Three takeaways from the congressional subcommittee hearing on WMATA

On Wednesday, the US House Subcommittee on Government Operations held an oversight hearing on WMATA. Lawmakers questioned top Metro officials as well as leaders of oversight bodies investigating the agency.

Let’s set the stage: Metro is reeling from the pandemic, with ridership at 30-40% of pre-pandemic levels and revenues way down with it. Metro has received federal pandemic emergency funding to help stop the bleeding — Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said that number will ultimately come to $2 billion.

On top of that, a derailment in October 2021 revealed safety issues with the 7000-series railcars that forced Metro to take 60% of its fleet out of commission (they’re not expected back until at least mid-April). That’s led to widespread delays and reliability issues, as well as concerns about Metro’s safety processes, and the agency is now undergoing multiple investigations. In a biting opening statement, subcommittee chairman Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said Metro’s woes arise from a “culture of mediocrity.”

Oh, and did we mention Wiedefeld announced in January that he’ll be retiring in six months?

Needless to say, members of Congress had a lot of questions about Metro’s future. Here are some key takeaways from the hearing.

1. Metro’s current funding model isn’t sustainable

Metro needs a new revenue plan, Wiedefeld told the subcommittee Wednesday.

“I don’t believe the pre-pandemic financial model is sustainable,” Wiedefeld said. “But I do believe it is the ideal time for the region to create a new vision for the future of the system.”

The pandemic sent revenues plummeting. But those revenues aren’t expected to fully rebound once the pandemic subsides, because telework is becoming more commonplace — especially in the federal workforce, which ordinarily makes up 40% of Metro’s ridership.

One key problem, Wiedefeld said, is that Metro’s model leans heavily on charging higher prices for peak hours and longer trips. As more workers telecommute, those trips are exactly the kind that’s going away.

A better model, Wiedefeld suggested, might take into account trends toward shorter trips that are more evenly distributed throughout the day, as well as changes in transportation patterns like reverse commuting (living in the city and commuting to a suburban workplace).

But it wasn’t clear from Wednesday’s hearing how Metro is going to climb out from its financial hole — nor whether regional governments alone will be able to shoulder the subsidies necessary to keep it afloat.

2. Metro is still important

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., pointed out the decline in federal commuters, and asked Metro officials: if federal workers don’t rely on Metro, why should the federal government consider it a national asset?

But Wiedefeld argued that even if more federal workers are teleworking, not all of them are, and Metro still needs to serve those workers — he noted that the Pentagon is one of Metro’s busiest stations.

Rep. David Trone, D-Md., asked Wiedefeld about Metro’s balance sheet, comparing it to what he would do if he saw a similar loss of customers in a retail business. “We may have to accept it’s going to be a consistent money loser, and big money loser, for decades,” Trone said.

Wiedefeld responded that Metro, well, doesn’t work like a retail business.

“I think we have to step back and understand that transit is not a profit-making business,” Wiedefeld said. “That’s not what it’s designed to do; it serves lots of other societal goals.”

Paul Smedberg, WMATA’s board chair*, told the subcommittee that even if traditional commuting subsides, transit is “the economic foundation of this region’s economy.” Most development in the region is centered within walking distance of a Metro station, he said, adding that many younger people do not own cars. And, of course, he pointed out transit is vital for the environment.

3. But Metro has culture work to do

Metro Inspector General Geoffrey Cherrington told the subcommittee that it is currently wrapping up an investigation into communications failures around the 7000-series trains.

WMATA has known since 2017 about the wheelset issues that caused the October 2021 derailment, but that knowledge didn’t make it up the chain. The agency discovered two incidents of wheelset issues in 2017, then 29 additional incidents up until 2021.

Cherrington said the preliminary findings show that the agency didn’t intentionally withhold information from the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) — but that the “frequency of incidents should have raised concerns beyond the chief mechanical officer.”

Oversight of Metro has gotten more teeth in recent years, and a recent federal capital funding package requires Metro to strengthen its Inspector General’s autonomy. Officials told the subcommittee Wednesday that WMATA’s response to that oversight is improving.

“We see a great deal of cooperation” in information gathering, said David Mayer, CEO of the WMSC, adding later that they “are always going to run into pockets of nervousness.”

In his opening statement, Connolly praised Wiedefeld for taking the wheel “at a time when all lights were blinking red,” saying he made progress on Metro’s many issues. But the next general manager, he said, will have to grapple with this culture. “Failure to do so will cause a backslide in the progress Mr. Wiedefeld made,” he said.

(*Editor’s note: Tracy Hadden Loh, GGWash’s board chair, also serves on WMATA’s board of directors. She has no say in editorial content per our editorial policy.)