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Metro searching for 295 more positions to cut

By Max Smith

WASHINGTON — Of 500 positions Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld has directed the system to cut in June, 205 vacant positions have been eliminated.

“Staff is working to identify the remaining 295 positions,” an updated Customer Accountability Report posted this week said.[related_gallery align=”right”]

Wiedefeld said in a memo to employees in June that the cuts of “about 500 positions” aimed to save money.

“While I recognize that it will take several months to complete those processes, it is important that we give employees as much notice as possible, as well as work to maximized cost savings from redundant and nonessential business functions,” Wiedefeld wrote.

The updated Customer Accountability Report also said Metro is finalizing plans to privatize its parking operations with a goal of increasing revenue and improving customer amenities.

Metro staff has also now developed various scenarios that would simplify rail fares across the system. Those analyses, along with reviews of Metro’s [new monthly passes], are due to be presented this fall as part of the budget process for the fiscal year that begins next July.

Ahead of that process, the SelectPass monthly passes that go on sale later this month for use in September will be offered at several additional price points to evaluate usage and demand.

Metro fare evasion crackdown sparks police confrontation concerns

By Max Smith
WASHINGTON — Amid complaints that Metro’s fare evasion crackdown is leading to people being pinned to the ground or pepper-sprayed unnecessarily by police, Metro’s general manager said Thursday that the crackdown is necessary to ensure that other rules are followed and that Metro gets all of the funding it is entitled to. “The way WMATA treats its riders, particularly people of color, is unacceptable,” Brianna Musselman told the Metro Board Thursday. She recorded video of a man being pinned to the ground and pepper-sprayed by Metro police at the Gallery Place station in June, during an encounter that began when officers said the man tried to enter the rail system without paying.
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