The transit authority is offering riders several opportunities to comment on its spending plans and its selection of a new leader. This includes Tuesday night’s public hearing on the budget, an online survey about its general manager search and Thursday’s Metro committee meeting on transit authority governance.
The Metro board gave up the ideas of raising fares or cutting service, but a few changes are still on the table:
- Increase the parking fee at Minnesota Avenue station from $3.60 to $4.60 to have it match other stations in the District.
- Extend the collection hours at all Metro parking lots and garages by one hour in the morning and in the evening. The Metro staff says some parkers time their arrivals and departures for the hours when the gates are up. With the change, Metro will collect more money.
- Eliminate the TransitLink Card. It’s one of the last of the paper versions of transit payment. Metro plans to eliminate all paper fare cards by next year.
Online survey. Use this link for the online survey about what qualities the Metro board should emphasize in picking a new general manager to succeed Richard Sarles, who retired in January. The first page of the survey is a little weird. It lists 18 qualities and lets you say how much you think the board should emphasize each. There’s a sliding scale, from “Not at all,” to “A great deal.”
Here are a few examples of the board’s list:
- A strong collaborative advocate who has built support for a vision, and the needed funding for implementation.
- Ability to manage and reduce operational, financial risk.
- Innovative leader who is focused on performance and service delivery in planning for the future.
- Responds quickly to address problems and issues with running trains and buses, including emergencies.
Are riders going to look at any of those and say it matters “Not at all”? I think it’s more likely they’ll say all 18 qualities matter “A great deal.” The second page of the survey lets you add characteristics you would like to see in the GM, or amplify on why a particular characteristic is desirable.
Board members themselves are divided on what qualities they want to emphasize. Some are looking for a turnaround specialist while others would be comfortable with an experienced transit manager. The list gives you no clue how this will come out, because every characteristic is represented.
The online survey is open until noon Wednesday.
Governance committee. The Metro board members on the governance committee will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday, and they’re inviting anyone interested in Metro’s future to talk to the committee about the general manager search. This will be a chance to make public statements about the direction Metro should take.
This meeting, like the budget hearing, will be held at Metro headquarters.