The Washington Metropolitan

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was created by an interstate compact in 1967 to plan, develop, build, finance, and operate a balanced regional transportation system in the national capital area (The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 2012). In 1952 Congress passed the National Capital Planning act which allows for preparation planning of the Metrorail and in 1954 Virginia and Maryland joined the District of Columbia to begin studying mass transportation for the tri-state area. Over the next several years, President Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson approved several tasks which allowed for at least eighty-three miles of rapid rail system. Ground was not officially broke until December 1969, as of today the Metrorail has one hundred six miles of tracks.

The purpose of the Metro is to make it easier to get around inner cities as parking can be difficult in the city and most apartments or condos require pay parking. The Metro also helps prevent pollution because the more people who ride the Metro the less amount of cars on the road. For people who do not need to use the actual Metrorail, they can use the Metrobus. The other perk to the Metrobus is that it operates twenty four hours a day, seven day a week, the Metrorail does not. In 1994 the Metro began paratransit service called MetroAccess, this service is for people with disabilities that prevent them from using the Metrorail or Metrobus.

As mentioned the Metro provides a great service to the nation’s capital by helping reduce pollutants, reduce traffic on the roads, helps to eliminate less accidents, provides a means of transportation for people who don’t have cards and it provides jobs. There are many perks to the Metro but there is also great responsibility such as keeping the busses and rails safe. This task alone is not easy simply because they have to be on top of maintenance, track circuits, and its employees.

On June 22, 2009, Metro train 112 collided into another, a faulty electronic circuit was blamed for the crash but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the Federal Transit Administrator is also to blame. The Federal Transit Administrator is lacking when it comes to managing safety with the rails. Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader said he and other federal lawmakers will work with local jurisdictions to make sure all NTSB recommendations are implemented (Brumfield, 2010). This accident resulted in nine deaths and eighty people were injured. This is considered to be the deadliest crash in Metro’s history.

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