Out of Control

Does a public transit agency exist to provide a service or to provide jobs?

If DC’s Metro exists to provide a transportation service, then it might consider outsourcing instead of hiring $40,000/yr window washers and $100,000/yr mechanics and bus riders.

Then it might have enough dough to cater to customers by, say, fixing escalators:

Riders who are sick of dealing with Metro's broken escalators may have a new option: walking up a flight of stairs.

The transit agency's latest idea on how to reduce costs and cut down on wear and tear of its chronically broken escalators is to rip out the shortest ones and replace them with a set of low-tech, low-maintenance steps.

More here.