Congress is ramping up its oversight of Metro as Washington D.C. mass transit riders brace for a possible fare hike and transit officials embark to make long overdue safety changes while fighting a multi-million dollar budget shortfall.
President Barack Obama has requested $150 million in the 2011 fiscal year budget to continue bailing out the aged Metro system, with most of the money going to buy new rail cars, modernize existing equipment and improve the system’s safety features.
But the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation, housing and urban development, and related agencies is reluctant to hand over a blank check to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) without highly scrutinizing the steps it’s taking, especially in the wake of a scathing audit by the Federal Transportation Agency (FTA) that recently found Metro to have persistent and systemic problems.
Full story: Lawmakers ramp up their scrutiny of District’s troubled, aging Metro system – TheHill.com