The Metro board of directors initiated an operational review of the agency’s Riders’ Advisory Council last month amid concerns about high turnover and the use of staff resources for the 21-member panel, board Chairman Jack Evans said Thursday.
“With the RAC, like with everything at Metro, the board is taking a look,” Evans said. “It’s become clear that it can be better utilized.”
RAC Chair Katherine Kortum said the January analysis asked RAC members to identify strengths and weaknesses within the panel including their own contributions and the RAC’s overall performance. Around the same time, members began noticing that vacancies from 2017 had yet to be filled.
“The major concerns from RAC members about the … analysis were the suddenness and confusion around why it’s happening,” Kortum told the board. “We realized that we had not gotten some new appointees in January… and we wondered if something was up.”
But members’ fears about the review, she said, went even further.
“There’s some concern among RAC members that this is the precursor to eliminating the RAC,” she told the board. “And we’re certainly hopeful that’s not the case.”
Board members sought quickly to dispel that notion.
Board member Christian Dorsey, who chairs the panel’s Business Oversight Committee, said the panel is reviewing RAC operations — including the structure and resource-allocation to the group. He also hinted that the board could examine shrinking the 21-member panel.
“This is not a precursor to dissolve the RAC, so that’s something you should hear publicly,” Dorsey said. “We don’t have unlimited resources to devote to it so we need to prioritize efficiency in making sure the RAC can operate functionally, that you can get the right-sized membership that allows for you to operate effectively.”
Kortum said RAC committee meetings have been put on hiatus until the review concludes.
“There is not enough staff time,” Kortum said.
Kortum defended the body amid the numerous vacancies and concerns about its effectiveness in conveying rider issues to the agency. The RAC has been vocal about Metro’s safety and reliability issues, has participated in safety drills and raised awareness of campaigns to improve the customer experience, such as Metro’s recently launched “Rush Hour Promise” initiative granting SmarTrip credits to riders’ whose trips are 15 or more minutes later than Metro estimates.
“It’s an all-volunteer group, so there will be some turnover and people will naturally vary in their intensities of involvement,” Kortum said.
Still, she said, she understood the argument for streamlining the panel.
“I’m not sure exactly what the right size for the RAC is, but it may well be less than 21, as long as we find a way to ensure that all of the however many members are engaged,” she said. “In my own opinion, the biggest challenge facing the RAC is weak support from [Metro] board members and staff.”
Dorsey and fellow board member Kathy Porter, plan to attend the RAC’s monthly meeting on March 7 to fully brief members on the review.
Meanwhile, Evans sought to quell fears of the panel’s demise.
“There is no attempt to get rid of the RAC,” he said. “The RAC is here, it’s staying, it’s gonna be here.”