Spending When It’s Taxpayer Money
In adopting the FY 2009 budget last Saturday, the Arlington County Board approved a 14.9% increase in the subsidy for Metro operations -- from $17.4 million to $20 million. With such a large increase in the subsidy, one might think the Board member who sits on the Metro board of directors would be especially concerned with the economical and efficient operations of the Metro system.But you would be wrong. This morning’s Washington Post reported:
“The Metro board yesterday approved spending as much as $1 million over five years to hire professional "mystery riders" to assess the quality of service on trains and buses.
“But some rider advocates questioned the expense and said the transit agency could get equally valuable information from its riders, who already bombard Metro with more than 3,000 complaints a month.”
The Post report added that:
"We want to know what works and doesn't work, and what can be made better," said Metro board Chairman Chris Zimmerman, who represents Arlington County and pushed for the program as part of Metro's goal to improve service.
“Metro already hears from many customers about what does not work. The agency receives between 3,000 and 4,000 complaints a month, according to agency reports. The most common complaints are late buses, rude and discourteous behavior, and a lack of reliability for MetroAccess, the paratransit service. More than 1.2 million trips are taken systemwide on an average weekday.
“Zimmerman said the mystery-rider program is needed because "we can't afford to wait until there's a complaint" to improve service.”
So, the Metro system gets more than 150 complaints every workday, but Metro's chairman says they can’t wait for a complaint? Just what does Metro management do with the reports of those 150+ complaints that come in each workday? Put them on the shelf for safekeeping?
If this wasn’t bad enough, Wednesday’s Washington Post reported that a “former Metro official is charged with theft . . . $500,000 allegedly taken at sales office.” But then it’s just the taxpayers’ money.