WMATA General Manager/CEO Richard Sarles will retire in January. Has he left WMATA better off than he left it? What should the agency look for in a successor?

We asked our contributors for their input. Also, I talked about these questions with Jennifer Donelan on Channel 8’s NewsTalk Friday:

As I said on the show, I think Sarles provided a stability and a focus on safety that the agency desperately needed to regain confidence from both riders and public officials after the crash. He’s put the system back on a solid footing.

Metro has to keep being safe, for sure, but also has different challenges going forward. WMATA needs public support to get the funding it needs for eight-car trains and a new Rosslyn station. It has to win support for roadway changes to improve bus service. All of these require relating to people and working with leaders outside the walls of the Jackson Graham Building.

Winning public support also will require doing more on customer service, including actually beefing up service as well as reducing problems between employees and riders. As Donelan noted in the interview, Sarles is not a highly-visible public figure, and WMATA may need someone who is more comfortable talking to the press and to the public.

Michael Perkins pointed out that many challenges face WMATA. He said tasks over the next decade include:

  • Receive the 7000 series railcars and integrate them into operation
  • Implement the [next generation] electronic fare program
  • Test and integrate [Silver Line] phase 2
  • Plan and sell the region on some sort of core infrastructure improvement
  • Continue to sell the region and riding public on the Metro rebuilding program
  • Implement signaling repairs and upgrades on lines other than the Red Line
  • Manage a substantial capacity upgrade in bus operation (possibly constructing new bus garage sites or expanding existing sites?)
  • Work with jurisdictions to deliver bus route improvements like dedicated lanes, off-vehicle fare payment, or signal priority
  • Operate the 2nd largest heavy rail transit system in the US
  • Operate one of the largest bus systems in the US
  • All while dealing with more than four funding jurisdictions in a widescreen public fishbowl.

Dan Malouff pointed out that while the system has gotten needed repairs, weekend service in particular has really suffered. How can the agency balance these?

Sarles accomplished a lot, but also had some weaknesses. On the one hand, he got Metro’s rebuilding on track, and seemingly solved the safety problems that plagued WMATA during John Catoe’s time as General Manager. On the other hand, Sarles often seemed more concerned with trains and tracks than with providing good transit service to riders. Thus, transit service and ridership plummeted whenever track work has been necessary, which seems like pretty much all the time except rush hour.

Hopefully Metro’s next GM will continue Sarles’ great progress on rebuilding and safety, while doing a better job to remember that better customer service is the whole reason rebuilding is important in the first place. WMATA needs a GM who’s committed to minimizing disruptions to riders, to putting out the very best transit service practical, and to fully explaining to customers why and when less-than-stellar service is necessary.

Bottom line: Sarles revolutionized Metro’s maintenance and safety cultures. The next GM needs to revolutionize its customer service culture.

What skills and priorities do you think WMATA’s next head needs?

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.