increase federal oversight on the operations of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Residents of the Washington metropolitan area have long been been struggling with the deteriorating services provided by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates the majority of bus routes as well as the entire Metrorail subway system. This system, which was once the envy of most American cities, has become unreliable despite successive fare hikes imposed on its customers. The decrease in service has a legitimate economic impact on the area, as employees increasingly struggle to arrive to their jobs on time. Given that a vast amount of the ridership consists of federal employees whose fares are paid by the federal government via the Smartbenefits subsidy, we believe the federal government should take a more active stance holding WMATA accountable to its riders.