The mechanics tasked with maintaining the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's chronically broken escalators start at $81,000 a year. Bus driver pay goes as high as $114,000 for anyone with a driver's license and a GED.
Ninety-seven percent of the bus and train operators at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority are black, with only six white women out of more than 3,000 drivers, according to Metro documents — a lack of diversity at one of the region's largest employers that has led to an acknowledgment of failure in affirmative-action documents and spawned a series of lawsuits.
