Metro General Manager John Catoe held a roundtable with the press yesterday morning to take a look back at his first year as the city’s top transit official. Both the Washington Post and the Examiner went with ledes focusing on the amount Catoe said Metro needs immediately, between $125 million and $150 million, for repairs to tracks, power stations and platforms. Catoe told reporters that Metro doesn’t have the money to make these crucial repairs, and that he plans to present the agency’s capital needs to the Metro board next month in order to review options for funding them.

WTOP concentrated more on Catoe’s focus on safety in his first year, given the number of passenger and employee deaths that had occurred just before he took over Metro. Catoe also said that reliability will be the major focus of his second year, and that he has made fixing brakes and doors on some older model rail cars a top priority.

Catoe is hosting a live chat right now Friday at noon on WMATA’s web site for passengers who’d like to direct questions to the General Manager.

Photo by Eye Captain