TOW #21- "Here's How We Will Start Fixing Metro"

An article written in The Washington Post this past week identifies the issues with the Metro system and offers some solutions to how to fix these issues.  It was written by Paul J. Wiedefeld, the manager of the Metro system.  Since November of 2015 he has been making changes to the Metro system in order to improve it.  This article was written to share the biggest issues with the Metro and his ideas for solutions.  One of the ways he does this is by using statistics to present his audience with the issues of the system.  He mentioned that last year the number of rail car mechanical failures caused the rate of late trains to double.  Wiedefeld also presents the audience with financial information to show that Metro has the financial means to make productive changes to the system.  In order to appeal to ethos, he admits the issues that the Metro system has.  This makes his audience trust him to give them the facts of the problems and to acknowledge that problems exists.  Then, he begins to propose his solutions.  He addresses issues of safety and security first, to appeal to the audience, most of which are Metro riders.  This allows the author to build up a connection with his audience in order to get them to listen to what he has to say.  Since they are concerned about their safety on the Metro trains, they will be more likely to support his solutions on this issue.  The author strategically arranges his argument in this way to get his audience's support.  Continuing his focus on his audience, he addresses customer experience, in order to appeal to the Metro users.  His plans focus on reducing wait time and delays.  The focus he puts on his audience's needs are what allow readers to agree with his argument.  However, in the argument he lists a lot of things that he will fix but is not too clear on the "how".  He introduces a "get well" program, but not how he will implement it, how it works, or how he will afford it.  He focuses only on what its outcomes would be.  But the audience can not know for sure that these outcomes will be guaranteed because of the lack of supported information of the plan's success.  Hopefully Wiedefeld can implement these solutions and ultimately improve the Metro system for future customers.