As a result, there are now a great deal of investigations as to why the train crash happened.
First, as a tax dork, let me start off with the weirdest. Paul Carron at the Tax Professor Blog linked to many an issue regarding tax leases and buybacks, available here. The argument goes something like this. Using a certain provision of the code, Metro rented cars, then leased it to a for profit company, which got some tax credit, and paid Metro cash, since WMATA does not pay taxes. As a result, they could not get rid of these cars. That said, the people at Greater Greater Washington have pointed out too though that there are other issues going on. Remember too these cars serve as a major part of the fleet (about 1/3) and taking them all out of service would severely disrupt service, and retrofitting does not make much sense either. However, we should not underestimate how strange the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) can be.
The greater issue is the matter of funding. Greater Greater Washington points this out. So too has The Washington Post. A news article today raises the matter of funding. Doug Feaver also mentions the matter. Robert McCartney, who just started as the replacement of Marc Fisher, whom I loved on the local side of the Post, on his first week of the column also reports on this major matter. He points out that we can blame many people.
Infrastructure fixes are never sexy. The region has always had a problem with this. They are also inconvenient. Anyone who has dealt with switch fixes and single tracking on any of the lines (and I always managed to live in areas when they were scheduled for these major maintenance projects) knows the difficulty of waiting for the next train. However, the lack of funding and will to do this is the downfall of Metro, and quite frankly a lot of things.
That said too, Metro is incredibly safe, and really quite efficient. For example, while the Boston region does have the MBTA, it's trains are a mess. The red line works effectively. However, the major line is the Green Line, and it's really a light rail system for a dense area where heavy rail would work. The Orange Line does not come often. The Blue Line is just weird, and only useful to go to the Airport (or Wonderland). The Silver Line, much like the Green Line, is a glorified light system, or in this case Bus Rapid Transit. Still, it too is better than driving the streets of Boston. Another example for those nervous in DC is just look at the mess that the Beltway and other major highways in the region are. And not only that, but they are dangerous too.
Part of what this requires is for us to seriously think about transit and urban design. There are great benefits to that. While the average commute may take longer on theses systems, it often is easier than parking in many of these areas and still worth it for gas. Given global warming, they are helpful. Transit can spark new developments that could lead to better health outcomes too. Unfortunately, I fear that such an event like this will stop the conversation and return us to our dirty, and less safe, cars.
It is also important to realize what the Metro was and what it can be. Zachary Schrag in his book The Great Society Subway and his online project connected to it points to the system and its compromises. It also really does capture the ideals of the system, in my opinion. When you walk into a Metro station, it is modernist, no doubt. However, the ceilings are high. They are vaulted. The trains are clean. It is, in many sense, a wonderful monument in and of itself. It gets people moving. I also want to remind people that these powerful stories too cannot be lost amid the wreckage.
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