The chair of Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council was not reappointed by Metro’s board after their two-year term was up. Andrew Kierig says it’s because they were too critical of Metro.

The RAC serves as a voice of riders to Metro’s board, but the council often got short shrift and little attention. Metro’s board established the RAC in 2005 to advise on rider issues. It was originally made up of 21 members but was reduced down to 11 members from around the region. The whole council was nearly axed in 2018 when the transit agency sought to reshape rider input through its online platform “Amplify.” (Metro has since mothballed Amplify). The board decided not to cut the RAC and claimed it had nothing to do with members of Congress sending letters that told Metro not to cut the group.

Kierig decided to apply for the RAC after Metro tried to end the group. They became chair in 2020. Kierig is an Orange Line rider who has often documented their Metrorail commute from Virginia Square to Vienna and on to their job at George Mason University,

They often vocally pushed Metro to do better, using the RAC Twitter account to highlight rider issues and Metro shortcomings, like the lag of distributing masks to riders and establishing hand sanitizing stations. They also constantly begged Metro to communicate better with riders who were frustrated and confused by the changing service levels during the pandemic.

In an email to Kierig, Metro board chair Paul Smedberg said he appreciated Kierig’s time, effort and energy, but “We have decided to nominate other Virginia candidates… [that] more closely meet our needs at this time.”

Smedberg did not return a request for an interview on the matter, but a Metro spokesperson forwarded a statement: “The Council provides the Board with an opportunity to hear directly from rider representatives, and appointing new members and rotating leaders of the RAC ensures that the Board hears from the broadest and most diverse group of riders possible.”

Kierig said the RAC’s job is to provide advice to the board, but it was often met with “stone-faced silence.”

“As a RAC member and chair, I believed I had a particular obligation to advocate for those folks who weren’t in the room, and more than ever that means lower-income folks in retail and service jobs,” Kierig said. “Given how poorly WMATA has managed the pandemic response versus comparable transit agencies, I image they didn’t like what I was saying.”

Kierig said they will probably step back from Metro advocacy for now, but says they hope to be involved in the future.

Several other Metro watchers were angry with the decision, saying Kierig had been among the best advocates for riders.

Thursday, the board appointed Madison O’Conner and Brian Meyer of Virginia, Charmaine Todman-Nwanji of Maryland and Andrew Tsui as an at-large member. They also reappointed Rebekah Mason and Caroline Barraco. Bios were not available.

Metro said it used a grading system to pick new members, based on their ridership habits, where they lived, their essay, community and volunteer involvement, how they would tackle community feedback, and their own knowledge of Metro issues.

The transit agency accepted new applications last summer and picked from that pool of 80 people.

Metro Board Has Several Vacancies

Metro’s Board of Directors, which oversees management and sets the budget and high-level policy, has four openings.

Two primary board seats and two alternate seats on the board are open after former DDOT Director Jeff Marootian, a D.C. representative, and David Horner, a federal representative, resigned this year.

Marootian took a new job in the Biden administration and Mayor Muriel Bowser will need to pick a replacement. Horner, a lawyer, did not return a request for comment to his work email. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which appointed Horner, also did not respond to emailed questions.

The seats open are a primary District seat, a primary Federal seat, an alternate District seat, and an alternate Maryland seat. The board is made up of 16 total members: two primary and two alternate members each from the District, Virginia, Maryland, and the federal government.

Alternates cannot sit in on meetings or participate if primary board members are present. Each jurisdiction has different requirements to serve. For example, Maryland’s Secretary of Transportation must be on the board.