Safety Concerns at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Implications for Ridership
The Metro network operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) provides mass transportation for the nation's capital region for visitors, residents and especially members of the federal government workforce. Besides 118 miles of rail tracks and 91 stations (making it the nation's second-largest heavy rail transit system), the Metro also operates the fifth largest paratransit service and sixth largest bus network in the country today (Metro facts, 2016). Taken together, the Metro clearly represents a valuable transportation resource, but the WMATA has been plagued by several safety-related issues that have adversely affected ridership levels in recent years as discussed further below.
What is known at present for certain is that ridership levels have experienced a sustained decline in the wake of the recent unprecedented, high-profile system-wide shutdown of the WMATA over safety concerns and that restoring ridership confidence is therefore essential. In fact, today's situation is in sharp contrast to just a decade or so ago when WMATA was in the vanguard of implementing cutting-edge technological solutions to its operations, including safety management and ridership satisfaction (Hanley, 2009).
Since that time, however, federally subsidized funding for these solutions has dwindled and the WMATA has experienced system-wide safety deficits as a result (Birr, 2016). Previous studies have examined the impact of safety-related concerns on WMATA post-September 11, 2001 and have concluded that there is an inextricable relationship between heightened concerns over safety and declines in ridership and revenue levels (Wilson and Jackson, 2007). Therefore, studies of this type are timely and important for identifying opportunities to restore confidence and satisfaction in WMATA's operations.
In reality, though, the task for WMATA is especially daunting given its far-flung transportation network and scope of operations. Created by an interstate compact concluded in 1967, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was tasked with planning, developing, financing, constructing and operating the Metro network serving the nation's capital area with a current population of about 4 million (Metro facts, 2016). Following initial rail system construction in 1969, the Metro expanded to include bus service in 1973 (currently there are 1,500 buses in constant operation) and the Metrorail component began operations in 1976 (Metro facts, 2016). The Metrorail system currently serves 91 stations with 118 miles of track (Metro facts, 2016). Nearly half (about 45%) of residents who work in the center core (i.e., Washington, D.C. and some parts of Arlington County, Virginia) use some component of the Metro network (Metro facts, 2016). The single highest ridership day in 2015 was 787,707 (Metro facts, 2016).
In response to the safety-related issues described above as well as others, WMATA's general manager and chief executive officer, Paul Widerfeld, has implemented a systematic overhaul of current risk management and inspection practices in order to restore public confidence (Metro facts, 2016). To its credit, WMATA has been absolutely forthcoming in its findings concerning safety-related problems and what has been and still needs to be done (Back2Good initiatives, 2016). For instance, according to the WMATA Web site, "Metro is working with employees, riders, jurisdictional partners, and the general public to make sure that everyone does their part in creating and sustaining a culture of safety and security in stations, vehicles, support facilities, and access points" (Metro facts, 2016 p. 2).
Some of the initiatives that have already been taken to promote safety throughout the Metro network include the following:
• Digital signs in the stations show next train arrival times, system status and time of day;
• Digital signs outside some stations show system status and time of day;
• Digital LCD monitors at station manager kiosks show real-time advisories and alerts;
• Two-way radios between train operator and operations control center;
• Hotlines from operations control center to police and fire departments;
• Automated electronic fire protection system in stations and tunnels;
• Call boxes spaced 800 feet along tracks;
• Fire extinguishers on platforms and inside railcars;
• Video monitoring of stations, elevators and some station parking lots;
• Public address systems on trains and platforms;
• Passenger-to-station manager intercoms on platforms, in elevators and landings
• Passenger-to-operator intercoms inside railcars -- one at each end; and,
• Chemical detection systems in underground stations (Metro facts, 2016).
These initiatives followed another series of security steps taken in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that were funded by a $49 million federal grant in 2002. These earlier security steps included the installation of intrusion detection equipment, chemical sensors, bomb-containment trash receptacles, digital closed-circuit television systems on all buses and supplemental equipment for the Metro command center and K-9 teams (Anderson, 2005). Although these initiatives served to initial restore rider confidence, federal funding…