Metro Interim General Manager Richard Sarles. Photo by erin_m

Don’t expect a lot of revolutionary changes at Metro while Richard Sarles is sitting in the general manager’s chair. WMATA’s new interim leader only plans to be in the job for about six months, maybe a bit longer, but just until the board can hire a permanent replacement for John Catoe. In the meantime, Sarles is setting goals that fit in with that brief time frame. Ask the veteran transit leader a question about what’s in store for the future of WMATA, and he’ll circle right back around to the cornerstones of his short-term strategy: safety, reliability, and financial stability.

“We’re working on safety, we’re working on maintaining the system better than it’s been done in the past,” Sarles said Monday at a roundtable discussion with area transit bloggers. “It’s very basic stuff, this is a back to basics approach. There’s no glorious new announcements, but the service has got to be better. That’s what’s needed here.”

Sarles, 65, comes to WMATA with more than 25 years of experience in the transit industry, most recently as executive director of New Jersey Transit. In Washington, he’s taken the helm of a transit agency in crisis. A year of devastating safety breakdowns has resulted in the deaths of well over a dozen people, including Metro workers, rail passengers, and pedestrians struck by buses. The switch to all-manual operation after the June 22 Red Line crash has contributed to slower and less reliable service. And a $189 million budget deficit will force Metro’s board to adopt large fare increases and a number of service reductions that will go into effect at the end of June.

With so many serious challenges facing the system, Sarles has opted to focus first and foremost on correcting safety issues identified in a number of recent audits, including a bruising assessment from the Federal Transit Administration.

The Sarles plan calls for increased safety training, strengthened protections for whistle-blowers, a new incident tracking reporting system, a revised safety handbook, and rapid hiring to fill vacancies within the safety department. James Dougherty has already started as the new chief safety officer, and Sarles said Monday that he expects to fill the remaining vacancies within the next month.