Category Archives: Metro

Van Hollen Statement On New Metro GM

Jonathan Shurberg   November 5, 2015   No Comments on Van Hollen Statement On New Metro GM

The long nightmare is over. Metro has hired a new general manager. Metro’s year-long search for a general manager ended Thursday with the selection of a former top Maryland transportation official whose combination of financial and operational experience in public transit won him unanimous support from the agency’s sometimes-fractious board. Paul J. Wiedefeld, a former head of the Maryland Transit… Read more »

No Shit - Really?

Jonathan Shurberg   October 6, 2015   No Comments on No Shit - Really?

I’m trying to understand how something so fundamental can take years to be recognized. Metro has a report out acknowledging that its reliability issues might be driving commuters out of using Metro (yes, yes, pun intended). What’s next? Snow is cold? Rain is wet? Sun is hot? Metro, in an unusual acknowledgment, says breakdowns and other service failures appear to be… Read more »

SS Transit Center Turnover

Jonathan Shurberg   August 20, 2015   No Comments on SS Transit Center Turnover

Four years late and $50 million over budget, Montgomery County this week will turn over control of the Silver Spring Transit Center to Metro. Metro plans to accept the Silver Spring Transit Center from Montgomery County as early as this week, and has set a Sept. 20 opening date for the problem-plagued facility. Montgomery County on Thursday sent Metro a… Read more »

Transit Center Showdown Averted?

Jonathan Shurberg   August 4, 2015   No Comments on Transit Center Showdown Averted?

Short version: Metro bluffed, MoCo called . . . and Metro folded like a cheap suit. Well played. Longer version is here: A spokesman for Montgomery County executive Isiah Leggett said Metro has dropped its demand that the county -which oversaw the problem-plagued construction of the facility-provide an extra $15 million to cover future maintenance and repair costs. The transit agency’s… Read more »

More On The Transit Center

Jonathan Shurberg   July 30, 2015   No Comments on More On The Transit Center

As further details emerge about the dispute between Montgomery County and Metro, the more it becomes clear that Metro’s demands to the County are both ham-handed and almost comically absurd. The Post article today notes, among other things, that it’s not clear that different Metro officials actually know what the rest of the agency is doing. According to documents made available… Read more »

Metro Jacking Up MoCo Over Transit Center?

Jonathan Shurberg   July 27, 2015   No Comments on Metro Jacking Up MoCo Over Transit Center?

It certainly looks like a shakedown to me. Bill Turque has the details late this evening: Metro has told Montgomery County officials that some of the recent repairs to the Silver Spring Transit Center are showing “signs of degradation,” and it is asking the county for $15 million to cover future maintenance and repair. County officials, in turn, accuse Metro of attempting… Read more »