Eleven General Assembly Delegates have sent a letter to WMATA chairman Jack Evans saying they would block any additional funding for Metro repairs. Â The following day the Governor threatened to withhold more funding to metro until the subway system has improved its safety record. Â Jack Evans replied with a scoff, calling the letter “ludicrous”.
“You can threaten all you want,” Evans said. “I say to the political leaders of the jurisdictions, my advice would be, get on board and be supportive. Threats are idle. They mean nothing to me.”
Evans went on to explain just how far into the hole this regional metro albatross is,
“The fact of the matter is, Metro has a $300 million operating shortfall, an $18 billion capital shortfall and a $2.5 billion unfunded pension liability. And we have to address it some way,”
That translates to $3,500 Â for every man, woman, and child in the greater Washington area that includes areas as far away as Stafford county Virginia and Jefferson county West Virginia.
The letter is embedded below. Â More on the story here.Â
5 comments
There is no doubt that a well managed, cost effectively implemented, financially sustainable rail infrastructure is critical for modern urban planning and transportation. The problem here is that this system fails on all three counts. So cash is sucked into a never ending black hole of taxing authority while cost/benefit shrinks and required ballooning subsidization grows exponentially. The MWATA system vacuums disproportionate available dollars, removing even the possibility of other approaches off the table due to lack of funds, not just today, but into the foreseeable future.
It’s placing all your eggs in one basket and you can’t afford the basket. Not a sound approach in my opinion but I completely understand it makes your and others life much easier at a significant cost to future NoVA transportation flexibility. And then there is the state political cronyism deeply embedded in every layer of bureaucracy and every yard of concrete poured in creating and maintaining the system. I believe you would be much less enamored with the system if you and other users actually had to pay the true cost of ridership to support and maintain the system now in place, rather then just a heavily tax subsidized fare.
This is NOT a highly urban concentrated NYC rail scenario where forced volume will drive higher rates of return on public investment this is auto based suburban Virginia. There is and will not be in the future, in my opinion, the implementation of the draconian use measures required to forcibly remove the auto commuters off the NoVa toll roads to drive commuter volume to the rail system. It will just never happen and without exponential ridership growth this system has no chance of ever seeing self supporting sustainability. The major fallacy in the Virginia rail argument today and the reality resulting in endless subsidization.
This has turned into a public investment that will never pay itself off and never reach a level of self financial sustainability (e.g. the perfect quasi government program). I’m not totally convinced, but a local privatized “Greenway” rail approach, might well be less of a bottomless money pit for the tax payer then what we are now facing. I do know writing letters to Mr. Evans regarding withholding maintenance funding is nothing but a political placebo and frankly not demonstrating to me personally that you basically understand what the fundamental issues are that we are facing with NoVA mass transit today.
This letter was treated as horsecrap because there’s absolutely no Democratic signatures on it. Why did this have to become a partisan issue?
I ride the Metro’s Silver Line every day from Rosslyn to McLean. Even with the days, it has made my life a whole lot easier, because slugging and riding the Metro is far less taxing on the nerves and the roads than everyone riding “smart cars.” Whatever that means.
There is no doubt that a well managed, cost effectively implemented, financially sustainable rail infrastructure is critical for modern urban planning and transportation. The problem here is that this system fails on all three counts. So cash is sucked into a never ending black hole of taxing authority while cost/benefit and required ballooning subsidization grows exponentially. The MWATA system’s vacuum disproportionate available dollars, removing even the possibility of other approaches off the table due to lack of funds, not just today, but into the foreseeable future.
It’s placing all your eggs in one basket and you can’t afford the basket. Not a sound approach in my opinion but I completely understand it makes your and others life much easier at a significant cost to future NoVA transportation flexibility. And then there is the state political cronyism deeply embedded in every layer of bureaucracy and every yard of concrete poured in creating and maintaining the system. I believe you would be much less enamored with the system if you and other users actually had to pay the true cost of ridership to support and maintain the system now in place, rather then just the heavily tax subsidized fare now in place.
This has turned into a public investment that will never pay itself off and never reach a level of self financial sustainability (e.g. the perfect government program). I’m not totally convinced but a local privatized “Greenway” rail approach might well be less of a bottomless money pit for the tax payer then what we are now facing.
If I were in the GA I might want to try instead to push forward a bill to convert all existing NoVA rail lines into lighted underground bicycle paths (just concrete over the rails and pull out the turnstiles) issue a Chapter 11 or perhaps 9 filing regarding existing liabilities and let the courts sort it out after definitely sending Mr. Evans a certified letter canning his butt effective immediately. OK, so perhaps a little impractical, but that is what the naysayers claimed regarding last year’s illegal balloon release penalty bill put forth in the House.
This system has effectively become unsustainable both operationally and financially. This isn’t a tinker around the edges problem this is a bulldozer problem and a complete reorganization is only the first step to admitting you even remotely grasp the size and scope of the issues. Any elected official that just wants to continue to push the cratering financials off on the backs of the local taxpayers should expect a short continuation in office. Threats rarely are effective or work against entrenched bureaucracies, a completely legislatively mandated reorganization might be something Mr Evans finds a little more compelling to internalize.