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Congress Reacts To Metro Shake-Up

January 15, 2010
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By Megan Hughes

Members of Congress say the leadership shake-up at Metro may help get the agency on a new track. The general manager is stepping down after just three years on the job.

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) says John Catoe's retirement may mean a fresh start for the transportation system.

"I had been working with Mr. Catoe, but I understand the pressures that happened over these last several months of accidents, service issues," she says. "It's been a struggle."

Senators grilled Catoe last month on whether Metro leaders were aggressive in responding to accidents, including the June crash that killed nine people in northeast D.C.

Transit Subcommittee Chair Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) says the safety problems won't be fixed without more federal funding.

"They've taken sort of patchwork steps to make it safer, to overcome the deficiencies of the system," he says. "It's operating pretty well for a third-world transit system."

Details about Metro funding will become more clear when the President's budget is released in February.

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