U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) on Sept. 20 re-introduced a bill to fund and reform the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, commonly known as Metro, a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates commuter rail service in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
“This Metro reform legislation is an update to legislation I introduced last year to address issues plaguing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and recognizes progress made on the state level,” said Rep. Comstock last week.
Metro service is provided in three jurisdictions: around Northern Virginia in the congresswoman’s district, as well as in D.C. and the Maryland suburbs.
Metro charges prices for mass transit services that are substantially affected by labor costs, which total more than 70 percent of Metro’s operating costs, according to the text of the Grants for Reliable, Efficient, and Accountable Transit Act, H.R. 6852.
“Labor costs incurred in providing mass transit in the national capital area have increased at an alarming rate and are unsustainable in light of the financial condition” of the three jurisdictions providing mass transit services in the national capital area, according to the bill’s text.
Such higher operating costs cannot be offset by increasing costs to patrons, by cutting service, or by raising labor costs, “since this often discourages ridership and thus undermines the public interest in promoting the use of public transit,” according to H.R. 6852.
Therefore, Rep. Comstock proposes in H.R. 6852 to adopt standards governing arbitration to resolve disputes involving the jurisdictions operating in the national capital area “in order to lower operating costs and facilitate the provision of safe, reliable and affordable public transit services at sufficient levels in the Washington metropolitan area.”
“It is critical,” said Comstock, that “we not lose sight of the remaining effort before us and not let the system backslide in the coming years only to let taxpayers and commuters suffer worse again in the future.”
H.R. 6852 would amend Metro’s Authorization for Capital and Preventive Maintenance Projects, and would authorize the U.S. Transportation Secretary to appropriate grants totaling $1.5 billion to be available in increments in each fiscal year over the next 10 years, according to text of H.R. 6852.
If enacted, the reauthorized federal grant program then would be matched with $500 million from each of the jurisdictions served by Metro in the District, Maryland and Virginia, according to the bill.
Additionally, the measure would limit annual contributions from the three jurisdictions to not more than 3 percent, which would subsidize Metro’s operational needs, according to a summary provided by Rep. Comstock’s office.
“The bipartisan efforts by the jurisdictions should serve as further impetus on the federal level to reauthorize federal funding for Metro, but only on the condition of continued needed financial changes,” Rep. Comstock said.
Among numerous other provisions, H.R. 6852 would provide whistleblower protections for Metro employees against Metro management and amend certain language in federal law to target the focus of arbitrators during Metro management’s labor disputes with the unions, according to Comstock’s summary.
“This legislation still incorporates many of the reforms recommended by a wide array of experts engaged with Metro management and reforms including former officials, business leaders, and Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld,” the lawmaker said. “The reforms are reflective of their advice and a final push to get our system the rest of the way out of the woods.”
H.R. 6852 has been referred to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit for consideration.