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ACT Testimony to COG/BOT Task Force on WMATA Governance

July 1, 2010

Testimony of Tina Slater

Good morning. My name is Tina Slater and I am presenting comments on behalf of the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County. We are a grass-roots organization with more than 500 dues-paying members.

Your task force addresses a very real and serious issue - the governance of Metro. It is increasingly clear that Metro suffers from fundamental weaknesses in in its governance structure which have hobbled its ability to serve the transit needs of our area. The entire community of our metropolitan area must work together to overcome these defects. We regret that your task force is organized in a way that will prevent it from meeting this challenge. We urge you to restructure the task force so that all affected interests, and especially the riders, are represented on an equal basis.

A broadly based governance task force is needed because the current system for choosing WMATA's board severely limits Metro's ability to be an effective advocate for its own interests. This creates a structural imbalance that has frustrated the will of the people and prevented the region from adequately funding transit. Since the tax-supported portion of WMATA's budget is channeled through the same organizations that appoint the board, the transit agency is unable to complain when those jurisdictions provide insufficient funding. The private-sector highway builders with which it competes for transportation dollars are able and willing not only to complain, but to lobby and to make campaign contributions.

A recent Washington Post poll showed that the voters of this area, by a 62-30 margin, want the priority on transportation spending to go into transit. Yet our region continues to pour money into construction of new highways while Metro is starved for funding. Federal surface transportation funding, which by law can be spent on either transit or highways at the discretion of local governments, is used exclusively for highways in direct contravention of the wishes of the voters.

Reform of WMATA governance must address this underlying issue. We are convinced that the real solution for Metro's problems should be found through the democratic process. Study and wide consultation are needed to identify solutions, but at a minimum the following options must be thoroughly analyzed and put before the people of the Metropolitan area:

Regrettably, the task force as currently structured is not capable of giving these ideas a fair hearing. Only a single interest group is represented. Moreover, it is represented by a group that was a leading advocate for many of the decisions that created the present transportation funding mess, such as the ICC and taxpayer guarantees for HOT lanes. It is unfair to ask anyone to undertake the difficult job of correcting past mistakes in this sort of public forum.

The Board of Trade has contributed a great deal to our region with thoughtful analysis and advocacy for the business point of view. But other points of view deserve an equal vote. Metro's riders have the greatest interest of all, and they deserve the greatest voice. Beyond that, when making funding decisions - or governance decisions that necessarily lead to funding decisions - it is essential to involve the entire spectrum of economic interests.

Moreover, the fundamental changes that are needed in Metro governance cannot be accomplished without a broad public consensus. Creating this consensus requires the involvement, on an equal basis, of a wide spectrum of interested parties.

We heard much, a few months ago, about the need for Metro's board to be composed of people who use the system themselves. In ACT's view, that is important, but what is even more important is that the board must be answerable to all of us who ride Metro. The same applies to your task force. As currently constituted, you are heading toward a dead end. We urge COG to reconstitute the task force and make it equally representative of Metro's ridership and all economic interests involved.