Catoe stepping down after three years at the helm –
Not even 24 hours after he sat down with leading D.C. bloggers, including my former colleague Tom Bridge of We Love DC, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager John Catoe announced he would resign on April 2. The move signals the end of Catoe’s rocky 3 years as WMATA head saw the nation’s second largest subway system suffer its worst accident on June 22 (Red Line crash is worst Metro accident ever ), several employees killed on the job, a number of suicides on the tracks and worsening service. To blame Catoe, a D.C. native, for these incidents would be unfair, but he has not been able to reverse the trend. Catoe’s career was more focused on buses than rails which may have hindered his time in charge. His quote about the safety problems becoming “an unhealthy distraction” is telling though. Safety problems are not what I call a “distraction.” Ultimately though, the problems of an aging system and the economic crisis has been Metro’s biggest problems.
As soon as I heard the news, I wondered if Dan Tangherlini would be a candidate to replace Catoe. In 2006, Tangherlini was interim general manager of Metro to great acclaim. He wanted the job permanently, but when the WMATA board wanted an extended search, Tangherlini took a job with the Adrian Fenty administration (Tangherlini leaving Metro to return to District government). I remember when Tangherlini left I told a few people that he might get another shot someday. I don’t envy him if it is now though, the outlook for Metro is grim on just about all fronts.
