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DC Metro, Stimulus Funding and Union Issues

From Brian M Johnson & Rachel Sessa on Monday, July 6, 2009 1:28 PM
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AWF recently took on the DC Metro and their complete inability to function efficiently in an Examiner article originally seen here.


WMATA's congestion mirrors internal problems

By: Brian M. Johnson and Rachel Sessa
OpEd Contributors | 7/3/09 6:06 AM

If you have taken the DC Metro's Red Line recently, then you have experienced the frustration of a seemingly endless wait to board a sardine packed car. Be warned: This trend of slow, manually-run trains may continue for the next year. But the worst news is that the DC Metro system's internal issues are not much better.

According to reports, last week's accident was caused by a failure of the signal system and operator error on an older Rohr Model 1000 train. However, the National Transit Safety Board (NSTB) recommended the 292 model 1000 rail cars be replaced or retrofitted in 2004 and 2006. No action was taken.

Instead, Metro spent $383 million on 192 new rail cars. The result - trains break down 64 percent more frequently than three years ago, and the number of daily delays has almost doubled since 2000.

WMATA's questionable use of their cash-stream doesn't end there. $93 million was allocated to repair escalators that ultimately needed maintenance more frequently than the escalators that were left alone.

The Examiner reported in May that the Metro website listed fifty-three escalators as experiencing problems and awaiting repair. Currently, the Metro website reports that there are fifty escalator outages - that's a rate of fixing, on average, only three escalators every two months!

In 2005, Metro ignored the advice of an independent task force, which concluded that private-sector businesses would repair the escalators faster and at a lower cost than unionized government employees. Of course, WMATA continued business as usual.

Now, Metro is supposed to receive an extra $1.5 billion in federal funding over the next decade. Unfortunately, President Obama's first budget failed to include the federal government's initial share of $150 million. But that's not all; the "stimulus" is also giving Metro $202 million.

What is WMATA's plan for all that money? Metro Chief Administrative Officer Emeka Moneme decided one of the major improvement plans funded by the "stimulus" is to upgrade the system of electronic screens in stations and on platforms that provide information about arriving trains, escalator outages and problems in the system.

Screen updates? Here's an idea: instead of allotting money to the electronic screens that update riders on systematic problems, use the money to actually fix the systematic problems!

On June 24, it was announced an extra $34.3 million federal grant will go towards buying new rail cars. With WMATA's current track record of spending millions of dollars on repairs that never seem to turn out quite right, I'd try and find a seat. This may take a while.

Brian M. Johnson is the executive director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom and the author of the 2009 Index of Worker Freedom: A National Report Card (forthcoming). Rachel Sessa is a federal affairs associate at Americans for Tax Reform.

Permalink | Email | Print | Tags: AWF, SPENDING, LABOR, STIMULUS, Federal

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Comments

You need to better understand what you are looking at before commenting on it. The outages are daily outages for a unit that has gone out of service, the majority of the time because a safety switch has tripped such as a coin dropped and getting lodged in the comb plates. This happens daily and on average 50 escalators are out of service for this. 98% of those outages are not for broken down escalators in need of serious repair. Some of the units on the list are escalators that are being modernized which occurs based on a schedule while the others are the daily outages. Get your facts straight instead of publishing some sensationailistic news story. What a joke of newspaper reporting!"
>> Daisy Wahn Monday, July 6, 2009 2:43 PM

If these daily outages are so simplistic then why does it take Metro so long to fix them? Also, in 2005 Metro spent $93 million to renovate 178 escalators but instead than a third have been breaking down more often than they did before. How do you like that fact Daisy?
>> Bruce Banner Monday, July 6, 2009 3:53 PM

Somehow escalators that are inoperable for DAYS because of a coin falling into the mechanism, is better than if there was a major issue? How much stimulus money is required for the Metro to figure out how to remove freaking coins from the escalators? The fact is the Metro is well funded, but poorly managed.
>> Maximillian Monday, July 6, 2009 4:08 PM

Once again misinformation is being quoted as a fact. At an average cost to rehabilitate Metro's escalator at $300,000, the cost to modernize the aging units is in the neighborhood of $50-$55 million, not $93 million. The difference in the number you quote against the real number is most likely the amount WMATA had to spend on contract labor to provide maintenance as mandated by the Board in 2003. Once againan check your facts before quoting misinformation.
>> Daisy Wahn Monday, July 6, 2009 5:01 PM

The 200+ escalators that have been modernzed since 2001 have safety switches that have been added during the rehab to make the units safer for the riders. This causes more shutdowns on the units since the switches are doing their jobs when an unsafe condition causes them to be tripped, many caused by the riders themselves. Dig below the numbers to find the facts as a good reporter would do.
>> Daisy Wahn Monday, July 6, 2009 5:12 PM

Wait wait...is that taking into account the higher union wages? It takes millions more for unions to work on projects due to the prevailing wage that must be paid. If you had private sector contracts, metro breaks, you call someone to fix it! You can't do that with your union contracts!
>> RightWinger Monday, July 6, 2009 5:13 PM

So daisy, you're trying to tell me that the Washington Post has its facts wrong??? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060400350.html And it doesn't matter if $50 million was spent on "modernization" and the $43 went to maintenance, the point is that millions were clearly wasted because the escalators had more problems after they were "modernized". Neither the money spent on the "modernization" or maintenance rendered the issue!! Oh, btw...its again not "againan"...why should I trust facts from someone who can't even spell.
>> The Hulk Monday, July 6, 2009 5:25 PM

Elevator and escalator workers are part of a union, no matter if they work for Otis, Shindler or WMATA. It's all union labor.
>> Daisy Wahn Monday, July 6, 2009 5:27 PM

I don't think ATR is a magazine or a newspaper and that the people writing this are probably not reporters? Regardless, I've been to DC and the Metro system is inefficient and broken. More government money and more red tape are NOT the answers.
>> Greg in WA Monday, July 6, 2009 5:28 PM

Wow, it looks like Daisy is a WMATA spokeswoman.
>> Jon Monday, July 6, 2009 11:30 PM

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