Profile in Courage: Matt Hilburn

It is often said there are only two certainties in life – death and taxes. For daily commuters in the nation’s capital, there is a third – being let down by the DC metro system. Riders are often plagued with long wait times on platforms, over-crowded cars, fires on the tracks, derailments, and the dreaded “single tracking” while work is being done. All of these problems make getting to and from work on a daily basis a nightmare for the city’s residents. Fortunately, one frustrated commuter decided to do something about it. In 2009, Matt Hilburn launched the blog “Unsuck DC Metro” to bring transparency to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and provide an outlet for whistleblowers to shed light on systemic flaws. Despite repeated attempts to expose his identity, he never sought fame and stayed hidden in the shadows fighting for transparency and accountability.

Hilburn’s writing often featured leaked memoranda highlighting the liberties WMATA often takes with rider safety. For example, the Unsuck DC Metro site has brought to light many issues with WMATA’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC). ROCC’s failures led to the death of a passenger on a smoke-filled train at the L’Enfant Plaza station in 2015. The last post on the site featured a number of “discrepancy memos” showing the incompetence and nepotism that has existed in the ROCC office since its inception.

Hilburn’s popular blog would eventually turn into an even more popular Twitter account, @UnsuckDCMetro, which amassed nearly 81,000 followers. Even Hilburn’s harshest critics admitted that both his site and his Twitter feed were one of the best places for WMATA commuters to find out about delays or service outages. Where WMATA failed to communicate, Hilburn stepped up to the plate.

As Hilburn gained more traction, more WMATA employees felt comfortable sharing information with him. As one of his followers noted, “Matt [was] a staunch believer in protecting his sources and I think that courtesy was well-known within WMATA. They knew they could trust him with information and for that reason he was incredibly good at keeping WMATA honest.”

Unsuck DC Metro progressively became a place where journalists, WMATA employees, and fellow riders (including Taxpayers Protection Alliance employees) could go to expose and air grievance about WMATA’s customer service. Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney said of Hilburn, “The shortcomings described on his blog and others that follow Metro, although anecdotal, offer a damning portrait of flawed habits.” 

His efforts became more serious over time, filing a number of FOIA requests to bring WMATA’s processes and decision-making into the public eye. He also – with the backing of activist group Judicial Watch – sued WMATA for access to a 2018 ridership questionnaire. His effort to make that public sadly failed, but did not deter him in trying to further hold WMATA to account.

The efforts in building out the Unsuck DC Metro brand inspired others to join the fight to hold WMATA accountable. One such account, entitled “Is Metro on Fire?” is – as its name suggests – dedicated to informing riders about fire dangers on metro rail lines. Unfortunately, the issues with WMATA run so deep there is need for an account such as this. A host of others have cropped up since Unsuck DC Metro’s inception and have helped riders access information about their daily commutes they could not readily access through WMATA’s channels.

These accounts and the information he brought to light will be his legacy to many in the DC area. Unfortunately, Hilburn passed away last week due to complications from kidney cancer.

As an organization “dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy,” we seek to highlight one individual each month who embodies those values as a profile in courage. Hilburn dedicated over a decade of his life – on his own time – to educating the public about their public transit system’s waste, abuse, and overall incompetence. He often risked retaliation from DC government authorities and local media to do so.

Honoring Hilburn’s work is for every frustrated DC commuter who has dealt with delays that have forced them to be late to work, social gatherings, flights, or other engagements. This Profile in Courage is also for anybody in the country that has been frustrated and/or stonewalled by government bureaucrats to obtain information. Hilburn is the embodiment of a profile in courage. There is no doubt his mission will be carried on.