Metro's Chief Vows Changes

Criticism Deserved, White Acknowledges

Richard A. White said that a paratransit contractor is under investigation.

Metro Chief Executive Richard A. White took responsibility yesterday for a string of management and personnel problems, saying he and other transit officials had made decisions that "don't make much sense" or have "misfired badly."

White's admission came at the start of a prepared statement in which he also disclosed that Metro is investigating whether the contractor for its paratransit service inflated performance numbers to cash in on more than $3 million in incentives.

"It shouldn't be news to any of you that we've taken our share of lumps during the past year," White said at the news conference. "Much of the criticism directed at this organization, the [Metro] management team and, frankly, at me personally, has been deserved. We've done some things that, to this day, still don't make much sense to many people. Either we've misfired badly or we've done a totally inadequate job of providing the entire context or rationale for what we've done."

White promised that the agency would take "additional measures" to improve bus and rail service and customer relations, although agency officials and board members said that specific measures have not been mapped out.

Metro has struggled to convince the region's leaders and the system's customers that it needs a major investment of money to improve service.

Without a significant increase in federal, state and local money, White said in April, the train and bus system will enter a "death spiral" of declining service and lost ridership.

An anti-tax group in Fairfax County has launched a television ad campaign against a transportation bond issue on Tuesday's county ballot, arguing that most of the money would go to a "mismanaged Metro system."

In the past three months, worker error caused a flood at a station when sprinkler alarms were ignored, a Metro police officer arrested a pregnant woman for talking loudly on a cell phone, a station manager screamed at a pregnant woman and pushed her husband after they asked about a stopped escalator, and a cracked rail stalled rush-hour trains.

Metro board managers said they have encouraged White to publicly take more responsibility.

"Frankly, what we're seeing now is Dick getting his arms around the situation, not only here but across the board," said T. Dana Kauffman, who represents Fairfax County on the Metro board.

Board Chairman Robert J. Smith said that "over the last several months, there has been this cascade of events that have kind of left us feeling like we're a vehicle stuck in the mud. I think Dick recognizes that and recognizes that ultimately he's the top guy and . . . he feels like his management of personnel is at issue."

In February, Metro acknowledged that an internal audit estimated the transit agency might be losing $1 million a year in parking revenue because of poor monitoring of cashiers. That situation led to internal changes that helped propel the paratransit service investigation, officials said.

Metro signed a six-year, $90 million contract with Atlanta-based LogistiCare in 2000 to provide service for disabled people who cannot ride the subway or a conventional bus.

Two years into the contract, both parties were unhappy: LogistiCare said it was losing millions of dollars, and Metro complained about bad service. So the two sides agreed to attach incentives amounting to $110,000 a month to performance standards. Targets have been reached in 28 of the 30 months since, transit officials said.