety at Metro. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. We need a new approach. Certainly safety involves making sure we replace equipment and rehabilitate facilities so that they do not slip into disrepair. Safety involves introducing better technology. Safety involves establishing the right procedures and making sure that people follow them. Safety involves training... and retraining. Safety involves signage and communication. But most important, safety involves people: establishing a culture of safety and an attitude of attention to safety. This, in turn, requires that not only our customers, but also our employees feel valued, respected, and listened to. Nothing will substitute for a commitment to safety by the people in the field who actually are at risk. We ask a lot of them in performing their duties, and it is difficult for any person to do everything right all the time. But we cannot allow the vigilance associated with safety issues to flag. That is a tall order. This means that it is critical for an operator or mechanic or track worker who had a fight with his spouse before leaving for work, or whose favorite cousin just died, to set all thoughts of that aside, not be distracted for even a few seconds, and focus on safety while carrying out all the operational aspects of his job. But that is what we must accomplish, and we have asked the US Department of Transportation, The American Public Transportation Association, and the AFL-CIO to assist us in establishing that culture of safety within a broader comprehensive and systematic safety program. They have responded, and together we can make Metro safer. We have no other choice. We must, and we will.
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News release issued at 1:38 pm, February 25, 2010.