I have been a frequent rider on Washington’s Metrorail
since moving to this area in July 1982, when I retired from the army and joined
the Foreign Service. Having lived in a number of countries before and after
1982, I am a firm supporter of efficient mass transit in urban areas, and until
recent problems began plaguing Metrorail, particularly the Red Line, which is
my main method of transportation around the metro area, viewed DC’s system as
one of the world’s finest. I’ve been a passenger on the rail systems in New
York City, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, and Seoul, and viewed our
system as one of the most orderly and efficient.
Until recent arguments among the jurisdictions over
funding, increasingly frequent breakdowns on the Red Line, and a degradation of
order and cleanliness throughout the system, I would never have believed that
our system would be in trouble. Alas, it seems to lurch from problem to
problem, with no end in sight.
Unlike other urban mass transit systems, Washington’s
Metrorail doesn’t have a dedicated budget, but must rely instead on
contributions from the three political entities it services, the District of
Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. In dire need for funds to upgrade in order to
merely maintain a modest level of efficiency, the political hassles among the
jurisdictions threaten even the now somewhat-degraded service.
I continue to support the system, though, because it
is necessary. No urban area can thrive without efficient, affordable mass
transit. It makes sense, in terms of helping the economy and protecting the
environment. There is, however, another reason it should be strongly supported,
and not just by the local political jurisdictions, but the national government
as well, and one that has not, to date, been a part of the public discussion.
As a diplomat for over thirty years, I’ve observed the
negative effects of the divides between social, political, ethnic, and economic
classes in places around the world, both in developed and developing countries.
While ethnic differences will always be with us, and economic disparities can
only be partially mitigated, the factor that aggravates them is the
communication divide that exists within societies. When people of these
different demographics get few opportunities to know each other, their views
are shaped by impressions and propaganda. When they are put in situations where
they actually get to ‘know’ each other, those impressions often
change—sometimes for the better.
That is what I’ve seen on Metrorail. When I first came
to Washington, DC in the late 1960s, and Metrobus was the only form of mass
transit, interactions between and among the area’s various social and economic
classes were limited and fleeting. A laborer from Silver Spring seldom had
extended contact with a stock broker residing in an affluent Potomac
neighborhood, and that stock broker had probably never seen where the man doing
his lawn lived. Metrorail went a long way toward changing that.
Before I retired in 2012, in particular during two
assignments in Washington—two years working in Rosslyn with the State
Department’s Office of Defense Trade Controls and three years as Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense, with an office in Crystal City, I was a daily
commuter on Metro’s Red, Orange, Blue, and Yellow Lines. Not only did I have
the opportunity to sit cheek by jowl with residents from neighborhoods from all
over the area, but saw many of those areas during the surface portion of my
commute. I heard dozens of languages spoken, often had conversations with bored
fellow riders who, after a few minutes vented about jobs or family problems,
and observed the dress and mannerisms of a broad swath of the population. Five
years of people watching gave me a better sense of the area than did
thirty-five years of reading and watching the local news reports. It also
helped me develop a more inclusive sense of community, and contributed to my
decision to stay in the area after retirement. I see myself as a citizen of a
diverse community, where all the different flavors, like the new M&M
multi-colored candies, add up to a most satisfying whole.
So, for all these reasons, I entreat the powers that
be to take a broader, more inclusive view of mass transit in this area. In
addition to helping people move about better for economic reasons, and
protecting the environment, maintain the system in order to continue building
the Washington area’s sense of community. In a time when partisan divides
threaten our unity more than ever, we need something to pull us together. A
one-hour political speech won’t get the job done, but a one-hour commute can
get it started.
