As i look back over the last year, i believe the board and the Management Team and employees have a lot to be proud of, regardless of what was just said. First and foremost is the Safety Culture is taking root at metro. It is. Ive seen it. It started, to be frank, when we shut the system down for the blizzard. And i particularly front line people were coming up to me and saying, finally someone gets it. They understand the risk we put ourselves at and our customers at when we try to put out service in 24 inches of snow. It just does not make sense from a safety perspective. Clearly that point was further driven home in march, a week after i spoke here last time, when we shut down the system for the cable inspection. And again, i think that reinforced, obviously to the customers, to our employees and the stakeholders that we take safety as seriously as we should and we will going forward. Just to talk certainly after that in late spring we announced the safe track program. Again a very heavy lift. It is amazing to me to see the transformation that is occurring out there on the system. You dont see it or feel it as much but the miles of work that weve done, it is just unbelievable. The quality of work thats been done, i like to put it this way. If i knew november 30th of 15 what i know today, i would have started the program november 30th of 15. And i know that we have had hiccups along the way, but believe me, those are extremely minor compared to what were up against and what were doing out there. I want to give our employees again, theyve been working through 100degree days and tremendous heat and now theyll go into winter to do the work. Theyve been working 24 7 for weeks at a time. We are very fortunate to bring in laura mason to run that program. Another top flight person that wee were able to bring in to do that. We also one of the things ive heard repeated, and i heard it when i was out and met some people going down under the potomac to inspect some of the tracks down there. What theyve said to me repeatedly is we can do this work. We just need the time to get out there and do this and get it right. Weve been doing this piecemeal for years if not decades. And this is not the way to do it, and they know it. They know what is right and what is wrong. If you were, you know, if you were painting a Big Office Building if you had to point half a wall every night and then shut down and restart the next day just doesnt make sense. Thats the same way they feel. Let me get out there and do the work and well correct it and move on. So im very pleased with everything that theyve been doing on that with the safe track. Weve replaced all the orange boots in our system. Its to been an issue. Weve done that in all the underground systems and are wrapping up on the above ground which is much less of an issue. Weve replaced all the porcelain insulateors, which was an issue historically in terms of insulators. Weve done that. Weve basically, the biggest thing that ive seen is our employees now are bringing up the issues, which is exactly what you want in a Safety Culture. Some of the speed restrictions youve seen, theyre not coming from management. Theyre coming from the line people out on the system. Thats exactly where they should be coming. Just about two or three weeks ago, we had a gentleman in our engineering field that basically raised an issue with the 4,000 series and a certain test we were not doing that we should have been doing for years. He raised that issue and raised it around by one. By rush hour that day we had pulled all those cars off the line. And that is exactly what we should be doing if we take safety serious, and we do. Also, ive gotten literally hundreds of suggestions from employees. And they are reporting issues. Again, thats is exactly what we want to see from our employees. I personally met with just about every employee in some manner or another. I meet with all new employ eyes and stress the Safety Culture. And i put it to them in the most simplest terms i can think of, which is i think of them, think of the most Vulnerable Person in your life. The most Vulnerable Person, whether its your child, whether its your parent, your partner, doesnt matter who it is. Your job is to keep that person safe. And you come to work every day, and thats the way you should be thinking. And i think that is. I know thats the way they think. And well continue that. In terms of service liability and Customer Service, the second priority for the team, weve accelerated the delivery of the 7000 series cars. Last year, this time, we were getting eight cars a month. Weve gotten that up to 20 a month working closely wither team and caw salky to do that. Thats put 27 trains out in the field and that deals with lots of issues. Much better product. Deals with lighting, the Communication System and also gets the 1000 series off the line sooner. Some of those being 40 years old. We also instituted a grace period for our customers. Historically, wed basically charge a customer if they got on this system and there was some issue on the system when they left and take a ride, theyd have to pay us. We put a 15minute grace period. If there was an issue theyd make the choice to get out of the system and not have to pay. Weve introduced a concept called my time and what that is, its a great little product we put out there. Register your smart card, if you have a smart card, and monitor your trip from whatever destination you may have. From Union Station up to widley park, we basically time what that should take you from the minute you tap in to walk down to the platform. Take the average of what the train should be there and the time to walk out. When you tap out. You can monitor what was your Actual Experience compared to what it should be. So that is a great product and well continue ill talk more about that in a minute. We did introduce a new website that is particularly geared toward mobile users and much more friendly to our customers. Well do that as a beta test, live in december. Also testing wifi at our stations. Weve also introduced a concept that is in very popular in the community which is volunteers to help customers get through the system. So we have 20, what we call metro volunteer programs, mvps, and they come out every weekend, basically, and help customers, visitors to the region. Just walking through the system. How to deal with the fair bucks machine and stuff like that. An Important Program put in place and well continue to build on that. The third priority we can all be proud of things weve achieved and some that im not necessarily proud of but that needed to be done. Thats on the fiscal side. A big priority of mine is to increase accountability across the board. Starts with me but to every employee that works at metro. One of the first things i had to do was to educate those nonrepresent employees. Those employees not represented by labor unions that they were atwill employees. That they were in management positions and needed to perform to that level. We also introduce a much stricter ethics and nepotism policy. We have had issues in that area. And so weve set the boundaries very clear for people to understand. And unfortunately, i have had to do a number of terminations either for professional conduct or work rules not being followed. And i dont like to do that, obviously, to impact someones livelihood, but we all have to be held to a certain standard and we have to enforce that. Weve also had to deal with the budget realities. For last year, this current budget year, ive had to eliminate 500 positions. Not a proud moment, but an action that needed to be done from a management per spective. And i am proposing another 500 in the upcoming budget. Ive also reduced the health cost. Some of the payments weve been making for the nonrepresented employees. Not necessarily the nicest things to do but given the budget realities were up against that we have to do. We have to focus on the core mission that we do. So we spend some effort on there. One example, the reason we shut down the metro center sales offices or the sales offices, one is at metro. It was leftover of a different era of how we used to buy tickets. We were serving. 003 of our passengers. So we basically have eliminated those that function. I think we have to do that across the board. Continue to look at things that arent core to our mission. Our Capital Program basically, weve been projecting to spend about 1. 2 billion a year on a capital budget. Were spending about 65 of that. That does not that is not good for our jurisdictions because they are making financial commitments and decisions, expecting us to spend through those dollars and we havent been doing that. Last year, we came in at 85 . In the current budget that i proposed last december, i basically reduced it to 950 million for the board to consider but with one caveat, that is, if i can get this back in shape, well come back for an amendment and so we did that about two weeks ago and back up to 1. 2 billion. And then finally, we did have a clean audit this year. An audit without new findings this year and we had it on time. First time in three years weve done that. I want to thank the chairman and jim corcoran for helping with that. So these are some of the things but, believe me, we have a very long way to go to turn metrorail, but i know we are on the rise. One of the most rewarding aspects of this job, though, has been to meet people like you and other people and the passion that they bring for this system and for this region. And particularly, the employees. So i have asked a number of my employees to come in. These are the station managers, the people that run the rock, the operation center. I see my favorite custodian here from Union Station. Thank you for coming in today. These a number of these people have received recognition by our customers. But ive gotten to know them. Sometimes they see me seeing them but not always. They are always professional. They bring a certain pride to this organization, and its the pride we want to build on and well continue to build on. See gain, thank you for all you do. [ applause ] turning to next year, i want our customers to know that i get it. That you get it. That we get it at metro. That base icalically, very simp, safety is a given. That should be a basic given and we know that. They want the trains to run on time and the buses to run on time. Thats what they want. Thats what were going to focus on 17 going forward. Its interesting. We have talked to a number of our customers through surveys and other means. The thing what they say to me is they remember a lot of them remember when it was a great system. They know it can get back there but theyre saying, dont blow smoke. Just get it back to good first, and then well go to the next level. And they recognize that. They know what were up against. So in 17, well be doing a number of efforts to get us back to good. Around three things. One will obviously continue on the safety side of the house. Were going to put a much greater emphasis on Customer Experience, particularly with regards to the reducing in number of delays. The delays due to car issues and then were going to improve their environment, particularly in the stations. Were also doing things like that but hearing from the public is particularly focused on the rail. So thats what we will be doing. So we also want to establish a number of customer driven metrics in and around basically our basic performance and hearing from them what their point of view is on how we do it . And then i want to use that as the management tool for accou accountabili accountability. Youll find more of that in the back to good details. I want to highlight a little more on each of those in terms of safety. Again, its always the number one priority. Tom mentioned that we have had an issue with red lights, for instance. Red signal overruns and were moving with pats guidance to use technology to prevent that from happening. Were going to restrict the speeds on our cars so they cannot do that and overrun speeds in general. Were also addressing near misses of either our workers or inspectors that are on the line creating technology that alerts those inspectors and those people on the line of an oncoming train and more importantly, alerts the operator of the train that theres someone on the track around the bend in front of them. So well be doing that. One that is very important for our customers is they want more telephone access in the system, cell phone access. We all now are linked to these things, and the minute that something you dont feel comfortable, you turn to it. You cant do that if youre in between some of our stations. By the end of the year, well have the red line. The east side of the red line totally done and the east side of the blue line from metro center east that youll do that. In terms of Customer Service experience, and improvements, to do tharkts basically we have to focus on two major things and thats the track related issues and the issues with our cars. When safe track ends in the end of this fiscal year, basically well have for the above ground system a system at good repair. We havent been there in a decadeplus. We still have issues underground. If anyone has been from Dupont Circle up to medical center, you know the moisture issues we have there. Thats a longer term issue. But we will have the above ground system at a state of good repair. And as we do that, and as we do the preventi ivive maintenance we will be doing, but we have to do that preventative maintenance so we dont slip backwards. We plan on cutting the delays by 50 . Well reduce the number of track delays, unplanned track delays by 50 as we continue to focus on the safe track and then preventative maintenance. Cars is a whole other issue. And the issue is either we dont dispatch the cars, or the ones we dispatch break down, which is even worse for our customers. Were going to improve that. One, we will be doubling the amount of 7000 series cars that we have today into the system. That will becausically represent about onethird of our fleet during the peak periods. And thats a much better product. Youve already seen some of that. Most of you have probably experienced those as theyve come online. Well be doubling that. Well be moving to all acar trains will be 7000 series by the end of 17 as well. We will be eliminating both the 1000 and 4000 series out of the fleet by the end of 17. Those are our the most difficult ones to keep maintained and to keep running. In addition, the team has created a getwell plan which well talk about more at the board tomorrow in detail. But basically, its the deal with the core issues of propulsion, braking, doors issue, which cause offloadings and things of that issue which drive people nuts. And we understand that. So with that program, combined with the 7000 and getwell program, we anticipate cutting unplanned customer delays due to train car issues by 25 by 17. And well continue to improve on that. Although another issue again is just the Customer Experience. Were going to do a number of things on the station front. We clean the stations every four years. Well be moving forward to all 91 stations annually. So well be starting that in 17. We are replacing our p. A. System. Were using the voice well be using a voice to text basic technology to do that so you arent dealing with the different voice tones coming out of the rail operations center. They can type in what the issue is and it comes across as a consistent issue. It will be interesting. Then well see how bad your speakers are. Rath thaern spend a lot of money on speakers, now we have a constants and can go after that. Well be doing that in 17. As i mentioned earlier, we will be eliminating the 1000s and 4000s. To put that in perspective, every evening, imagine this whole fleet coming in. You are jockeying this entire fleet. You have to move the 1000s and 4000s. They cant lead the car. So literally, you have all these maintenance and other either planned maintenance or unplanned maintenance. They have to jockey that entire mix. Three levels of chess they have to do. So what were going to do is move to basically, after why move the 1000s and 4000s out, all 2000s together, all 3000s and 6000s together. That helps with the communication. Part of the communication is when you mix them. They dont work, the different technologies. So well be doing that. And finally, i will be signing a Senior Member of my team to be a champion for a number ever stations, and to be held responsible for the overall condition of those stations. To cut across some of the stove tops that do exist sometimes in an organization like this. Finally, in terms of another initiative, another focus for us in 17, is what were calling Customer Service metrics. Today we use a number of metrics to sort of assess where we are. Some are for the board. Some are internal. My favorite ones are mean distance between failures and mean distance between delays. I still dont know what they mean. Its a term that they keep explaining to me every time i hear it and it needs to be interpreted because its not in english to me. What we will be moving forward is with i mentioned earlier, my trip time. We want to create an app that allows you similar ways or to google, for instance, where you know what your trip is and whats the real time its taking to do that trip. Or you can let people know whats going on. We are reaching out. Today im asking, we have a lot of develop Technology People in this region. Were asking for their assistance to partner with us. We have a program up in place. A lot of smart people here that have gotten very engaged with the system. I want to tap into their talent and hope theyll come forward and help us with that as we do that. I can tell you or score for that if you go and look at your score in efoects, were hitting 2 about 68 of the time. The trip should take you five minutes. Were only doing that 68 of the time. That is not good. We want that as the metric we can judge ourselves and the customer can judge how well were performing. Were also launching a new Customer Experience raining metric. We do quarterly surveys for our employees. A real survey that gives a good sense of whats going on. We have 34 factors. Weve reduced those to three and combined a number of these things. Theyll be around service reliability. Service reliablity, Customer Service and personal safety and Security Service liability, was the train there in a reasonable amount of time or not . Was the bus there . How do the bus operators, how do they interactwith our customers. And personal safety both police and in terms of just the feeling that they are they feel comfortable in our system. So well be doing that. We have been doing that. So weve created the first mockup of that based on the data we have. The scores are not anywhere near we need to be. They report it at 68 . Our Customer Service at 79 . Thank you for employees that do that. And our personal safety and security at 70 . So were going to combine that into one number, which basically gets us at 70 and thats going to be the mess rick that we use and that the customers are giving us to judge ourselves rather than us coming up with some technical thing that is internal to our mindset. You will see that coming in 17. And all of this is, again, sort of this back to getting good concept that i talked about. Let me wrap up because i see lots of questions coming in with a few final points. Before i open it up for questions. First, the safety improvements, the Customer Experience you can find more detail on that on our website with the back to good tag line so you can see that in more detail. Second, i am confident of the next year that well improve the experience for our customers and know it because theyre going to tell us what their experience is. Its not going to be us telling them. Well have data that shows that and well hold our people accountable for moving those numbers. And third, from the writers, Business Community and all the jurisdictions, i just have profound appreciation for this report youve given me over the last year through some difficult times and difficult choices and news ive had to bring to you. But i give you my full commitment, ill work as hard as i can to bring this system both back to good and to greatness as soon as i condition can. With that, ill be glad to take any questions. [ applause ] as you can guess, we do have a lot of questions. I wanted to start by asking you to briefly talk to us about some of the tough decisions youve had to make this year, specifically shutting down the entire system in march. Sure. That decision was watch yourself there. Sorry. That decision is thought of two ways. In some ways, it was clearly the most difficult decision that ive ever had to make in my career. Spanning some 35 years. But it was also one of the easiest decisions. The difficult part of the decision was understanding the impact i was going to have on people that rely on us to get arou around, that literally have no other options. Clearly the impact on the economy and the region and even our reputation in the nation and in the world crossed my mind. All those were factors. And i took a little break, to be frank, before i made that final decision. Spent some time with my wife. Spoke to some other colleagues of mine that i had confidence in. And then it became the easiest decision ive ever made because it got down to, who is the most Vulnerable Person in your life . It got down to that. I could not get beyond that in terms of, i couldnt get data not that people couldnt were hiding data. We just didnt know what we had. So then we came up with a very easy decision from that perspective. A decision that had to be made very quickly, and in heiindsigh i wish i had time to warn people but when you have manage like that staring in front of you, its much easier to go that way. Why did metro underestimate the severity of the original safe track feats . Its a combination of issues there. I think one is, over time, there has been competing needs for eventually our business comes down to time and money. So you need time to do work and, as some of that time has slipped away, thats impacted us. So in 1998, we had 25 more time than presafe track to do maintenance. Over time that is done. Thats a good reason. Im not saying bad reasons, its just a fact. And the other is dollars. It takes dollars to do this work. So i think the combination of those, over time, which then fed a culture of accepting what was out there. Which then permeated throughout the entire organization, and thats exactly what were wrestling to turn around. Briefly if you could talk about, how are you managing the prioritization of selecting the Capital Projects for strategic initiatives. The first call is safety related. And very close to that is what can we do for the customers. The 7000 does both. Basically does away with the 1000 series which the ntsb has said you need to get those off the property as quickly as you can, which were doing, but also provides a much better product. Thats generally how well continue to do this. The needs, like any major organization, whether its roads or education, the needs are always much larger than you ever have the dollars with. You have to prioritize around some of your core values of both the agency and more importantly, the region and the customers. To me its safety and the Customer Experience. Youve talked about 2017 a lot here. But metro riders hear these numbers and its three years down the road they see it. How many years to get through a lot of these goals you have . I think we all have to realize, you know, we have a 40yearold system. Its aging by the minute. So those there will be other issues that come along. Theres just no doubt about that. But i think we can get to a state where basically we basically create where we were very close to it and maintain it but it will take time n money. At the end of the day, thats a regional decision to make but im not going to be shy about bringing it up. Previous mess row management failed to keep metro in good condition. Has anyone been held accountable for that work or nonwork . I think, without being too flippant, but there have been a lot of very smart people that come and run this agency. People that run Major Properties around the country, major organizations. They didnt all of a sudden get stupid here. There are some unique challenges here. I dont think you can point to any particular manager and say had that manager done Something Different. They dealt with what they had in front of them, just as i am. But we are Holding People responsible, and we are part of it is, to be frank, its been management and not only the high management, executive management but middle management. Weve lost touch with our front line employees. Basically getting them to buy into what were doing. Listening to them. Its a combination of that so there are times when, unfortunately, ive had to let people go, and there will be times in the future well do that. But thats not the goal. The goal is to get them to perform, all of us to perform at a higher level. That will be our focus. Im cur yurks if you knew then what you know now, would you have taken this job . Look at my wife. Close your ears. No, this has been the greatest job that ive ever had the opportunity to be, both in terms of the people im interacting with, the challenges were up against, in terms of what it means. To basically be able to touch in effect, almost a million people, or a million passengers a day. Thats pretty unique opportunity. You dont get many of those in your lifetime. Lets talk about some of the plans youve made. In your worst case scenario, you laid out previously, why were a majority of the proposed station closings east of the anacosta river . We did not propose that. What we did as any business if you had a franchise, a dry cleaners, and you are looking at your numbers at the end of the year, youd look at the numbers and lowest performing numbers. Thats what we did. We looked at it across the system, whether bus routes, whether stations. So we looked at, are some of these stations, how often are they used and are there times that maybe we could shut some of those down for a portion of the time . So we didnt apply that layer of analysis because it wasnt done that way. It was just to illustrate as you work through some of these things, thats one way to cut it. It was not what we recommended. But i think it was important for people to understand, these are tough decisions that were starting to wrestle with. So one example, i wont get into some of the ones in some of the communities you mentioned. Judicial square on saturday or sunday. A block and a half away from gallery place. Does it make sense to staff that for all the hours they are policed at . Or could we live with someone walking a block . Those are things we have to wrestle with as we go forward given the financial realities. Business has to provide Something Different than what a government has to provide, right . A website makes decisions on where profit is, but government has to serve the neediest of citizens. No, that is thats what we do. Thats the business were in. And the reality is that our financial structure reflects that. We only cover about 50 of our operating costs on the rail side and cover none of our capital because thats what were in. Were in the business of providing a public service. We get all that. But i think also public service, Public Servants need to come at it with a bit of a business sense because at the end of the day, we are using other peoples dollars, to the tune of almost 3 billion. So its my responsibility to make sure thats im providing the best choices to the board and a basis for them to consider. Its a policy decision they have to weigh lots of things. But i think its a disservice if i dont bring to them some of that to the table as well. Theres a comment made by a councilman in the district, not the gentleman next to me but somebody else, about the silver line. Would you support cancelling the silverline in virginia and its suburbs if they dont contribute more money to metro . I think really im not going to get into the specific comment comments. This is a 40 billion Capital Investment that we have. It is key to the social fabric of this community. It is our alternative to traffic conjunction at the population gro grows. So i think we as a region need to come to grips with the funding issues and its been kicked around for years. It reinforces that. I do not think we should stop the silver line. I think its a great project. You can go out there and see whats happening. Its a great adition to the system. It is a regional project. And thats what the system does. So im very supportive of it. But i think it does speak to larger issue that both the chairman and a number of people in the region have been wrestling with for a number of years and particularly now. Do you believe that the compact can be rewritten . Again, i think thats a large policy issue that involves both the congressional portion of our region, as well as locals. And the local jurisdictions. And thats a tough one for them to work through. But, again, theres been study upon study thats talked about the need to revisit that. Since were on the revenue side. New sources of revenue are needed. Ticket fares, taxes, Lump Sum Payments from jurisdictions nearby are not enough. What alternatives are you looking at . And is there a possibility you could persuade some jurisdictions to charge developers and commercial businesses the profit off being directly located near metro stations . Sure. We you know, to be frank, we dont need to look at them. The Washington Council government has a number of studies that go through saelss tax or property tax or added value. The numbers part is the easy. We can do that in half a day. We can generate the dollars on paper. The real lift there, obviously, is getting the region to come to grips with it and make the hard decisions that you have to make. And thats complex, obviously, when you have four Major Players and some different agendas there. It was sort of, you know, rooted in the original compact. Clearly thats something that you would want to consider as you go forward. The incoming administration. Now that elaine chao is going to be the transportation secretary, do you foresee better chances for increased funding for the system . I dont know. Unfortunately, i do not know her directly. So im looking forward to meeting her. The larger issue there is both candidates ran on the need for major infrastructure investment. And, you know, if any analysis would show wed come pretty high up in that priority list. So ill be very vocal in making thats case. That, look, we have disinvested like lots of other infrastructure in this country, you can think of airports and Different Things like that. Were in the Nations Capital with all the visitors from around the world and we have a system that were not very proud of. And i think thats a disgrace. So youll not mandate that members of congress have to take metro or something to help hes not answering that one. A couple Union Members in the audience want to know, will there be an effort to survey Union Members in a way that would be nonpunitive to get their take on management . Definitely. In fact, i know that our chief operating officer has met with union people with the union organization. We have to break down that barrier. Theres no doubt about it. Ive been dealing with transit agencies for decades. There is this kurculture of us m between Union Members and management. It makes no sense. The reality is were all together in this. Were not a private business. We dont make money off of the workers. I dont get more money because of something. Thats not the way it works. Thats not the model we have here. The model is we are here together to deliver a product to our customers thats basically need something from a social Service Perspective in a lot of ways and for development perspectives. Weve got to look for opportunities to do that. It will take effort on both of our parts. We have to step back from some of the approaches weve been taking but i expect also the union to step back for the approach theyve been taking. Are you going to be able to forecast metro ridership or talk about ridership for the next 12 to 15 months and how to safe track impact that level . I cant predict numbers. I mean, what i can do is focus on what we control. When i was running bwi for a decade, we were going through things, sars, if you remember, and the price of set fuel and all these things driving the market crazy. And so, i said, look. Lets stop focusing on those issues. Folk ous what we do. And what we did there was focus on being the best easy come, easy go airport we can be. And thats what well do. The same thing we have to do here. Lets focus on what we can do. I cant control the price of fuel, a gallon of gas. If it stays at 2 down to 1. 50 or up to 5. As those thachange, the market changes. What we can control are the delays from not fixing or preventing maintenance on the tracks and we can fix the vehicles. Thats what well focus on and focus on our employees being more customer centric. Im interested, what is the history of the fare for buses and subway in d. C. , and how does that compare to other jurisdictions like new york, l. A. . I dont know the history. Im sure theres quite a bit of history any time you talk fares, there is. But i think generally, we are in the ballpark of the range because you have to look at weve created a system that both charges for peak service and distance. And thats fairly unique in a lot of systems. But that was a policy decision made years ago. I know that the chairman is asking we look at a flat rate. Theres a lot of the dollars that move around on that. Thats a tough decision for the region to deal with if they have to deal with that. Its not been a big focus of mine right now given the other things on my plate. Theres not a is there any legitimate talk of changing that from a distancebase ed fare to flat fare . It rises on an annual basis. The question from the audience. They heard salaries are among the highest in the country for metro. How does the compensation for metro workers compare to other systems . Its definitely you can pull out numbers and show cases where people are making very high money. No doubt about that. When you think of our business, the transit industry, the way that the salaries this is im talking about the labor side of the house, the way those salaries are negotiated in effect, you are negotiating across the country. When we negotiate, were being compared to san francisco, l. A. , chicago, new york. Thats the way it works. And thats because when we get to binding arbitration, thats what comes to the table. So they can say, well, look. Heres where the other properties are. So were in that framework. Now individually, through overtime, those numbers can go up quite a bit. Thats a different issue. And that, to me, is more of a management issue in terms of both the number of oomemployees have how were allocating the overtime and service thats drives overtime. There are things there we can do to tamp that down as best we can to spread it out more. Which would bring down some of the individual salaries. Shift gears here. There were a lot of police got their new high visibility jackets. There seems to be more Police Patrolling in the stations. How about the crime reports, how have they changed since that change . The crime in the system is extremely low. But, you know, god forbid, youre the victim of a crime, and they get a lot of visibility. Its just natural. You are in a closed system, whether its a car or one of the stations, and sometimes youre there with a few people. So i get it. I feel that as well. Anyone would. But i do know its a very safe system, and our police have done a fantastic job. One of the first things i did raise with our chief was i had a moment of not despair, but frustration, i guess. I said to him, chief, we try to camouflage our Police Officers better. We have to do something about that. Key he came out with that program. Hes also moved a lot of people out from behind desks. So theres a much larger presence and well continue that. But there will be spikes. Theres no doubt about it. And there will be incidents like there are on the street of any community. But it plays out sometimes in our system. Do you believe it helps with oh, definitely. Crime is going down . Well, the numbers are basically yes, we have a goal. Were below that goal right now. But that will go up and down. We some communities, we go through turf issues. All kinds of things play out on our system. Some run our system for safety. Thats telling as well. What is metro doing to reduce the bus bunching and improve the speed of bus boarding . A number of things. The bus bunching, its, as we all know, you get on some of these congested roadways and thats what happens. And its not unique to here. Its in every transit system. So were trying to do that in terms of allocating resources differently. We monitor on the street to try to break that up. In terms of boarding, weve attempted several attempts to move to a smart card entrance. But theres certain members, certain parts that just cant get there. They cant afford to put a large amount of money on their smart cards or cant get to them conveniently because of where their neighborhood is. It takes time for people to put change in and stuff like that or load up their card. So thats just a reality that we have right now. Are Ride Sharing Companies like uber or lyft having any impact . I dont have any data on that, but, yes, im sure they do. Just as bike share has, just as some of the development has driven to better walking options. And those arent things that i control and or i think its a plus. Because at the end of the day people make their trip however they do it. Well be part of that trip. Sdrnt need to be we dont need to be the only trip they make all day. We can be part of that. And that makes for a very healthy community. So we support that. Speaking of changes. Theres been a lot of discussion around the future of mobility and how transportation will change. The idea of Driverless Cars is out there, for example. Do you have any thoughts on how these consepcepts might impact metro in the future . Right now im not focussing on thats. I think it will be beyond my time. When can we expect Weeknight Service past midnight before the hours were curtailed. Weve proposed several optsions. One is until 1 00 a. M. On friday and saturday vngs. Well see what the board does with those recommendations. Would you spur and support an effort to have a rider representative on the board . I think thats where the Board Members are. They do reflect that. A number of them are riders. Im a riders. I think we get that. We have a Riders Advisory Committee for general riders. One for the accessibility community. They answer directly to the board as well. So we have that. Again, thats the board decision to do. Speaking of the board, would you support a requirement that Board Members ride the system on a weekly basis at a minimum . I think thats a decision for the board to make. They use the system. I talk to the members of the board. They do use the system. I dont see where someone is not saying, ive never used the system. Tell me what its about. In fact, i find the opposite. They come to me with the issues they experience. What is the status of labor negotiations with the local 689, and what are some of the sticking points with those negotiations. Sure. Labor any labor negotiation gets down to three things. Gets down to the salary issues, hourly rate issues against benefits, pension, Health Benefits and work roles. Every union ive ever dealt with, thats where it generally gets to. Were at the same place. Contract was up in june. They can linger for two and three years before theyre settled. So well go we will continue to meet with them. We reach an impasse, well go to binding arbitration. Were being positive and well continue to work that. Audience member wants to know what they why the 7000 series trains, the new trains, seem to be breaking down at a higher rate than the older cars . Thats not technically or factually correct. There are some issues. You have a new fleet. Youre going to go through issues, but the performance of those are basically on a contract. Theres one element thats not that were working wuths them. By and large, they are. We had some Software Issues with air conditioning, which we figured out. Some issues where they are think of that car versus 1000. Think how loose a 1000 series is. These are very tight and very sophisticated cars. We were having issues with the power shoe hitting the third rail because its not flopping around. Its new. So well work through all of those. But that is a very good product. Why do the yellow trains continue to stop at ustreet during rush hour and not continue through . Its because dan will have to help me out. Its basically to make sure we can get them back and forth to keep that system, or to keep that level of service for the rest of it, if we keep taking them further it reduces the overall availability of the service. And another question from the audience. Why do the info boards at every metro station often display incomplete or inaccurate information . Not sure what you are referring to there. I think they are talking about green light train in seven minutes when its actually 9 minutes or 12 minutes. Because i think people we now are so used to gps and just telling us everything almost instantaneous. Thats not what we have here. Its a model thats modeled what the predicts what it will be. It does not monitor the Actual Movement of the train. So thats the issue there. So were moving towards that. So were looking at whether we can get the 7000 on those. When we get the cell phone coverage, or that ability in the tunnels, that will give us an opportunity to get real data information. Right now its literally a thing i cant remember the mathematical term but its a mathematical equation predicting it. I didnt actually know that. You taught me something. What aspect of metros operations are you open to privatize, in addition to metro access . I think privatization isnt a bad word. Its not a good word. Its just another tool in the toolbox. So if theres opportunities where we can produce a better product cheaper, then we should look into it. So i will do that, regardless of where that leads. Its not to do at the expense of labor. In fact, i cant do that under federal law. But i think as, again, a 3 billion business uwe have to constantly think of ways to do things. Would you support encouraging murals or other art projects on subway walls or in subway station. The moscow subway is often looked at as very beautiful with chandeliers and paintings, murals. I have a bias there. I think we have iconic stations. I think now theyre not clean. Its one of the things we want to do this upcoming year. But that you can show that photo anywhere in the world, and you know its d. C. Its the d. C. Metro. And i think, you know, its a jewel for us. I was recently in barcelona. Theyve got signs and flashing lights and boards everywhere selling me everything. And just different product. And i think the concept, i think, was good, and now weve obviously have tweaked that a little bit. Put in some electronic signage down there, and advertising. But i think its a delicate balance because i think we really do have quite a system there. Another question from the audience. What are the chief obstacles to making the operating rails schedule consistent . Its the two things well be focusod. Getting the track to perform so we dont have to get out there n disrupt the service while something is going on and the other is to make sure once that we put a car out and it doesnt break or the trolly down king street in alexandria will come to d. C. Whereon. We do have the trolly of course but thats not part of it. Thats right. I got my own issues thank you. Getting down toward the end of the questions but i want to ask this one too. Why do they continue to focus in the suburbs when its in the downtown core. Great question. What we have been doing is dealing with basically ties. Wooden ties that are 20 and 30 years old in some cases that when i went out there and seen some of the ties i could pull it out of the rail so thats why we have been focussing on that. Its much different system under the tunnels, in the tunnels and its either on a slab or its on concrete so that the wear and tear is totally different there. There are issues there as i mentioned. There are floating slabs that we have that will need work for instance but primarily we have been focussing on those ties because they were the most dangerous going forward. Great. Before i ask the last question a quick reminder the National Press club is the leading professional organization for journalists and we fight for free press worldwide. Please visit our website at press. Org. Tomorrow the press club will host a forum in what the press got right and wrong in this years election coverage with the Washington Post media columnist and Abby Phillips of the Washington Post. The chief strategist and nbc National Correspondent Peter Alexander and press secretary and commission on the cochair mike mechanic murray. On friday well have the ceo and chairman of mgm. Id also like to present our guest for the National Press club. I believe you have a side of these now. One last question. This is a tough one. In 2008 metro came out highlighting the inauguration of the nations 44th president barrack obama. Will it do the same for our 45th president donald trump. Well work with the Transition Team and see what we come up with. There you go. Thank you, sir. We are adjourned. Talks about the november elections or the House Republican legislative agenda. Hell also discuss the leadership picks and on World Aids Day dr. Deborah burks looks at policy and funding for hiv and aids and where the mission of ending the epidemic is today. Be sure to watch the washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern thursday morning. Join the discussion. The cspan city tour along with our cable partner will explore the literary life and history of tempe, arizona. Learn about mans relationship with wildfires and efforts to change the narrative of fire and its role in the environment and the problem was good fires as well as bad fires out and its rather a long time. We tried to put it back in and that has been very difficult. And hear from Brook Simpson about the challenges of writing history. Im the person that tells that story and im going to try to do it as best i can. As honestly as i can. As balanced as i can but i get to do something fundamentally creative and say this is what i think happened. Then on American History tv on cspan 3 hear about the lives of u. S. Senator Barry Goldwater and their collections of personal and political paper and he was really responsible for cosponsoring and writing a huge amount of legislation that will benefitted the citizens of arizona and the citizens of the united states. His legacy was a legislative legacy. He was really a person who is an icon for the western united states. He was a person that represented the interests of the west. And jared smith, curator of history at the Tempe History Museum shows us the contributions made by Charles Hayden credited with founding tempe. Charles is originally born in connecticut and he comes out west during the course of his life. Travels over the santa fe trail. He runs freight and eventually makes it to arizona in the 1850s. The cspan cities tour saturday at noon eastern on cspan 2 book tv and on American History tv on cspan 3. Working with cities across the country. In this weeks session the Prime Ministers questions Prime Minister teresa may addressed the topics of brexit and