(TBD)

Correction: Most of the council seats are not vacancies -- they're simply up for reappointment.  

In Washington, talking about Metro is a lot like talking about the Redskins: Every schmo on the platform has an opinion about how to improve things. And though you’ll never crack into Dan Snyder’s inner circle to influence personnel changes, you could have an opportunity to influence Metro policy – by sitting on the Riders’ Advisory Council (RAC). Metro has announced they’re looking to fill or reappoint eight seats on the 21-person volunteer body.

Frankly, we didn’t know a whole lot about what these folks do, so we appealed to someone who does – David Alpert, the council’s D.C. vice chair who’s better known as the editor of Greater Greater Washington.

Alpert says the RAC serves a few basic functions. The first is to advise the Metro board on issues the board is dealing with. That means listening to presentations by Metro staff about issues coming down the pike and offering the board a rider’s perspective on them. A great example of this is the recent hoopla over proposed changes to SmarTrip policy, in which card holders would no longer be allowed to carry a negative balance.

“It might seem relatively small,” says Alpert, “but it does affect a lot of riders. That’s where the RAC has been most effective, to bring a lot of these rider perspectives and inform the board on decisions that they may not have taken the time to research.”

In a related duty, RAC members are supposed to “bring riders and [Metro] staff together,” says Alpert. That could mean talking to Metro staffers on the bus planning side, for instance, about any problems or proposed changes to routes. Alpert recently wrote about how the bike lane on Pennsylvania Avenue was forcing the 13B to do an unnecessary loop because of a new no-left-turn rule -- something WMATA is now trying to remedy. That’s the sort of thing council members might talk about.

But RAC members don’t spend all their time down in the weeds of service planning. A lot of it is dealing with “longer-term, bigger-picture issues,” like the gaping budget gap. “The RAC weighed in on the budget,” says Alpert. “We gave some detailed analysis on different budget proposals. We ranked a list of fare increases, which were the least offensive and which were most offensive. And which ones would be less painful.”

The RAC, says Alpert, has also played a big role in making Metro a more open agency – for instance, pushing for the release of transit data, which Metro eventually relented on.

So if, like Alpert, you live and breathe transit issues, or if you just happen to think you’ve got the right commuter’s perspective, consider throwing your hat in the ring by Friday, Oct. 15. But be warned, if you’d like a slot on the council, you’ll probably have to convince sitting members that you’ll do more than just fill a seat once a month.

“We’d like to see … people interested in participating more deeply,” says Alpert, “beyond just showing up to a meeting and giving input. We want to take the time to get into issue between meetings. RAC really has a big opportunity to be involved in Metro decision making.”

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According to Metro, the following seats are up for filling or reappointment: District of Columbia (2), Fairfax County (2), Prince George’s County (1), Alexandria (1), Arlington County (1), and at-large (1).