Say It Ain't So, Dan, Say It Ain't So
In January, the WMATA Board pushed out Richard A White, the longest serving WMATA General Manager after repetitive service problems and continuous management missteps.
In a stroke of genius, they placed Dan Tangherlini, an alternate board member representing the District, as Interim General Manager for a year, and the shift at Metro was instant and amazing.
Out was the arrogant attitude, out were crap buses and trains, and out was an overall dislike of the riding public. Or to quote the Washington Post:
In his first five months at Metro, rank-and-file workers say, Tangherlini has boosted morale with visits to rail yards, bus depots and other work sites, something the previous general manager never did.
Board members said Tangherlini, who has made customer service his top priority, has brought them fresh ideas and initiatives, often suggested by customers and employees. These include Metro's recent decisions to allow passengers to use credit cards to pay when exiting parking lots and to improve lighting in the dim underground stations.
In short, a complete change came over Metro, mainly they realized riders are customers, and customers demand respect.
For the last nine months, those same customers have been pushing WMATA's Board to take the "interim" out of Tangherlini title. While the Board waffled - NoVA representatives wanted someone more pro-Dulles rail and were suspect of Dan's pro-DC background - the politics in DC changed.
Adrian Fenty won the Democratic primary for DC Mayor, which assures his ascension to Mayor on November 7th, and in his own stroke of genius, offered Dan Tangherlini the District's city administrator role. To the great sadness of all Metro riders, Dan accepted the offer. Or to quote the WMATA Board:
"My heart is broken," said board Chairwoman Gladys Mack, who represents the District.
Our heart is broken too, especially since loosing Dan was the fault of the Board's infighting, or more specifically Chris Zimmerman, who represents Virginia. As the
Washington Post reports:
"I think we have to take the blame on this one," said Metro board Vice Chairman Charles Deegan, who represents Maryland. "We could have had Dan if our Virginia colleagues had been more cooperative."
If Tangherlini had been offered the Metro job before the Sept. 12 primary, "I would have accepted it without batting an eye," he said. "The problem is that maybe the politics kind of pushed that schedule out, and then I had this incredible opportunity. [..] It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference in this city I call my home town."
And that would be the only silver lining in the cloud now over WMATA - Dan's skills will not leave us, and as a District resident he's even still with me.
Post Author:
wayan | 11:00 AM |
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The railroad seems to have been running better since Tangherlini took the top post. I'm sad to see him go, but if I were in his position I'd leave too...the Metro board may or may not offer him the top job, so might as well take the sure thing with Fenty.
Unfortunately now the top Metro job will remain in limbo until the board finds a replacement.
