Jack Evans Report: Supporting the New Metro Manager

It has been a difficult year for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, but we will soon have a permanent leader to take the agency into the future.

At Thursday’s Board meeting, we are scheduled to formally appoint Paul Wiedefeld as Metro’s new general manager and chief executive officer.

Wiedefeld has twice served as the CEO of the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, overseeing the airport’s international service expansion and growth to become the largest in the Washington metropolitan region.
Prior to leading BWI, Wiedefeld’s career included service as administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration, where he managed day-to-day operations of the nation’s 13th largest transit system, including commuter rail (MARC), subway, light rail, buses, and paratransit services. He also spent a decade in the private sector with extensive experience in engineering project management. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University and a Master’s degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University.

Wiedefeld has a big job ahead of him to improve reliability, performance and public confidence in the system, but he is a talented leader who understands big transportation operations, working with regional and federal stakeholders, and how to get an entire organization laser focused on improving the customer experience.

The WMATA board and regional leaders need to join with Wiedefeld to accomplish these goals. The board has already retained McKinsey and Ernest & Young to undertake a deep dive into the efficiency of WMATA’s financial and IT project management, and is also planning to hire a restructuring expert to work with Wiedefeld to achieve our shared vision for a first class system.

Additionally, it’s critical that the board and other politicians allow Wiedefeld to assess WMATA and put together his team to lead the agency. He needs to get the trains to run on time again (among other operational issues), while we as a region need to assess what kind of system we want in five, 10, and 25 years and determine how to fund that vision.

Everyone talked about the Momentum plan five years ago, but when it became clear that the finances were a mess, everyone quietly just moved on.

I became chairman of the WMATA Finance Committee in May and am the first person to have asked for an estimate of how much our safety, state of good repair, and operational costs will cost over the next decade. Just those alone, without the expansion plans of Momentum, will cost $25 billion over the next 10 years.

Creating a safe and reliable system is about more than just instituting recommendations from the FTA. The supporting jurisdictions need to get serious about funding deferred maintenance, infrastructure upgrades and service improvements. Supporting Wiedefeld requires giving him the necessary resources through increased and dedicated regional funding. The vitality of Metro and our region depend on it.

Jack Evans is the District Council member for Ward 2, representing Georgetown and other neighborhoods since 1991.