WMATA

For example, up in Philadelphia, SEPTA runs the transit there.

Down in the Washington, D.C. area, WMATA runs the system.

And there are pros and cons to our arrangement, but we have come to think that the cons outweigh the pros.

That being... a unit of state government means that the Baltimore transit system often gets neglected for other state priorities.

And they ingrained it so well with their operations.

I know when I was at WMATA, Washington Metro, where Transdev was one of our contractors.

Right.

I ran the call center for a while, and we used taxi cabs in D.C. and in Montgomery County very effectively.

I'm your host, Jingua Zhao.

Today, I'm delighted to have Randy Clarke, the general manager and CEO of WMATA, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, to join us.

It is one of the largest transit systems in the country.

Randy, last year, I invited you to come to MIT.

You must, especially

in these days, always be positive.

My team at the MIT Urban Mobility Lab had the opportunity to work with you and the WMATA team over four years now.

It's really a privilege.

Back in 2024, like many other riders, I didn't feel safe at all.

Federal transit data showed Metro Transit passengers faced a reported assault rate 13 times the rate of New York City.

But since then, safety has improved.

Get murdered every once in a while, but.

And it prevents workforce participation, helping them get the services that they need.

How can this rural state, I mean, I'm from D.C., we have the WMATA, but how can a rural state like West Virginia keep up with other states that have that kind of public transportation?

Well, if you come from a place where you've been to a place where you can see what public transportation can offer to people, it offers them true liberty, it offers them true equality, and it offers them real access to the things that every person needs.

So one of the things that we talk about a lot is how a budget of a state or of a nation reflects the priorities of the nation.

Inflation is real

... well, the WMATA, that's the Metro Association, um, is weighing the structural changes.

So they have the youth free ride coming up, free rides for youth ages five to 18 across the entire DMV region, as if the, the youth don't already try and ride free anyway.

Uh, discount phase outs.