Transit Agency Management Failure : WMATA The Worst

Who knew? Find a city that is controlled by progressive socialist liberal democrats and you will find corruption and failing public systems. Notice to our federal government agencies are controlled by democrats out of the White House and are proving to be spectacular failures.

It seems the best way to solve problems, no matter what the problem, education, the post office, renewable energy etc., it's always comes down to 'if we just spend a little more money on the problem, all will be better.'

In realty the system is corrupt and unworkable when those in charge are guiltless as is the case in nearly all governmental problems. It's tail of  'take the money and run' scenario for the Washington and local democrat bureaucrats.

Allowing the WMATA system to live or die in an open and free market, like the post office should be allowed to operate, the rail system dynamic would be a lot different and those in charge would find presiding over a failure would wind up on the street.

The Nation's Worst-Managed Transit Agency
Source: Randal O'Toole, "The Nation's Worst-Managed Transit Agency," Cato Institute, October 1, 2015.

October 8, 2015

It appears that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is the worst managed transit agency in the country. Its safety record is terrible: a recent derailment resulted from failure to fix a problem previously detected, in a separate incident, a fire broke out and badly damaged a station. Eighteen people have died in accidents mostly in the last six years.

Inefficiencies are also very common; the fleet of serviceable cars has run so low that it rarely operates the eight-car trains it should, and a new fare system that cost millions will have to be scrapped for lack of interest on the part of transit riders.

In response: Congress gave the Federal Transit Administration extra authority to oversee its operations. But that didn't fix the problem so now the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wants Congress to transfer oversight to the Federal Railroad Administration. None of these arrangements, however, are likely to solve WMATA's critical situation because its major issue is that it isn't truly accountable, particularly not to the people who ride its buses and trains.

On the other hand, giving more money to this public service company won't solve the problem either. Indeed, the WMATA expects to receive more money the worse it performs. The best way to influence its performance is to influence its budget. If instead of operating on public money, it had to rely completely on user fees, then, the better the system is managed, the more fees it would collect.