WASHINGTON — Metro’s new general manager says he wants to listen to everyone who has a stake in the system as part of a top-to-bottom review that kicks into high gear Monday as he officially takes charge.
Paul Wiedefeld acknowledges that he still has homework to do, especially with the long list of fixes required by federal safety inspectors and financial experts and the continuing problems the rail system has faced with reliability.
“I ask for patience, I know [riders] don’t want to hear that, I understand that,” he says. “I want to keep as fresh of an eye on the issues that I’m up against … and the staff will adjust.”
Wiedefeld hopes his experience leading BWI Marshall Airport and the Maryland Transit Administration will help him reshape the rail and bus system.
“I felt this from two different directions: the airport community, the light rail line to BWI Airport on Sunday doesn’t get there until 11, well guess what? You’ve already had two banks of flights leave, so when I was the MTA administrator, it was like ‘yeah, but you don’t understand the pressure that we have with a two-track system,’” Wiedefeld explains.
The tension between providing service and having enough time for track work is the same in Metro’s two-track system.
“It’s not an either-or decision, it’s figuring what can we live with for both, because you’re trying to meet both things,” Wiedefeld says.
Wiedefeld, 60, is moving to the District from the Baltimore area where his wife and 16-year-old daughter plan to stay until she graduates from high school.
His salary and benefits combine to be worth more than $400,000 per year.
Wiedefeld has already met with the acting administrator of the Federal Transit Administration among other officials and staff, and the newly-formed WMATA Riders Union has announced that Wiedefeld agreed to hold an open forum at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library near the Metro Center and Gallery Place-Chinatown stations
He plans to get the certification needed to go out with track maintenance workers soon.
“I don’t know [the rail system] like the back of my hand yet, but I will,” he says.
