Upper Marlboro, MD – Prince George’s County residents who rely on public transportation to get around will surely be glad to hear that the Metro’s board of directors voted in favor of general manager Paul Wiedefeld’s funding plan, according to the Washington Post.
The plan is designed to allocate funds to take care of the transit’s long term maintenance needs in addition to allowing the privatization of some future services.
The end vote was 14-1, with the one opposing vote coming from Malcolm Augustine, who represents Prince George’s County. The Washington Post reported recently, “metro board member Malcolm Augustine, who represents Prince George’s, cast the lone dissenting vote in ‘Sense of the [Metro] Board’ resolution designed to gauge where the region stands on Wiedefeld’s plan.”
Augustine told the board that the ultimate goal of Wiedefield’s plan should be to provide reliable service and regain business.
In April 2017, Wiedfeld released a funding proposal titled “Keeping Metro Safe, Reliable and Affordable,” in which he argued the Metro needed $15.5 billion over a decade to continue safe operations. Not only that, but Wiedfeld said that the Metro was “one of the only major American transit systems without funding dedicated to preserve its assets.”
Around the country, the nation’s transportation infrastructure is in desperate need of repair. Americans with vehicles drive an average of 29.2 miles per day, and travelers logged 459 million trips for business purposes in 2015. Millions of Americans also rely on public transportation to be on-time and accurate.
“To achieve this mission, [Metro] must recognize and nurture its greatest asset — the employees who move 300 million people each year — that has to be emphasized,” Augustine said after the vote. “In addition to identifying the broad conditions in his plan which we can all can agree on to a certain degree, Mr. Wiedefeld mapped some specific actions — some of which I will not support — to achieve the goal of long-term health.”
For example, Wiedefield has expressed that although he intends to honor the pensions of current employees, new hires will be given 401(k)s, which are less expensive.
Not only that, but an organization can save an average of 60% in operations costs with an outsourced individual, and Wiedefeld has also expressed his interest in outsourcing certain positions such as track inspectors and station managers.
Ultimately, all parties seem to agree about the fact that more deliberation is necessary before the funding plan is finalized or put into action.
“You have the visionary goals, which of course we can agree and share with, but on the other hand you went down into the weeds a little bit — so that requires some scrutiny that requires some discussion that, to me, is part of the contemplation that we’re doing,” said Augustine.