Talk:Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

Untitled
Regarding linguistic features:

1. Is this section truly pertinent?

2. Is it accurate? People occasionally refer to to Metrorail as the subway; I would change "never" to something like "seldom." Also, what is the source for rhyming "WMATA" with "Ramada"? I have been in this area longer than WMATA has been in existence, and I have never heard that usage.


 * I've always pronounced it that way myself, as do many other people I know. I'm not sure that I've ever heard anybody on the news pronounce it that way, but I'd say it's at least in common usage. I'm not too sure about that sample sentence for using Metro as a verb, though. I don't typically use it as a verb myself - and I don't know many people who do - but if I did it wouldn't be in such a generic sentence. -Etoile 14:47, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * I pronounce it WMATA all the time. Schuminweb 04:29, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * For a short time, announcements over the public address system would prounounce "WMATA" to sound like "Ramada," and then only when referring to the website, wmata.com. This practice stopped -- thankfully -- when they obtained the metroopensdoors.com domain. Perhaps this happened because unless you knew that Metro was operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, you'd have no idea how to spell "WMATA." (Womatta? Wamada?) (Fredo 29 June 2005 21:07 (UTC))


 * The customer service phone system recordings also referred to the website as "www.wmata.com" even after MetroOpensDoors.com was registered. It now reflects the new address, however. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.239.80.167 (talk • contribs)

Web Links
As Metroopensdoors.com shows a short introduction and then redirects to WMATA.com, I feel it is redundant to have both links on the Wikipedia page. Schuminweb 04:29, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Names
I have trimmed and copyedited the "names" section in the article to make it more concise, and removed the part that talks about why the "metropolitan" in WMATA.

"The reason for the term 'Metropolitan' instead of 'city' in the names of many Washington, D.C. organizations (such as the Washington D.C. police, the Metropolitan Police Department, or MPD) is that Washington, D.C. is technically not a city, for obvious political reasons. "

I'm not entirely sure the reason given below for "metropolitan" in WMATA. I actually think it has more to do with how WMATA funding is spread across the regional jurisdictions, and that for political reasons "washington metropolitan" was preferred over "national". I don't have a citation for this off the top of my head, but can look for one. -Aude ( talk | contribs ) 19:26, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Purple Line
The Purple Line is not intended to go around the beltway-it will actually cut very close to the border of DC at parts (just after Silver Spring it will be less than a mile from the border), and will connect (as directly as possible) Bethesda > Silver Spring > New Carrolton, which will keep it many miles from the beltway. That, and the Purple Line isn't even being discussed as an actual Metro extension (they're leaning towards BRT, but the best we'd get is Light Rail). Does anyone object to these changes? -Rmeskill 18:06, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for File:WMATA Metro Logo.svg
File:WMATA Metro Logo.svg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot 01:31, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

The use of the mark is "fair use" because it is a reference to the owner of the mark or the owner’s services. The trademark (more likely a service mark, but "trademark" is a good descriptor) is not using the term for purposes of source identification and the use does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by the service mark owner. In this case, the reader is likely to be aware that reader is probably looking at a Wikipedia page and that it is possible that Wikipedia is not really an operating division of WMATA. ( :

Unitacx 14-May-2018 —Preceding undated comment added 16:43, 14 May 2018 (UTC)

Impacts of the 2008 financial crisis
Can somebody please explain the leaseback scheme in more detail? (Also, today the judge will be issuing a ruling.) 69.140.152.55 (talk) 15:58, 12 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Metro and Belgian bank, KBC Group, reached a settlement on November 15, 2009 to end a long-term leasing deal after nearly three days of talks in federal court.

The agreement benefits the riders of our system and taxpayers of this region,” said Metro General Manager John Catoe outside of U.S. District Court. “Metro no longer faces the immediate threat of cuts to our capital budget and a downgrading of our credit rating.” All parties agreed not to discuss the terms of the settlement. KBC Group was seeking an immediate $43 million payment from Metro after the credit rating of insurer, American Insurance Group, was recently downgraded. The downgrade put the deal in a technical default and allowed the bank to seek payment because AIG had guaranteed the agreement between KBC and Metro. Metro had asked a federal judge to temporarily bar the bank from collecting payment. The judge urged a compromise after hearing arguments at a Wednesday court hearing. “It sends a strong message to other banks that they cannot make a financial windfall at the expense of transit riders,” Catoe said. The case was being closely watched by financial institutions and other transit agencies that have received similar demands from other banks. Metro has 14 similar lease agreements with financial institutions. Several banks have threatened to put the agency into default under the agreements unless Metro finds additional high-rated insurance coverage of the deals now that AIG’s credit rating has been downgraded. Metro and a group of 30 other transit agencies have asked the Treasury Department or Federal Reserve to back the insurers’ guarantees of the deals. “We’re asking the federal government to guarantee the insurer’s credit rating,” Catoe said. “This would be at little to no cost to the federal government, and the transit agencies would no longer be in technical default of the contracts.” The chief executives of several major transit agencies will join Metro on Capitol Hill Tuesday urging Congress to legislate a provision in the economic stimulus bill to require the Treasury Department to back AIG and other insurers’ credit ratings. 72ChevyNova (talk) 15:58, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
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&#8220;Controversy&#8221; section
The NTSB report on the June 2009 Washington Metro train collision mentions a lack of a &#8220;safety culture&#8221; at Metro. This is often summarized in the media as a lack of prioritization of safety concerns at the agency; however, I think that is incorrect. Although the [http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAR1002.pdf? actual report] does not say this in so many words, what I think it is referring to is an overemphasis on punitive discipline as the primary means to enforce safety and an underemphasis on system engineering improvement – but I have no sources for my interpretation. Any input? 97.34.217.59 (talk) 13:40, 30 August 2017 (UTC)

Involvement in DC Circulator
I can’t find a source confirming that WMATA is involved in the development or operation of the DC Circulator. (This question came up in a work context for me.) Can anyone else? Richmintz (talk) 15:11, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

Never mind, Circulator says WMATA was involved in the origination. They don’t seem to have any involvement now in either operation or governance, but i don’t think it rises to the level of needing an edit. Richmintz (talk) 15:18, 6 November 2021 (UTC)