Matt Yglesias

WMATA Stimulus

The stimulus money coming down the pike is a great opportunity for local governments and transit agencies to try to make the case for funding important priorities. Unfortunately, when WMATA sat down to talk about what kind of projects they had that fit the criteria for economic stimulus, they only came up with $529 million worth of stuff. That’s better than being dishonest and trying to get their hands on billions of dollars worth of money to go waste.

But it also reflects a failure of vision, planning, and leadership. A well-run agency ought not become so cowed by the narrow horizons of conventional political wisdom that it’s left with this little to ask for when the situation changes.

Good Parking News

WMATA is backing off it’s dumb free parking on Inauguration Day plan. A lot of people are going to want to come to the city on Inauguration Day, and making parking free won’t magically increase the volume of space in which they can rest their vehicles. We need parking fees to prevent catastrophic shortages and provide Metro with revenue that can help provide service at other times.