By Kirk
‘June 22 2009 – Red Line Delay’
courtesy of ‘Anything!’
According to a WMATA press release, customers on the Red Line should continue to expect slower service and more crowded trains for the next ten days. They expect the NTSB investigation of the June 22 metro crash to wrap up on July 19, after which service should return to normal. Until then, the situation on the Red Line will remain as is.
By Kirk
‘Metro, Orange Line train to Vienna’
courtesy of ‘GogonaÅ?’
The Business Journal reports that riders on Saturday set a new record for July 4th commuting. Metro reported 631,206 trips on their system, an increase of over 32,000 from 2008 ridership. If the masses of humanity that I saw are any indication, every last one of these trips went through L’Enfant Plaza station. What a mess.
By Ben H. Rome
‘Franconia-Springfield metro station’ courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’
So Metro, now what?
That’s the question in the back of everyone’s minds here in the District after Monday’s tragic Metro accident. It’s not an easy question to ask and in the coming days, how John Catoe and WMATA answers it may well make or break the transit agency.
It will certainly redefine it, for good or ill.
One of the biggest issues I’m seeing so far is the continued lack of communication from WMATA. From the top down, Metro needs a serious reworking of how it communicates with the public, emergency personnel and with itself. Catoe’s shameful performance on WTOP yesterday morning is just one poor example; his response was a canned one, not addressing the reporter’s question but instead rambling into an answer I’d heard verbatim elsewhere. The response was so off the mark that WTOP had to interrupt him twice to try bringing him back to focus.
But more damning is the failure of Metro to let emergency responders know what the magnitude of the situation was in the first critical minutes after the collision. DCFD officials have been critical of how understated the accident was described; fortunately, rescuers realized the magnitude of the incident upon arrival and summoned additional help. But the question remains – what if the proper amount of help had arrived at the start? Would some of the victims be alive today?
By brownpau
In the aftermath of yesterday’s Metro crash I went with my backup plan today of skipping the Red Line in favor of the Orange. A malfunction had just occurred at Eastern Market, causing some delays, but a train arrived soon enough at Capitol South — then was held for ten minutes due to a sick passenger (photographed above). The train got moving faster than expected, however, and as it passed Metro Center I spotted yet another sick passenger being removed from another train on the New Carrolton side. Later still in the day, there was notice of more Orange Line delays due to a sick passenger on the train at Landover. Lots of sick people today.
To WMATA’s credit they got trains moving faster than I expected given the all-manual mode the trains are running in. And I must give kudos to Foggy Bottom Station for having the escalators all running with relative reliability for the past week. Yay.
By Kirk
‘The Evening News’
courtesy of ‘Bogotron’
This weekend was a deadly one for Metro riders as two people were struck by trains in separate incidents. The first took place on Saturday at the Potomac Ave station when a man was run over on the orange line. He was alive when rescue workers arrived but later succumbed to his injuries. The second incident occurred on Sunday at Bathesda where a women intentionally jumped in front of a train. Both deaths delayed service for several hours as police investigated.
By Kirk
‘Moving Red Line’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’
WMATA is warning customers to expect delays on the red and blue lines this weekend due to track maintenance. Trains will be single tracking between between Van Ness-UDC and DuPont Circle stations, and between Van Dorn St and Braddock Rd stations. Delays on the red line will take place all weekend, while service on the blue line will return to normal during the evenings.
By Ben H. Rome
‘CSC_1718’ courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’
Remember a year ago when Metro said they were going to ‘crack down’ on the rash of “doors opening” off platform? That new safety and training programs would be implemented to keep such accidents from happening?
Guess what!
It hasn’t worked.
WaPo caught the story on Monday: over the last two months, there have been 17 incidents of train doors opening at stations with cars still in the tunnel. Of those 17, 14 of them were eight-car trains that weren’t properly berthed. During rush hour. Most on the Red Line. The other three were six-car trains…two of which not properly berthed.
By shannon
‘Walk Start’
courtesy of ‘ManWomanGradyBaby’
Just a heads up from Metro that the system will open two hours early at 5 AM on Saturday to accommodate the Race for the Cure. There are estimates of 50,000 people participating in this 20th anniversary event, so make sure you leave plenty of time to get there. Also, Metro reminds us that there will be track work on the Red and Orange lines, so add in twenty to thirty minutes of travel time to get to the race. And of course, we can expect many road closures in the area, so don’t even think about driving.
If you want to raise money for a great cause, there is still time to register— and you can even Sleep In for the Cure and avoid Metro altogether! I’ll be running the 5K Saturday– see you there!
By brownpau
Orange and Blue Line riders had a hellish commute this morning thanks to a train down due to mechanical difficulties at Foggy Bottom station, causing single-tracking and trains held at stations up and down both lines in both directions. I waited on a Vienna-bound Orange Line train at Metro Center for about twenty minutes before wising up and getting on a taxi. You know it’s bad when the train operator doesn’t even use the word “momentarily.”
Unsuck DC Metro has collected TWITTER RAAAGE from the delays.
Update: From Get There blog, Orange Line problems explained. A combination of brake problems and communications dead zones led to a fifty-one minute delay on the failed Orange Line train before a Blue Line train could come within range to pick up communications. Both trains had to be offloaded before one could push the other to a rail yard.
By shannon
‘Arriving’
courtesy of ‘Karon’
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has named Metro’s own John Catoe as the best public transportation manager of 2009. APTA has credited Catoe for managing Metro well during Inauguration craziness, as well as improving safety system-wide in the wake of several Metro-related pedestrian fatalities. Metro has started calling itself “The Best Ride in the Nation”, and with this honor, it doesn’t seem so off-base.
What do you think? Has your commute gotten significantly better since January 2007, when Catoe began at Metro?
By Ben H. Rome
‘Packed Blue’ courtesy of ‘ArcaHeradel’
So Memorial Day has passed, meaning that from now through Labor Day, hordes of tourists will be pouring into the District for various events, concerts, vacations and visits. If you’re reading this and you’re a soon-to-be visitor to our region – or if you’re a resident who has friends or family coming in to visit – we want to encourage you to continue reading. We wish to equip you to better handle and enjoy our transit system with minimal disruption to those of us who live and work here.
It’s a win-win situation.
You don’t want to suffer the embarrassment of being a “District n00b” and we certainly appreciate minimal disruption to our daily commutes. So we’ve gathered up the opinions and suggestions from several District riders and residents and are going to share our golden wisdom with you.
Trust us, it’s best this way.
By Don
‘Jerk City’
courtesy of ‘Smath.’
Reader Will H asked us to gently bring this Examiner article on Metro’ priority seating campaign to everyone’s attention. While you’re working your single mojo lookin for love you should try to do it without consuming a seat meant for folks with mobility issues.
The campaign does raise an interesting dilemma, though – Metro’s accessibility program director Glenn Millis is quoted as saying “Not all disabilities are visible, and it might not always be obvious when a person needs a seat.” Presumably that includes the people already in them, so how do you know they should be giving up their place?
By shannon
Metro has released a new video for riders, providing instructions for riding Metro the same way a flight attendant provides airplane safety instructions. In the same part creepy/part really entertaining/part informative mix of Metro’s other videos, this one includes a computer-generated flight attendant and four Metro passengers. My favorite part is when the three remaining passengers (one gets kicked off the train for bad behavior) react to a mechanical door issue by shaking their fists and flailing their arms about. Seems pretty realistic, considering some of the reactions from my fellow Metro commuters. Enjoy!
By Ben H. Rome
‘Three-Wheeled Taxi’ courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
A couple of updates to tie up on the transit scene – and then I need your help!
Pedicabs on the Mall: You all remember our report on the harassment of the pedicabs by the Park Police? Well, I’m happy to report that since then, there’s been no further incidents, according to Ben Morris of National Pedicabs. So go and enjoy the ride around the Mall! I’ve also gotten word that a new pedicab company is starting business this weekend as well, so please support this great eco-friendly way to enjoy the Mall. (The grass could use the break, frankly…)
DC, Metro and money: WTOP reported this morning that the District has racked up a tab of a whopping $1.2 million in unpaid expenses to Metro, all centered around the Southeastern bus garage located a block from Nationals stadium. The District had said it would cover the cost to move all the Metrobuses out of that garage and operate them from other facilities. (This is known as “deadheading costs.”) The city’s cost is $400,000 a month, and the deal stretches back to the fall of 2007. Continue reading
By shannon
‘chillin”
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’
Big news coming out of Metro today: officials are considering allowing kiosks in certain Metro stations to sell packaged food in stations! The move is an attempt to increase revenue by adding kiosks at a number of stations (in DC: outside Anacostia, in Fort Totten, in Gallery Place-Chinatown, and in Metro Center). Kiosks could be newsstands, dry cleaning services, and even gourmet food stores.
But no, this doesn’t mean you’d be allowed to eat what you bought at a kiosk– the Metro food and drink ban is still in effect. About three years ago Metro solicited proposals for kiosks that would sell anything but food, beverages, and tobacco– but they didn’t get a good response and realized it wasn’t profitable to not sell food in transit stations.
This seems a little weird to me. I think I’d be really bitter if I were starving, and got a gourmet sandwich at a Metro kiosk (probably marked up ridiculously because of the captive audience), and had to sit there just looking at it the whole ride home. That’s just mean, Metro.
By shannon
‘Metro SmarTrip Card’ courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for the day when I’d be able to reload my SmarTrip card somewhere other than a Metro station. For those of us who ride buses regularly, it’s really frustrating to have to go to a Metro station to add value to a card when you’re just trying to take the bus somewhere. But there’s great news coming from Metro: later this year, we’ll be able to add value to SmarTrip cards online!
In an effort to improve customer service, Metro will create a self-service SmarTrip website, which will allow us to load value onto our SmarTrip cards electronically. There will also be a fantastic ‘autoload’ feature that will automatically reload the card when the balance drops below a designated amount. The new website will include a way to see recent transaction data for your SmarTrip card (currently only available through a formal Public Access to Record Policy request, or by stealing a glance at the screen when the station manager scans your card in the kiosk).
By brownpau
Metro now features video ads in stations, the first of which is a 15-second trailer for the upcoming Star Trek XI: The Wrath of the Franchise Reboot, silently flashed onto the Farragut West Metro entryway wall by a ceiling-mounted projector. Metro Marketing Director Mark Rydstrom says “In the words of Mr. Spock, we hope this concept will ‘live long and prosper.'”
Fitting that this first Metro video ad should be at a Farragut Square station, considering that pre-reboot Captain Kirk’s first deep space assignment was to the USS Farragut as a young lieutenant. Next on the wish list: holodeck Metrobuses. If that’s too much to ask, I’ll settle for working turbolifts escalators.
By brownpau
Major Red Line delays this morning thanks to a track circuit malfunction plus a train offloaded for “mechanical difficulties” at Takoma station. Rail alerts just reported “Disruption cleared” but the Twitter feedback is rolling in. Thank you, Metro, for another morning rush hour of long waits and crowded trains.
By shannon
‘at least we’re not outside anymore!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’
Did the Metro seem particularly crowded to you yesterday? Today, word comes from Metro that yesterday was the sixth-highest weekday ridership day in the system’s history. The combination of tourists that are still here for the cherry blossoms, spectators of the Frozen Four tournament, and regular old commuters like us led to this particularly high ridership day. And this is coming just a few days after record-high weekend ridership related to cherry blossoms and various sporting events.
But there’s good news! As Ben reported earlier, beginning next week WMATA is adding more rail cars during rush hour to accommodate the additional passengers on the red and green lines. So, take heart– next week’s commute will be better, and with the Cherry Blossom Festival ending on Sunday, those cherry-blossom-loving tourists will be out of town in no time.
By Ben H. Rome
‘Bokeh Study’
courtesy of ‘Pianoman75’
Tired of jammed cars on the Red and Green lines? Well, Metro’s news that slipped out yesterday may relieve that somewhat. Beginning next week, Metro’s adding additional cars to Red and Green line trains during the always-fun weekday rush hour.
Metro has indicated that roughly twenty cars are being added to the entire fleet. This will boost half of the Red and Green rush hour runs to the maximum eight-car trains (the maximum length Metro can run due to station size), with the rest of the additional cars used to fill in gaps due to malfunctions or other problems.
The additional cars will boost Metro to 850 cars in service during weekday rush, the first in the service’s history. Will it help with the crush? It’s a matter of perspective, so you readers keep us informed, okay?