Corrrection Regarding John Catoe of WMATA

In my brief piece last week calling for accountability at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA, ‘Metro’) Board of Directors, I stated that Metro General Manager John Catoe came to Washington from the San Francisco BART system. This statement was incorrect. Catoe actually came to WMATA from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. I apologize for this error. Per Off on a Tangent policy, I have corrected the original piece with an annotation.

I wanted to call attention to this with its own post for two reasons:

First, I feel bad about it. I try to make sure everything I post is accurate and I should have more carefully checked my facts about Catoe before publishing them. Mea culpa. The remainder of that post, however, is accurate and I stand by its core thesis unequivocally. The Metro Board and Catoe appear woefully out-of-touch with riders and the general public, and they must be held accountable for their mistakes.

Second, I want to thank Brett Tyler, Director of the Office of Customer Service for the Metro Board of Directors. On the same day I published my piece here, I sent an email to the Metro Board expressing these same sentiments to them directly. Tyler responded this morning with an actual message (not a form letter!) expressing the Board’s point of view. He also politely pointed out that my statement about Catoe’s work history was incorrect. I really appreciate that Tyler took the time to write a real response to my message.