WASHINGTON — The new general manager named earlier this week by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will not start the job until late summer, the agency announced, leading to the appointment of an interim general manager.
WJLA-TV reports Andy Off, an executive vice president at WMATA, will serve as the interim GM of the agency until the new permanent holder of the position, Randy Clarke, arrives. No exact start date has been determined.
Clarke, currently CEO at Capital Metro in Austin, Texas, was named Tuesday as the general manager of the problem-plagued DC Metro system, replacing retiring general manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld. He told the TV station he plans to “double down” on the focus on fixing the Metrorail system. That system has been operating with less than half its railcar fleet since its 7000-series cars were sidelined in the wake of an October derailment [see “Repair process for Metrorail cars …,” Trains News Wire, March 25, 2022].
METRO is blessed to have many competent and dedicated employees of all ethnic back rounds, now if those few “equity” types could possibly be weeded out! Good luck to new GM, he’s going to need it. Those few incapable and lazy “bad apples” have finally caught up with METRO. As a strong supporter of labor unions I wish that we could get rid of the few who make everyone look bad. Not to mention the inadequate and ineffective manager and HQ types that plague their white collar positions. I was in the Metro Center station the other day and a typical DC street person was in this poorly lighted station scarring many visiting families, especially the children. Do the security cameras work? If they do is anyone monitoring them? This went on for 20 minutes, until the most alarming individual got on a train; where were the police?? We’ve got to stop making excuses for subpar employees and subpar management employees (this includes the non-existent response of law enforcement). METRO is not suppose to be a “make work” project.