With nearly half of Metro鈥檚 500 train operators having lapsed recertification and 72 of them being removed from service, riders are paying the price by waiting longer for trains Monday.
Terry Roegner arrived to the Huntington Metro Station in Alexandria, Virginia, just after 5 a.m. He had to wait another 29 minutes for a train to depart.
鈥淚t is something we鈥檝e experienced for the last year or so,鈥� Roegner said, referring to WMATA pulling the 7000 series rail cars, which was over half of the service鈥檚 fleet, over derailment concerns.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been twenty minutes, so another 10 is to be expected,鈥� Roegner continued.
Jim from Alexandria was also waiting on an early morning train. He blames management for certification issues.
鈥淪omeone lapsed on their duty. You know when certifications are due and if you don鈥檛, there seems to be a misjudgment in management,鈥� Jim said. 鈥淎s a manager you should be on top of your crew, your employees.鈥�
鈥淚t should be on management’s end to say, 鈥榊our certification is due.’鈥�
Roegner seemed uneasy about many operators’ lapse in certification due to training.
鈥淲ell it sounds a little questionable,” he said. “Hopefully they will get it straightened out before they put them back online.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also leveled blame at Metro management, saying it’s not a funding issue, “it is a management problem.”
“It has been disappointing to residents, workers, and visitors that, as D.C. has reopened, Metro has not been able to deliver the level of service we expect and deserve,” .
“This latest setback is frustrating for everyone who relies on Metro, and we expect that WMATA will provide the public with a full understanding of how this happened and how they will prevent it from happening again in the future.”
Other riders were still confident in Metro.
鈥淭hey have been driving all this time and they didn鈥檛 have the training prior,鈥� said Elic Cooper, who lives near the Huntington Station. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been doing a good job.鈥�
Jim said he wishes riders just got more of a heads up.
鈥淚f people had notifications prior, they can plan ahead and say let me come early because there is going to be a delay,鈥� Jim said. 鈥淵ou kind of knew this ahead of time and if you didn鈥檛, again, it is mismanagement.鈥�
In the meantime, Roegner said, 鈥淗ave plenty of patience, because you are going to need it.鈥�
