WMATA’s Journey to APTA Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award

General Manager and Chief Executive Officer
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

The last three years have been surreal, but our collective focus on “One Metro” has allowed us to accomplish some extraordinary milestones.

As America’s Metro System, we proudly serve our National Capital Region and were recently recognized by our peers with APTA’s Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement award.

For two years, we’ve led the country in ridership recovery on both rail and bus. We’ve listened to customers and been able to make continuous service improvements.

When I arrived as general manager, I asked customers for their top concerns, and three themes surfaced: safety, service reliability, and fare enforcement. Our employees’ concerns mirrored these, and we addressed each one head on.

Crime in our system is at a seven-year low, and we’re the safest and most cost-efficient way to travel. We’ve leaned into technology, using our more than 30,000 cameras to quickly respond to maintenance and emergency incidents, leading to Transit Police winning gold in APTA’s 2025 Rail Security Awards.

Two years ago, we moved our operational epicenter to one facility supporting buses, trains, and police services. This action focused response on better and faster internal and external communication for a more streamlined approach.

We tracked our progress and reported it transparently and publicly to our board and stakeholders and we’re proudly leading the industry in many categories while prioritizing transformational culture change.

Trains now arrive every 3-5 minutes in the busiest parts of our system. We tackled fare enforcement by installing modern taller, more durable fare gates. We also enhanced Transit Police and security enforcement, making officers more visible and fare signage clearer. These changes, coupled with support from our jurisdictional partners to revise fare enforcement laws, helped lower fare evasion by 82 percent on Metrorail.

In May, we launched our credit/debit/wallet option to pay on Metrorail, adding convenience with future expansion planned on bus and parking this year.

We’ve implemented the largest bus network redesign in the country, getting feedback while planning growth and efficiency. We’ve added 11 new routes, expanded weekend service for 20,000 more residents, and increased service by 7 percent, all while staying cost neutral within our existing funding. We also have a new app called MetroPulse—a one-stop-shop for customers.

We’ve listened carefully and acted, which led to record setting customer satisfaction ratings: 83 percent on bus and 92 percent on rail.

These successes have been amazing, but uncertainty loomed in 2023 with possible draconian service cuts and an operational budget deficit of $750M. We were candid about the impacts and what that could mean for our customers and employees. We examined our finances for efficiencies, yielding more than $500M in cost savings over a two-year period. We froze non-critical positions, and every employee—both Union and non-rep—agreed to forgo any merit increases to avoid layoffs. Collaboration and the support of regional leaders resulted in an operating budget that continues to support quality service delivery.

Additionally, DMVMoves, a regional initiative, was established to resolve Metro’s lack of predictable and dedicated funding. Regional leaders are working to finalize a plan to fund an even better regional transit network, and we are optimistic for our future.

We’re in the National Capital fishbowl, with customers ranging from members of Congress, federal agencies, national media, and tourists from all over the country whose only transit experience may be on Metro. This certainly puts extra pressure on us, but we welcome that and deliver service with pride. So, when you visit, we hope to see you on board.

Onward!