Catoe to replace four WMATA executives

Transit

by David Alpert • December 12, 2009 12:11 pm

Deupty General Manager Gerald Francis and bus chief Milo Victoria will leave Metro, and safety chief Alexa Dupigny-Samuels and Assistant General Manager for Corporate Strategy and Communications Sarah Wilson will move to new jobs within the agency, Lena Sun reported in the Post.

Francis, Victoria, Dupigny-Samuels, and Wilson. Photos from WMATA.

Many people have been calling for change at Metro, including Senator Barbara Mikulski. According to Sun's article, this is not a reaction to Mikulski, however, but a change that Catoe has been planning for weeks. Since Catoe generally acts slowly and deliberately, it's unlikely he decided to replace some people just because of Mikulski's comments. It might have accelerated the announcement, though.

Some feel that Catoe is the one who needs to go. In yesterday's chat, Arlington WMATA Board member Chris Zimmerman disagreed:

First, I don't think it will do anybody any good to just make changes for the sake of making changes. This is not a baseball team, where you can throw out the manager to "shake things up" and it doesn't really matter. In transit, the GM really DOES matter, and any time you make a change you will probably make things harder for the organization for a time.
Second, there is every reason to believe we currently have one of the very best transit managers in the country, and it is not clear that we would ever attract someone as good or better by firing him.
Third, it is very important to recognize that the problems WMATA has are not new, they did not arise when Mr. Catoe arrived less than three years ago, and no one has credibly suggested that he has somehow caused them. On the contrary, the fundamental problems at WMATA are related to long-standing underfunding of its capital needs — inadequate maintenance and replacement, insufficient investment in new equipment, "stretchouts" of the capital program, etc. Every GM and the Board has warned the region about the consequences of this for years.
As a Board member I have to do what I believe is in the best interest of the system and its riders. If I think the GM is a problem, and that the system would be better off without him, I would fire him without hesitation. But, if I know that doing so would be more likely to make things worse, that would be stupid, and I won' t do it. Even if it would be politically popular at the moment.

Some change is indeed necessary at Metro. There was a clear management failure in making such a potentially momentous decision as denying inspectors access, while not even notifying the General Manager or the Board. More broadly, management bears some responsibility for Metro's credibility gap and declining reputation, though local jurisdictions underfunding Metro is a major cause as well.

Below Catoe, Gerald Francis was the top man responsible for safety, and there's no denying safety has been a problem. On the other hand, he did step up after we criticized Metro's anemic response when some kids threw rocks at Tim Krepp and a Metro employee was unwilling to call police; Krepp says that Francis has continued to be very proactive and work with him to try to deal with the issue.

As for Milo Victoria, the Post noted that "Two high-profile Metrobus accidents and other incidents involving bus operators took place on his watch." However, there's little reason to believe management was at fault for the bus crashes, and bus operator incidents have decreased in recent years.

Sarah Wilson was the one who tried to justify Metro's lack of action on Google Transit by saying that the $70,000 in ad revenue they get from wmata.com is more important than a free service that helps riders. However, Metro since changed course and agreed to reach out to Google. I have no idea how involved Wilson was in the policy shift or in deciding the original policy.

And then there's Alexa Dupigny-Samuels, who was the one to deny inspectors access to live tracks. Most riders' reaction seems to be, why is she still at Metro, exactly?

Rearranging the chairs could be a start, but it will only improve matters if it leads to a new way of doing things. When he joined Metro, John Catoe said, "you won't recognize this place." The culture of command-and-control, not sharing information, and inadequate customer service has not fundamentally changed in most areas of Metro. We still haven't heard an explanation for the past year's problems and what Metro is going to do about it.

When a Web company has a major outage, for instance, employees write a "post-mortem," identifying the immediate causes of the problem, the more fundamental root causes for why that problem cropped up, and what they are changing to prevent a recurrence. Toyota pioneered a concept called the Five Whys. Catoe can begin to repair his agency's public image by undertaking a similar exercise. Ask why people have low confidence in Metro, then ask four more times more deeply. Formulate a clear plan with the new and remaining executives to repair the problems, and then communicate what they are going to change to the eager yet skeptical public.

16 comments — Share	— tags: John Catoe, Metro safety, WMATA

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Why didn't the Board find out about Metro's denial to Tri-State Oversight? (Nov 19, 2009)
Can oversight help transit safety without hurting transit? (Nov 16, 2009)
The Price of Safety, part 1: Track workers face danger (Oct 2, 2009)
What would you ask WMATA officials? (Mar 9, 2009)

Comments

@David: Good post.

I can't say why Francis would be replaced in particular--I'm obviously not in the inner circle.

I would say in Francis's defense that he was generally open and attentive to criticism of operational problems and other WMATA manager's decisions and often acted to rectify issues that were thus identified. That aspect alone was valuable for a system that is generally slow to react--if there's any movement at all.

I second David's point that management shake-ups must be accompanied by changes in policy that provide better service. Otherwise they are just cosmetic. The policy changes include immediate improvements in rail service even while in manual operation, improvements in the speed and configuration of bus service, better customer service throughout the system and a real improvement in the safety culture throughout the system. In the process, a repair of labor-management relations, which are at an all time low, will help to further all of the above. All of this must be accomplished within the confines of a very challenging fiscal situation--but that's why Catoe is paid the big bucks.

by kreeggo on Dec 12, 2009 1:52 pm

Throwing people out doesn't matter. Replacing them with better folks does. Replacing Huey, Dewey, Loui and Goofy with April, May, June and Pluto is useless.

We need Gyro Gearloose and Gladstone Gander.

by Jasper on Dec 12, 2009 8:39 pm

On the contrary, the fundamental problems at WMATA are related to long-standing underfunding of its capital needs

What a clueless remark.

WMATA officials barred safety inspectors from tracks because of long-term underfunding of capital needs?

Numerous WMATA personnel ignored multiple safety safeguards, leading to the needless deaths of a number of WMATA personnel, because of long-term underfunding of capital needs?

WMATA bus drivers are striking and killing pedestrians because of long-term underfunding of capital needs?

Zimmerman is right when he says that firing the GM will not necessarily solve anything. But for the sake of the GM and for the public that relies on Metro, I hope the GM understands something that Zimmerman doesn't, which is that this agency's dismal safety record has everything to do with carelessness and negligence and has little to do with "long-term underfunding of capital needs."

by Omari on Dec 12, 2009 10:04 pm

However, there's little reason to believe management was at fault for the bus crashes, and bus operator incidents have decreased in recent years.

How do you know that management was not at fault? Buses were zipping and zooming through town once they were out of service. I use the past tense, but in reality some still do. Just park yourself at Fla and Ct any day, and see them zooming through. This might be a management problem because the rule not to speed is ignored or not taken seriously. I don't know. But my point is, how do you know that it is not a management problem? I should add "too", because obviously the driver is at fault whenever there is speeding involved.

by Jazzy on Dec 13, 2009 7:36 am

Omari, I notice you didn't say anything about the Red Line crash - which currently seems to have everything to do with equipment failures (solved by expensive capital improvements) rather than a lack of a safety culture.

When the NTSB says to replace the entire fleet of 1000 series cars, and Metro says 'no,' the reason is capital expenses, not anything cultural.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but I don't see Zimmerman's remark as off-base at all. Especially when you consider the other, non-safety issues people have with WMATA - reliability, quality of service, etc.

by Alex B. on Dec 13, 2009 9:58 am

Good post. David is right that the proof of the pudding here will be whether the new executives change course and bring about a new way of doing things.

But I think we owe Barbara Mikulski a debt of gratitude. As a long-time supporter of Metro, she has great credibility. And for her to raise hell and force Catoe's hand is the first step toward that new way of doing things.

Catoe's handling of the crisis that began with the crash has been weak and ineffective, at best. We were given various versions of the old DC Shuffle, where reforms were promised and no one lost his or her job.

Some heads HAD to roll to convince the troops that there would be a new way of doing things. And the indisputable fact is that no heads rolled until Babs raised hell.

by Mike S. on Dec 13, 2009 1:28 pm

Metro is the only organization that I've ever heard of where you get 3 strikes to screw things up, in a MAJOR way. For example, take your assistant general manager for communications. who was booted out of her position of chief of staff for failing to perform. Now, according to the shakeup, she will be responsible for special projects at top dollar at a time when Metro is suffering from the public's lack of confidence in its leadership, not to mention its horrific financial problems. Save our money and move her and others like her along.

by MetroRider on Dec 13, 2009 1:52 pm

I've been riding for over ten years. From my perspective the service on Metro has decreased markedly in that time. And management decisions over the last three years, during Catoe's tenure, has been highly suspect.

M Channel? Buying $20 million in ARRA funds worth of flat screen TV's to replace the functioning LED's that went in less then ten years ago. Is that good management practice? Do we need or want the capital costs of installing those systems when we have issues with derailment and outdates rolling stock?

Not to mention the slew of incidents involving actual safety.

No, Mr. Catoe, you may not have lost the faith of the Board, but you have lost the riders and we will have to use our electoral options to replace the Board in order to replace Catoe.

We need a pledge from candidates like Chairman Graham to oppose Catoe.

by SOS Redline on Dec 14, 2009 8:42 am

I live in Arlington and I like Chris Zimmerman, but as a Metro board member, he is often clueless. One more example of why it's not a good idea to have people on the board who obviously don't ride on public transit.

by Jay Favola on Dec 14, 2009 11:15 am

@Jay Favola: Chris Zimmerman rides public transit for the majority of his daily business. He's the exception to the general opinion that WMATA's board members do not ride transit.

by Michael Perkins on Dec 14, 2009 11:22 am

Catoe, too, rides frequently. I've seen him out there in the system.

by Alex B. on Dec 14, 2009 12:04 pm

The facts that Catoe and Dupigny-Samuels are still employed by WMATA makes be strongly suspect that this, like moving the 1000-series car to the middle of trains, is nothing but a PR move intended quiet public outrage without actually changing anything.

by Jacob on Dec 14, 2009 3:31 pm

Yes, Zimmerman definitely uses transit for the majority of his daily business. He is on all the time.

by BeyondDC on Dec 14, 2009 4:16 pm

The comment by Metrorider is ridculous - Sara Wilson was nominated by Metro and named to the top 40 under 40 list of up and coming execs by Mass Transit magazine. That seems to defeat this individual's first point about her prior position.

Granted I know Sara, so my comments may not be accepted by some, but actually knowing her allows me to say with absolute sincerity that I have never known anyone as committed to an organization, a city, and her job. You're talking about someone who used Metro to get to the hospital when in labor.

To post an anonymous attack about someone like that is weak and unjustifiable.

by bguiley on Dec 15, 2009 5:13 pm

Alex, I don't agree with you that the June crash wasn't the result of a clear breakdown in safety procedures. This problem (faulty weezee board sending incorrect signals, leading to two trains occupying the same segment of track when only one train is supposed to be on one segment of track at any one time) happened at least two other times in recent years, in Arlington where three trains barely avoided crashing into each other, and in DC at the Eastern market metro. The difference is that crashes and fatalities were avoided.

Rather than fully investigate the problem, they assumed it was a one time thing. I understand this, they wanted to keep the system running at normal speeds, but it was the wrong decision. But it led to the crash and deaths and injuries. That is a failure of systems and safety culture.

What happened in 2005 should have indicated a serious problem with lack of redundancy and faulty systems. And it should have led to a serious upgrade in the monitoring of these systems, which they looked at once/month eventually, rather than daily.

And it should have led to an improvement in the technology, and development of redundant systems.

I can't think of how this isn't a systems-safety culture issue.

It's why I think probably most of the top officials in the rail operations division probably ought to be removed for cause.

And at least the first major incident predated Catoe and Francis. I imagine that the level of the problem was never adequately communicated to them either.

by Richard Layman on Dec 16, 2009 5:00 pm

I'm not saying there isn't a cultural issue, Richard I'm saying that's not the on;y problem. Your proposed solution spells it out: They should have improved the technology and added redundant systems.

Those redundant systems aren't free. They cost money. Metro has said, straight up, when asked about the 1000 series that they'd like to retire them for many reasons (including safety) but they cannot, due to money.

Focusing entirely on safety culture also ignores the growing discontent with Metro's quality of service.

The focus on safety culture alone also implies that everything would be fine if the work culture were completely safe, which we all know to be untrue - Metro has major capital needs.

by Alex B. on Dec 16, 2009 5:16 pm