Photo by Debangsu3 on Flickr.

Responding to recommendations from the NTSB, the WMATA Board is expected to create a separate safety committee and change the agency’s mission statement to include safety.

Currently, the Committee on Customer Service, Operations and Safety reviews issues pertaining to all three topics. In its report, the NTSB argued that a separate safety committee would ensure more of a specific focus on safety.

The agenda for this Thursday’s meeting of that committee includes an action item to follow this recommendation. The new committee will be a committee of the whole, including all 14 current members. Mort Downey, a federal member, will chair the committee.

In addition, the action item contains a rewrite of the WMATA mission statement.

The current statement reads,

Metro provides the nation’s best transit service to our customers and improves the quality of life in the Washington metropolitan area.

This is the proposed new language:

Metro operates and maintains a safe, reliable and effective transit system that enhances mobility, improves the quality of life, and stimulates economic development in the Washington metropolitan area.

The new committee seems to be a good idea, and Downey is a good choice to run it. I doubt the mission statement change will make any difference, but it’s also an easy way to comply with an NTSB recommendation.

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.