The Best Transit Manager in the Nation!

Photo courtesy of
‘Arriving’
courtesy of ‘Karon’

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has named Metro’s own John Catoe as the best public transportation manager of 2009.  APTA has credited Catoe for managing Metro well during Inauguration craziness, as well as improving safety system-wide in the wake of several Metro-related pedestrian fatalities.  Metro has started calling itself “The Best Ride in the Nation”, and with this honor, it doesn’t seem so off-base.

What do you think?  Has your commute gotten significantly better since January 2007, when Catoe began at Metro?

Shannon grew up in the greater DC area/Maryland suburbs, went to Virginia for college and grad school (go Hoos!), and settled in DC in 2006. She’s an urban planner who loves transit (why yes, that is her dressed as a Metro pylon for Halloween), cities, and all things DC. Email her at Shannon (at) WeLoveDC.com!

6 thoughts on “The Best Transit Manager in the Nation!

  1. Safety and Inauguration aside, what about the chronic $21M+ gap in the budget that WMATA continues to scramble to fill, with innovative ideas such as food vendors at stations – but retaining the ‘no food on Metro’ rule, or using stimulus bailout money specifically earmarked for shovel-in projects to be a band-aid? While he may certainly deserve such an award, it’s only putting a frilly doily on the fiscal mismanagement pig and calling it a beauty queen.

    Wow, apparently I needed to get that out…

  2. Anyone who rode the blue line this morning (like I did) can answer a big red “NO” to the last line’s question. The delays seem to be just as bad as ever, it still seems as though half of the stations have at least one escalator out of service at any given time… I guess I’m not seeing a big differance at all- and that would be fine, if not for the fact that the status quo wasn’t exactly a good thing.

  3. You guys expect too much. Get out and ride other transit systems around the nation. They suck a fat one. People get spoiled by Metro and then trash it. It sounds like kids who have a great mom that’s a little flakey and say “I hate you mom!!”

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