Category Archives: WMATA

Essential DC, Talkin' Transit, WMATA, WTF?!
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Talkin’ Transit: Gas Bags

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Cabs and Metro, two of our favorite subjects in the DC blogosphere and other conversational mediums, have surfaced again in the last couple of days. How could we not discuss it here?

First, cabbies. Did you know the taxicab commission extended the $1 gas surcharge through January 31, 2009? The last extension ended on Sept. 29 and the sneaky commission just slipped it right under all our noses.

Now, when it was instigated back in January 2007, the average gas price around the area was hovering around $3.13. And of course, during the summer they were flirting with the $4 mark. But now? If you’re a driver you know that gas has dropped to an average of $2.68 in the region, with continued expectation it will fall through the next month or two.

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Crime & Punishment, News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metro to Conduct Random Bag Searches

Washington Post tells us that teams of Metro Transit Police with dogs will be conducting random bag searches on trains and buses at times when “heightened vigilance” is required. Passengers will be taken aside at random intervals before boarding buses or entering rail stations to be screened; those who do not comply will not be detained or have their bags confiscated, but they will be denied entry.

Update: Official press release from WMATA with pictures and video.

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The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Missing Tunnel Ad

Remember animated tunnel ads and how cool and innnovative it was to have moving pictures advertising stuff to you in Metro tunnels? I wonder why lately there hasn’t been a tunnel ad movie between Metro Center and Gallery Place? Are there just no clients? Was it because the novelty of it all just wasn’t enough to salvage Day Break and Speed Racer?

For now, there’s still a moving tunnel ad between Gallery Place and Judiciary Square. Right now it is the Quik Bunny telling you something about happy places, as shown in the video above.

Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, Travel, WMATA
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Fill out your Metro survey!

Metro Survey I was on my way home on Friday and I received a very exciting piece of paper at foggy bottom! The 2008 METRO SURVEY! . Now I know this is so incredibly, shamelessly, totally geeky, but I love surveys, you can visit here if you want to make yours. I think it stems from my background in PR, I just love collecting and understanding market data. It’s useful in so many ways, it is helpful in planning new communication, deciding fare increases, acquiring station data, and so many things that will help Metro out. But more than that, this survey gives YOU, oh Metro commuter, a voice! You hate how crowded metro is? FILL OUT YOUR SURVEY! You wish there was a station at Tyson’s Corner? FILL OUT YOUR SURVEY! Is the proposed Purple line is the best idea ever? FILL OUT YOUR SURVEY! There are few better ways for Metro to know how to improve than to run a survey and get back well-rounded results. Even if you’re a tourist, fill out that survey! They need this data – I promise you! So dig it out of your purse, the trash can, your back pocket, and fill that sucker out! And best part? It’s free! postage paid! And with 17 questions it’s not the most laborious thing you’ve ever done. So you literally have no excuse. You can return it at any metro station, or stick it in those convenient blue mailboxes on practically every corner in the city. Here’s a mailbox locator link just for you, dear reader, because I want you to fill out your survey so badly. Metro Survey Questions (And no, I don’t work for WMATA, or any part of Metro. I just am truly this passionate about surveys, and in particular the Metro survey!) Images courtesy of Flickr user Needlessspaces.

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Guy Falls On Metro Tracks

Washington Post reports that an unidentified male has fallen on to the Metro tracks at Friendship Heights Station. WJLA says he is “unresponsive” with “minor injuries,” and that he has been removed from the rails. WMATA Service Disruption alerts still have delays on the Red Line in both directions due to the incident, as well as an earlier switch malfunction problem. WTOP says Metro has turned off power to the third rail at the station and are single-tracking trains between Cleveland Park and Bethesda.

Downtown, Life in the Capital, Talkin' Transit, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: Hikes and Bikes

Photo courtesy of M.V. Jantzen
Biking on Steps, courtesy of M.V. Jantzen

Lots of odds and ends for this rundown. We’ve got VRE hikes, DC bike angst, and more Metro news than you can shake a SmarTrip card at.

VRE: Looks like after some review, the VRE will not be raising fares by 15 percent in January, but only a “modest” 7 percent. Which, I’m sure for VRE households like mine is a lot easier to swallow. But it’s also more likely that we’ll see another fare hike again in July of next year. The original plan was a 10 percent bump for July along with the January spike; VRE didn’t say anything about the summer hike but with the lower rate boost in January it only makes it more likely the July hit will remain the same. Unless fuel prices drop dramatically, that is.

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Business and Money, Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Who’s selling Metro ads?

Photo courtesy of frozenchipmunk

foggy-metro, courtesy of frozenchipmunk

Maybe the better question should be, who’s not selling any metro ads?

For the umpteenth time today my westbound train on the orange line took me past the Dunn Loring stop and an ad for Hancock, opening July 2nd. What was a movie ad that was far past its expiration date has now aged so much that it just needs a small sticker to turn it into an early DVD release promotion.

Aside from the trauma caused by an early-morning exposure to an unshaven Will Smith in a grubby hat and bug-eye sunglasses, I am bothered by this question: there’s really not someone else willing to pay a few bucks for this spot? I suppose it’s possible the studio – in a fit of optimism – bought the space for a full 3 months past the movie’s release date, but it seems unlikely to me.

WMATA’s ads are sold primarily by CBS Outdoor, though a special marketing company handles the in-tunnel ads. The take from advertising across the system is what most of us would consider a pretty notable sum – $33,000,000 in 2007. However that comprises only 2% of WMATA’s total revenues, compared to passenger revenue of 36% and subsidies of 39%.

The question is, I think – could it be higher? I’d try to get some more information on WMATA’s advertising arrangements and dig a little to see if they’re really maximizing their return but it seems they’re unlikely to accomidate me.

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, The District, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Says No to Bloggers

metrofail.png

I hate reading stories like these about out local agencies. It just pisses me off when arms of public entities, like Metro & WMATA, clam up in the face of blogger requests. Here’s the details:

“But WMATA’s lawyers think blogs definitely aren’t news media, even blogs like Greater Greater Washington. Why? Because they claim we don’t “publish or broadcast news to the public.” To WMATA’s lawyers, “publish” means “disseminate the information, not merely make it available,” citing Judicial Watch, Inc. v. United States Department of Justice, 185 F.Supp. 2d 54, 59 (D.D.C. 2002), and “disseminate” requires more than simply posting information on a Web site where many people go to read about newsworthy information.”

Essentially, bloggers from Greater Greater Washington sent over PARP requests (think FOIA Request, but for Metro), and Metro told them to get bent because they’re not “media.”

Metro should open doors, not shut them. It only looks worse when you turn people away.

Crime & Punishment, Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Arrest

This was the scene at Foggy Bottom Metro this afternoon as Metro Transit Police personnel pulled a guy from an Orange Line Vienna/Fairfax train and detained him, for what offense I do not know:


Larger video here.

The suspect appeared to be asleep when I first saw him, but awoke with some poking from an officer, and left the train peacefully. It was when they started to put handcuffs on him that he began struggling, so he was forced to the ground, where the apprehension — and struggling — continued. Then my train arrived and I had to stop shooting video with my cellphone.

Essential DC, Talkin' Transit, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: Transfer Pains

Photo courtesy of Mr. T in DC
Metro SmarTrip Card, courtesy of Mr. T in DC

Metro has announced they are moving forward with their plans to eliminate the free paper-to-bus transfers, as well as the discounted rail-to-bus transfers, beginning on January 4 of next year. Discounts aren’t going away, however – you just have to have a SmarTrip card to get it.

There’s a lot of flak hitting Metro for the decision, however. Riders groups in the area have mentioned a few concerns, namely that of time and money.

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Talkin' Transit, Technology, The Daily Feed, The District, WMATA
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Four Line Announcements


Four Line Announcements
Originally uploaded by brownpau

Paulo captured this shot of the new Metro sign format for announcements. The old side-scrolling versions are thankfully history as they were nearly impossible to read. Thankfully, Metro’s embracing some good IA these days and going for something that’s a bit more passenger friendly than the crawl, which tended to cause crowds of gawkers while the waited for the message to finish displaying.

Business and Money, Talkin' Transit, Technology, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metro & Google?

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When I saw this morning on Google Maps that New York City’s Subway system was finally part of Google Transit, I got mighty curious: What’s Metro doing to work on this? So, I asked WMATA’s Lisa Farbstein what was going on. Metro’s response, via Lisa, was “We have been working with Google, however a formal agreement has yet to be finalized.”

It would be so delightful if I could point people at Google Maps to do the routing, as anyone who’s ever used the Metro Public Transit Mapping Tool would know. C’mon Metro, if New York can do it, we can too, yeah?

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Monday Morning on Metro

Another fun Monday morning for transit, and by “fun” I mean “not fun” — and on Car Free Day too!

At around 8:20 AM, a train with mechanical difficulties caused delays on the Orange Line in the direction of New Carrolton. Around the same time a switch problem backed up the Shady Grove-bound Red Line. Trains were holding for 10-15 minutes (an eternity in transit terms) at stations from Farragut North upward, and platforms packed quickly with rush hour crowds. Right now a “situation that has now been resolved” (earlier, a “sick customer”) at Rosslyn has left residual delays on the Blue and Orange Lines, which are still slowed by the earlier rush hour backup.

To Metro’s credit, once the switch malfunction between Farragut North and Metro Center was resolved, the Red Line got back into a smooth flow pretty quickly, and we had no problems transferring to an Orange Line train afterward.

To cap it off, a friend informs me that MARC trains on the Penn Line were delayed by a conductor suffering a heart attack and needing evac at Bowie State station.

Did the delays hit you on your morning Metro ride? Leave a comment.

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Red and Orange Line Delays

Crowded Metro Platform

If you’re riding the Red or Orange Line today, prepare for delays. The following service disruption alerts are currently up:

Orange Line: Trains are sharing the same track between Federal Center and Eastern Market due to a train experiencing mechanical difficulties at Eastern Market station. Expect delays in both directions.

Red Line: Trains are sharing the same track between Rhode Island Avenue and Fort Totten due to police activity at Brookland station. Expect delays in both directions. Expected duration 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Update: Alerts have been cleared.

Arlington, Essential DC, Talkin' Transit, WMATA
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Transit: Memorial Memo

Photo courtesy of tsmyther
Pentagon, courtesy of tsmyther

The Pentagon will open the first of three memorials for the victims of the September 11 attacks on Thursday. The memorial will be available to visitors 24 hours a day.

A dedication ceremony will be given tomorrow morning; the site will open to the public in the evening.

If you’re planning on driving / commuting near the Pentagon tomorrow, there’s some things you need to know.

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The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metro’s Holiday Snarl


Reagan National Apartment
Originally uploaded by buschap

Metro has a present for you Yellow and Blue Line riders this holiday weekend. And no, you can’t re-gift it.

According to this WMATA press release, the track between Reagan National and Braddock Road will be closed for complete rehabilitation over the weekend. The stations, however, will remain open.

Shuttles will be transporting riders between stations every five minutes, but WMATA is warning riders to add an additional 30 minutes to their trip on the rails. The closing begins Friday at 9 p.m., with the expected re-opening of the line on Tuesday at 4 a.m.

Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Foggy Bottom Metro Escalator Alert

It never ends. It only gets lulzier! We are in receipt of the following alert from alert.ema.dc.gov: Transportation Incident. Disruption at Foggy Bottom-GWU. (All of the station’s entrance escalators are out of service due to mechanical difficulties. Shuttle bus service has been established. The station’s elevator is operational, the station remains open).

We already knew all the escalators were out but if only one is open (not clear from the alert) then that means a possible line outside the station at rush hour like we had on Monday. Click through the jump to see a map of alternative ways home if you want to skip the shuttle bus.

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