D.C.’s Metro Gets a Sixth Sense with WayMap
Luci Garza — March 24, 2025
Washington, D.C., is now the first city in the world where the blind and low vision community can navigate with only a phone and an app.
On Feb. 12, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced that any Metro user would now be able to download WayMap, an app designed for the blind and low-vision community. This followed a two-year pilot program in which all 98 rail stations, 11,000 bus stops, and 325 bus routes were mapped into the app's interface. Currently, Washington, D.C., is the first city to be entirely accessible by WayMap.
WayMap was originally founded in 2017 by Tom Pey, an advisory board member at the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, and has since made $10.75 million. After Pey lost his vision at the age of 39, he created the app to give users turn-by-turn, step-by-step audio instructions with up to three feet of accuracy throughout a rider’s journey. Since Metro stations are largely underground, the app does not rely on a mobile phone’s signal but rather on motion sensors inside the phone itself—the first of its kind.
Pey and his team at WayMap first met with WMATA executives at the digital accessibility conference M-Enabling Summit in Arlington in 2021. According to a news release, executives were drawn to WayMap’s unique technology. Later that year, a pro bono partnership was reached at no cost to WMATA. Pey has said that he wanted to bring WayMap to D.C. to move the U.K.-founded app closer to accessibility and policymaking movements, according to Technical.ly.
Before WayMap’s launch with WMATA, the app went through a two-year pilot program in which developers tweaked how riders would interact with it. Evelyn Valdez, an advocate for the blind community, was recommended by the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind to beta test the app after losing her vision at 17. Valdez said at first, she was unsure of the app's capabilities, especially as a frequent Metro user.
“I’m a big fan of technology, but I’m also a big fan of relying on my brain,” Valdez said. “I had to understand that technology is helpful because I tried to depend solely on my brain.”
Valdez said she quickly saw the benefits the app would bring to D.C. during her beta testing period. Nearly 180,000 people living in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area are blind or visually impaired, according to WMATA’s news release from the announcement.
“It’s able to capture just so much information and allow the user to personalize the app for their needs,” Valdez said. “What really got me was the fact that you feel so safe with it, and how precise and specific it is.”
While WayMap is designed for those with visual impairments, anybody can download the app for free across various app store platforms. The app works by giving audio instructions to users and accounting for obstacles like changes in pavement or human traffic. As a beta tester, Valdez offered insight into her experiences using the app, noting these small details.
“Because I’m from the New York and Jersey area, I walk up and down (the escalator)—I don’t ride it up or down,” Valdez said. “During the beta testing sessions, when I started to walk up the escalator, the app got stuck because it had been calibrated that individuals are riding the escalator up or down. So my recommendation to the engineers was to let you walk up or walk down without the app getting frozen.”
For some, newer forms of technology relating to accessibility require a learning curve. Joe DePhillips, a retired federal employee who is low-vision, said he has been trying to understand and use the app better since learning about the partnership. DePhillips said he relied on Metro for much of his career to commute from his home in Rosslyn and has memorized the route almost by heart.
“It’s not that I’m averse to apps, and I will use them if I need to, but my main way of getting around is the old-fashioned way,” DePhillips said. “If I’m not sure of something, you got to speak up, you got to ask. I may not have my full vision, but I have a pretty good brain.”
Before his retirement, DePhillips worked at the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, which provides colleges and universities with grants for rehabilitation research and training centers. In January, the Trump administration announced an executive order that would end “wasteful and radical government DEI programs and preferencing,” such as the one that formerly employed DePhillips.
Since the announcement, academics across the country have received notice that federal grants and funding for research on a multitude of issues have been canceled. Around 10,000 grants have been “put under review,” according to the National Science Foundation, for containing keywords such as “disability” and “systematic.”
Tara Goddard, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, focuses her research on the interactions of transportation culture, behavior, and infrastructure on differential experiences and safety outcomes for people who walk and wheel. Most recently, Goddard was awarded federal funding to research racial and socioeconomic inequities in active transportation safety, although Trump’s executive order made this short-lived.
“It was basically a bingo card of all the terms that they’re attacking,” Goddard said. “So, it wasn’t a surprise, but it was really disappointing and frustrating.”
Goddard’s research is much like the research that brought WayMap to Washington, D.C., and she said that now researchers must find terminology loopholes to keep funding for their projects alive. For example, Goddard said that rather than using the word sustainability, resilience is less likely to be flagged.
“If the people in power right now are the most concerned about the efficiency of economics, then we frame the project or the terms that are more acceptable,” Goddard said. “But if you dig into it, you realize that it is still going to have the same benefits of helping the same population.”
Every $1 of taxpayer money that goes into the National Weather Service produces $73 in benefits to the American people, according to a 2019 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Goddard said this is just one example of how federally funded projects and research can bring significant long-term impacts to communities, much like the work WayMap researchers have brought to Metro.
“A lot of us--we’re sad, we’re angry, but we also want to do this work because we really believe in it and we really care about it,” Goddard said.
In the future, Valdez hopes to see larger strides toward accessibility and connection. While she credits Metro for taking steps in the right direction with its partnership with WayMap, she acknowledged that accessibility must extend beyond major metropolitan areas. She hopes those in rural and suburban communities, where transit infrastructure is often lacking, can also benefit from similar innovations.
“Access means that you’re not only connecting people, you’re connecting communities,” Valdez said. “You’re connecting communities that would have never been connected before, and that is a big deal.”
Fare Play? WMATA’s Budget Revamp Aims to Curb Metrobus Evasion
Luci Garza — March 17, 2025
Most Metro riders can remember the day that new, infamously hard-to-evade turnstiles were installed throughout the 98 stations within the District of Columbia. Since their debut in 2023, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) says that fare evasion rates have been reduced by up to 70 percent. However, above ground, curbing fare-evasion tactics on WMATA’s Metrobus system has proven to be more challenging.
The Washington Post reported that 70 percent of Metrobus riders do not pay fares, prompting WMATA to rethink the way it formulates its budget for the first time in over 25 years. At WMATA’s annual board meeting to discuss Metrobus’s now-approved $483 million budget, local governments in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia were asked to contribute based on their jurisdiction's corresponding number of paying riders. Previously, this contribution was determined by the correlation of rider usage in each area, without taking into account the ratio of paying to non-paying riders.
This change in formula does not alter Metrobus’s current $2.25 flat fare, but WMATA hopes the change will bring an incentive for bus riders to encourage riders to pay their fares. However, it is currently not stated anywhere in Metro’s bus operator training manual that operators need to enforce fares.
Naiya Vasquez-Castaneda, a recent college graduate, often takes Metrobus to commute to work and travel throughout the city. She said that come this summer, she is curious to see if Metro’s plan will take off in the real world.
“I think it will be interesting to see if there is any real change that happens on the bus,” Vasquez-Castaneda said. “I always pay my fare, but I don’t know if operators can really make people pay their fare.”
Before WMATA’s $4.8 billion budget was approved on Feb. 3, some local officials proposed that the system should eliminate the idea of paying their fares entirely. Charles Allen, who is also the chair of the council’s Committee on Transportation and Environment, proposed that WMATA become a fare-free system, echoing WMATA’s fare-free pandemic procedures in 2020. The proposal was later struck down by Mayor Muriel Bowser, as she called for more analysis of the costs despite a unanimous decision from the D.C. Council in 2023.
In 2020, WMATA suspended collecting fares as a way to help operators maintain social distancing amidst the pandemic. By 2021, WMATA officials said their short period of fare-free service significantly impacted their budget and revenue, reporting a $200 million budget shortfall from this period. Currently, collecting fares currently makes up two-thirds of the agency’s $365 million revenue, about $50 million of which is brought in by Metrobus.
Benjamin Lynn, the local spokesperson for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 (ATU Local 689), said that the union already represents some drivers who work under a fare-free system, following the pandemic. For example, Alexandria, Virginia’s DASH system has been fare-free since Sept. 2021 after being awarded $7.2 million in state grant funding.
“Our members operating the bus aren't responsible for enforcing the fare, and that's what we would like to continue to see moving towards fare-free as one possibility,” Lynn said.
Kansas City, Missouri., is now the largest city in the country that has continued to operate under a fare-free system. Tyler Means, the chief strategy officer for the Kansas City Transit Authority (KCATA) said that since the introduction of this system in 2020, ridership has risen.
“When you remove the friction and you open up the doors, you will see a growth in ridership,” Means said. “And we are one of the transit agencies who had some of the best returns coming out of COVID in terms of our ridership coming back.”
Means said that KCATA was able to continue funding its fare-free system using money that they were given from the federal government. As a larger-scale transit agency, Metro is still working to recover from the revenue losses and low ridership following the pandemic. This month, WMATA’s general manager, Randy Clarke, recently told News4 that WMATA anticipates carrying 1 million passengers on their trains and buses during the week – a record high for the first time in five years.
Yet, WMATA’s call for a budget that revolves around fares being paid on bus rides has also raised concerns about the safety of operators and what could happen if met with a rider who refuses to pay their fare. Lynn said that the safety of both riders and passengers could potentially be put at risk.
We've seen in past situations, not just in our region, but across the country, where the operator is put in a position to try to enforce someone to pay for the bus,” Lynn said. “Sometimes that interaction has led to assaults, verbal abuse, physical abuse, altercations that have, in some cases, tragically turned violent.”
The new WMATA budget formula will be enacted for the first time for the fiscal year of 2026, which begins on July 1. Lynn says the union still worries that the change in formula is not sustainable enough for the future of WMATA and its operators.
“It's an archaic formula,” Lynn said. “They try to update it and streamline it, but I think a big concern for us is it's just a temporary fix and a patch, but ultimately, the system still needs dedicated sustainable funding.”
Priests in Peril: How Criminal Organizations Are Silencing Mexico’s Clergy
Luci Garza — December 5, 2024
On Oct. 20, 2024, Mexican priest and activist Marcelo Perez Perez was shot and killed while leaving Sunday mass. The two assailants, later identified as local drug dealers, opened fire as he sat in his van, marking another instance of violence against clergy in Mexico.
From 1990 to 1993, three priests were recorded as murdered in Mexico. Over the past three years, that number has risen to more than 60, excluding Father Perez. Across Mexico and Latin America, religious leaders increasingly find themselves caught in the crossfire of the country’s ongoing battle with organized crime.
Dr. Yves Solis, a research professor at Prepa Ibero in Mexico City, has been tracking this trend. He said priests occupy a unique position in their communities, which can make them both mediators and targets.
“The priests and the pastors, they play double level,” Solis said. “Sometimes they are the only ones that can discuss with drug dealers and then can discuss with gangsters, but sometimes they are also victims.”
Latin American countries have increasingly embraced liberation theology, a movement advocating for the Catholic Church to prioritize social justice. Solis noted that Mexico’s approach to the separation of church and state differs from that of the United States, placing figures like Father Perez in a position to express political views, particularly after a 1992 constitutional reform.
While Father Perez was not openly on record as applying liberation theology to his priesthood, his work centered on advocating for the marginalized. As a member of the Tzotzil Indigenous group, he was deeply connected to the struggles of his people. According to Solis, priests like Father Perez often fill gaps in social services, mediate disputes, and advocate for justice—roles that can put them in conflict with criminal organizations that view their efforts as a threat.
“Father Perez was working for Indigenous people, was working with migrants,” Solis said. “So he was affecting the economic sources of criminal organizations.”
John Holman, a foreign correspondent for Al-Jazeera based in Mexico City, worked with Father Perez before his death and said his activism made him a target.
“Marcelo Perez struck me as a priest who was deeply involved with issues of social justice,” Holman said. “You could see that he made a lot of powerful people probably angry with him, because everywhere he went, there were about 20 men who were around him, just going to sort of protect him.”
Father Perez’s killing marks the first time a religious figure has been murdered during Claudia Sheinbaum’s presidency. The rise in violence, including attacks on clergy, was a central issue in Mexico’s 2024 election, according to Holman.
“I feel she owes probably quite a lot of her landslide victory to the fact that she was seen as a continuity candidate,” Holman said. “But she does have that on record that she has had some success in combating crime, and she felt she could take that to a national stage.”
Before Sheinbaum took office, her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, saw 59 priests murdered across Mexico. In the previous presidential term under Enrique Peña Nieto, 76 priests were killed over six years.
“In the case of the last 30 years, more than 85 priests have been killed in Mexico,” Solis said. “So Mexico is a country where being a priest is the most dangerous one.”
Solis said the military’s role is a key factor in the ongoing violence. In regions where cartels control local governments, the military often refrains from intervening, allowing a cycle of violence to persist.
“I’m profoundly convinced that the military is a very important factor for two reasons,” Solis said. “Some ex-military are perpetrators and have killed priests. But ex-military also sometimes let criminals do their work, so it’s a huge problem.”
Despite Sheinbaum’s pledge to work with Mexican bishops on a peace initiative, her efforts remain slow-moving, according to Solis.
“What I hope is that it will be a change, but I am not sure that President Sheinbaum has control over the military," Solis said. "The state is not going to intervene if the military is not going to intervene."
Local officials also face pressure from both organized crime and figures like Father Perez, who challenge corruption and injustice, according to Holman.
“Local officials can feel more threatened by someone who’s standing up for things that aren’t quite right, or exposing what they’re doing,” Holman said. “And it’s also easier for them to get to people.”
Violence remains pervasive across Mexico, particularly in Chiapas, where Father Perez lived. A 2023 Amnesty International report highlighted increasing violence in the region, especially against those defending Indigenous land and territory. Rival cartels, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel, continue to battle for control, placing community leaders, journalists, and activists at risk.
“The recent violence in the state puts your head above the parapet to talk about it, because there are such powerful criminal groups involved that they don’t want an argument,” Holman said. “And he [Father Perez] was willing and brave enough to always speak out about issues affecting the state, but he would have been a lot safer if he’d kept quiet.”
Solis pointed to historical parallels, noting that 140 priests were killed by the military during Mexico’s Cristero War in the 1920s. He said the current situation has led some observers to describe it as a modern-day religious persecution.
Despite receiving state protection after an alleged kidnapping attempt in 2019 and multiple death threats, authorities ultimately failed to ensure Father Perez’s safety. Residents in Chiapas have since organized vigils and marches in his honor, calling for accountability and systemic changes to address the violence.