Beyer, Connolly, Wexton press WMATA to take responsibility for bus operations amid strike

Don Beyer (D-VA), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) have written to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager Paul Wiedefeld and Board Chair Paul Smedberg expressing concerns regarding its partial privatization and subsequent lack of oversight to ensure fair treatment of workers employed by its contractors.

Their letter came amid a lengthy Metrobus worker strike interrupting WMATA service out of the Cinder Bed Road facility in Lorton, where WMATA contracted work out to Transdev, a multinational corporation that has refused to provide Metrobus workers with similar compensation and benefits to that of WMATA employees.

They wrote:

“As Members of Congress, we have a duty to ensure that there is proper oversight of WMATA – including the services that it contracts out to private companies – so that Metro continues to deliver safe and reliable service for our constituents. Notably, this dispute has interrupted service for our constituents for nearly a month and has reportedly affected around 8,500 commuters. During this timeframe, Transdev has failed to reopen the bus routes, and disappointingly, WMATA has refused to involve itself in the negotiations or create transportation alternatives for riders on the impacted routes.

“WMATA’s increased reliance on outside contractors places an increased burden on WMATA to choose its contractors wisely to ensure fair compensation of the entire WMATA workforce and ongoing safety and reliability for riders. The ultimate accountability for service delivery on the system lies with WMATA, and when labor relations between a contractor and its workers begin to impact service, WMATA’s refusal to engage is unsustainable.

“We are especially concerned with WMATA’s lack of involvement in this dispute – and lack of action to ensure fair treatment of contract workers – due to WMATA’s overall trend toward privatization, especially related to the Silver Line Extension project (which will be the first subway line in the United States to be under private contract). While we recognize that the decisions to privatize pieces of WMATA have been made with an eye toward financial stability, we urge WMATA to review whether these privatizations are necessary and whether they are, ultimately, financially beneficial to WMATA – accounting for service issues, potential loss of customers due to inefficiency, and other costs associated.”