Photo by Reid Rosenberg

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority spent $252,000 to send a handful of commuters to ride around it trains and buses in secret, testing the efficiency of the public transit system, but WMATA won’t say what the results are.

The Washington Examiner reports that although Metro is shelling out more than a quarter-million dollars on the secret-shopper program, the transit agency won’t share the findings. Metro refused the Examiner’s FOIA request citing proprietary information:

“We have withheld the reports because they contain observations and ratings that are intended to help WMATA fix any issues that arise relating to the Metrorail and Metrobus systems,” the agency wrote in a letter.

The reports also are used as training tools and may contain proprietary and confidential commercial information, it added, citing an exception in its “public access to records policy” for trade secrets at the public agency.

The Examiner reports that while WMATA has shared results of the mystery rider program in years past, this year, it’s far more secretive. All that’s known about the current program is that it is being operated by Synovate, a market research firm based in Falls Church.

Additionally, Metro has been getting stingier with releasing information in general. Public records requests take longer to get responses, and the agency no longer gives many details about disciplinary actions against its employees. It’s kind of odd, really. Two years ago to the day, WMATA was talking about opening far more of its data to the public’s view.