What's In Store For Metro In 2004?

New Rail Stations, Modernized Rail Cars, Metrobuses Accepting SmarTrip, And  Metro's Continued Commitment To Customer Excellence

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) is looking ahead to 2004 with the opening of three new rail stations, the introduction of SmarTrip on Metrobus, and a continuing dedication to provide the best level of transportation services found anywhere in the world. "As we reach the end of the year, Metro is looking to 2004 with a continued commitment to being an integral part of the national capital region by providing safe, reliable, and convenient transit service despite the significant financial challenges that we continue to face," stated Richard A. White, Metro's General Manager and Chief Executive Officer. "We also pledge to provide to best possible customer service for our riders and improve our customer communications." Here is some of what Metro has planned in 2004.

Metrorail

• In December 2004, Metro is currently scheduled to unveil its 3.1 mile, two- station, $434 million extension of the Blue Line from the current Addison Road- Seat Pleasant Metro station to Largo Town Center with an intermediate station stop at Morgan Boulevard. The Morgan Boulevard station is less than a mile away to the south from FedEx Field, and will have the capacity to provide 500 all-day parking spaces. The Largo Town Center station will be located outside the Capital Beltway along the south parking area of the US Airways Arena and have a parking garage with the capacity for 2,200 spaces.
• In December 2004, Metro is also currently scheduled to unveil its New York Avenue Metrorail station on the Red Line. New York Avenue, an "in-fill" station, is the first station in Metro's 27-year history to be constructed between two existing, operating rail stations ? Union Station and Rhode Island Avenue.
• Next spring, Metro will award a contract for a pilot project to upgrade the train control station stopping system needed for reliable eight-car Metrorail trains. Currently, Metro operates a combination of four and six-car trains. The Metrorail system is designed to accommodate up to eight-car trains, and this is one of Metro's top projects to relieve overcrowding and to support further ridership gains. The project would be implemented in two phases. The first phase calls for design, installation, and testing enhancements to the programmed station stop system on the wayside, and on board Metrorail cars. The pilot will occur at seven stations: Farragut North, Metro Center, Gallery Place- Chinatown, Judiciary Square, Union Station, Rhode Island Avenue and Brookland-CUA. The first phase should be completed by the end of 2004.
• Early next year, Metro will initiate a pilot program to mitigate tunnel leaks on the Red Line between Medical Center and Dupont Circle. The program will place a new waterproof coating in the tunnel walls outside of Medical Center. The pilot should be completed by next fall.
• Throughout 2004, Metro will continue to reintroduce into service its modernized series 2000/3000 BREDA rail cars. These cars look very similar to the series 5000 railcars. In 2000, Metro awarded a contract to Alstom Transportation Inc., to modernize 364 rail cars. With many of these rail cars in service for nearly 20 years, Metro needed to modernize these cars to extend their life cycle. The completion of the entire contract is scheduled for late 2005.
• In 2004, Metro will continue to work with Alstom Transportation Inc., on the production and initial delivery of its new series 6000 railcars. The initial order calls for a delivery of 62 rail cars. The first prototype cars are scheduled to arrive on Metro property in early 2005. The first cars are expected to enter  passenger service in the summer of 2005.
• Next spring, Metro will begin the first phase of enhancements for the eastern end of the Ballston Metrorail station. These enhancements include installing an additional elevator next to the existing elevator on the north side of Fairfax Drive, and two new elevators and a connecting underground passageway beneath the south side of Fairfax Drive. Under the same contract, a new Shirlington Bus Station will be completed, and will be operated by Arlington County to serve both Arlington and Metro buses.
• In 2004, Metrorail will continue operating until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights as part of an 18-month demonstration program. The demonstration period ends in December 2004. Further continuation of service will depending upon future funding.
• In early 2004, Metro anticipates awarding a design-build contract to construct a new station mezzanine entrance with a platform, canopy extension, and 200 feet of new walkway at the King Street Metrorail station.
• In early 2004, Metro expects to have a groundbreaking ceremony to signal the start of site preparation and construction work for the new 1,400-space parking structure at the College Park Metrorail station; a 1,800-space parking structure at the New Carrollton Metrorail station; and the expansion of the New Carrollton rail yard.
• Next summer, Metro will award a design build contract for a new 1,200-space parking structure at the Glenmont Metrorail station.
• Next spring, Metro will initiate a public hearing for a new parking structure at the Huntington Metrorail station.
• In 2004, Metro will rehabilitate the Wheaton, Vienna North and Addison Road- Seat Pleasant parking structures.

Metrobus

• During next year, Metro anticipates having completed installation of its SmarTrip bus fareboxes on all of its Metrobuses. The $23 million contract for the fareboxes will provide the foundation for a seamless, regional, "smart" fare system with the replacement of the old fareboxes. Similar equipment will be installed on all the local bus systems and the commuter rail systems serving the metropolitan area and Maryland through this year and next year. The new fareboxes will accept SmarTrip cards, which are currently available to customers utilizing the Metrorail system. SmarTrip cards are permanent, rechargeable plastic farecards, embedded with a computer chip that tracks the card's value. In addition to accepting Metro's SmarTrip cards, the new fareboxes will continue to accept cash.
• Throughout 2004, Metro will continue renovations and construction of its Four Mile Run Bus facility in Arlington, Va., in preparation to service and maintain 212 Compressed Natural Gas buses. Metro anticipates CNG operations to begin by the summer of 2005.
• Next year, Metro will award a contract and order up to 250 replacement buses. These buses are expected to arrive on Metro property in the summer of 2005.
• Early next year, Metro will begin free distribution of its regional Metrobus maps. Enhancements to the Metro web site Metrobus mapping capabilities will be unveiled in spring 2004. 
• Next year, Metro will move ahead with the first phase of the Bus Enhancement Program to include bus route numbers on 300 bus shelters, regional bus system maps and 100 bus schedule kiosks to be placed in Metrorail stations.

Metroaccess

• A task force was created in late 2003 to identify funding resources, paratransit transportation services, people using these services, and identifying duplicative efforts to reduce costs as it pertains to paratransit service in the Washington metropolitan area. Recommendations from the task force are due by late Spring 2004.

Escalators/elevators

• Next spring, Metro will continue construction of canopies at 26 Metrorail stations as part of the Comprehensive Escalator Canopy Program. The entire program is scheduled to completed in fall 2005.
• In 2004, Metro plans to modernize 13 elevators, with key units being Dupont Circle, Wheaton and Forest Glen. As part of a six-year program to overhaul 32 elevators, Metro will reach that goal by the end of the year.
• By the end of 2004, Metro will complete on 150 escalator units as part of a six- year program to overhaul 170 escalators. 2004 will also see the completion of the systemwide comb plate repairs on 313 escalator units along with the directional indicators and emergency stop buttons on 251 units under Metro's multi-year program for this essential work. Escalator modernizations and controller upgrades will occur on 41 units throughout the system, including Union Station, Farragut West, and New Carrollton.
• Next fall, the department of Elevators and Escalators will open a training lab at  the Carmen E. Turner Maintenance Facility to help firefighters and first responders deal with elevator entrapments inside the Metrorail system.

Safety and security improvements

As part of its ongoing effort to improve safety and security, Metro will implement the following safety and security measures in 2004.

• Next spring, Metro will award a contract and start construction on a new Metro Transit Police Department substation at Fort Totten. The police station is expected to be completed by summer 2005.
• Throughout 2004, Metro will host Emergency Preparedness events throughout the Metrorail system on the first Wednesday of each month at a transfer, terminal, or other high-volume station. The goal of the events is to open a dialogue with customers and to create a heightened awareness on their part about personal safety. Metro personnel will discuss with customers safety issues, answer questions, address concerns and challenge them to join Metro in its ongoing mission to create a safe transit environment.
• Next spring, Metro will expand its chemical sensor detection program.

Technology enhancements

• In 2004, Metro will continue work to complete its fully integrated 490MHz Comprehensive Radio Communications System designed to provide Metro with a complete radio communications system for the Metro Transit Police, bus, rail, and maintenance departments. Metro anticipates all maintenance and service vehicles to have the new radio system installed by next spring, and on all of its rail cars by mid 2005. In 2003, Metro completed installation of the new radio system for the Metro Transit Police Department and the Metrobus system. 

Project development

• Next spring, Metro will begin construction on the Anacostia Corridor Demonstration Project, a new trolley line initiative within the District of Columbia on the CSX railroad right-of-way between the Bolling Air Force Base security gate and Pennsylvania Avenue. Service is expected to begin in the summer of 2006. 
• In 2004, environmental assessments and preliminary engineering work will continue on providing rail service to the Dulles Corridor. Metro is preparing this technical work under the direction of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 
• In 2004, Metro will continue to work with the District of Columbia on an opportunity to implement a dedicated busway to provide reliable and faster bus services in the K Street corridor between Union Station and Georgetown University.
• In 2004, Metro and the Arlington County Department of Public Works will work on a comprehensive plan for the Columbia Pike Busway as a first step toward developing a high quality transit system for the Columbia Pike corridor. Arlington County recently adopted a plan for revitalization along Columbia Pike to serve as a framework for the redevelopment of the Pike, one of Arlington's most vital commercial and residential corridors.

Operating budget/funding issues

In 2004, Metro's executive staff will be working closely with its Board of Directors to close a $60-65 million shortfall within the projected fiscal year 2005 annual budget. To close the expected shortfall, Metro's executive staff has currently proposed to reduce expenses by nearly $30 million, while at the same time addressing the needs to close an estimated $29 to $36 million remaining shortfall.

Metro Matters

Throughout 2004, customers will hear the importance of why Metro Matters to the entire Washington metropolitan region.

Metro, which has served the national capital region for three decades, is facing serious funding challenges caused by a combination of its aging infrastructure and growing ridership and is on the precipice of a fiscal crisis. If not addressed, the under- investment will result in an inability to meet the public's expectations for service reliability and demand for increased capacity to move people on a daily basis."

In 2004, Metro officials will call upon federal, state, and local partners to come together to fund Metro's basic capital needs to sustain the system. "At a minimum, Metro requires $1.5 billion more than has already been committed over the next six years to protect and secure the $9.4 billion it took to build the Metrorail system, an amount that would be more than $24 billion today," said Mr. White.

The necessary funds would go to replacing and rehabilitating assets such as trains, buses, elevators, escalators, power cables, and tracks; bringing additional capacity to customers by putting eight-car trains into service and more buses into the system; and enhancing security and ensuring Metro can continue to move people if there is a regional emergency. Without the additional funding, the Metro system will be unable to support future ridership gains and will be unable to ensure reliable operations.

"Metro will continue to do its part to sustain the world-class public transportation system and engineering marvel that is a trademark of the national capital region and a security asset of the nation," said Mr. White. "Nevertheless, the fiscal crisis that has been looming is now here, and the region is running out of time.

"Failure to act on this crisis will result in a significant deterioration of our regional transit system as Metro will have to begin deferring basic recapitalization needs in fiscal year 2006. Our customers would experience a severe degradation of  service reliability and increased overcrowding if we are not able to exercise contract options for additional rail cars in November 2004 and March 2005. Now is the time for a renewed federal, state, and local commitment to Metro and the region," Mr. White concluded. 

Background

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) was created by an interstate compact in 1967 to plan, develop, build, finance, and operate a balanced regional transportation system in the national capital area. The Authority began building its rail system in 1969, acquired four regional bus systems in 1973, and began operating the first phase of Metrorail in 1976.

Today, Metrorail serves 83 stations and has 103 miles of track. A fleet of 962 rail cars provides service from 5:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 5:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday, and 7 a.m. to midnight on Sunday.

Metrobus serves the nation's capital 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week with 1,455 buses. Metrorail, Metrobus, and Metroaccess serve a population of 3.4 million within a 1,500 square mile jurisdiction. For more information about Metro, including schedules and fares, visit Metro's Web site.

A sampling of Metro accomplishments in 2003

• In fiscal year 2003 (July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2003), Metrorail achieved its highest ridership total in its 27-year history, carrying 184,364,325 customer trips, a 2.1 percent increase, or nearly four million more customers than in fiscal year 2002. This marked the seventh consecutive year of increased ridership for Metrorail. Meanwhile, Metrobus experienced its second-highest annual ridership in its 30-year history, as it carried 147,835,000 customer trips during fiscal year 2003, an increase over fiscal year 2002 when Metrobus carried 147,771,000.
• Metro continued to construct the Blue Line extension to the Largo Town Center and the new Red Line station at New York Avenue. Both projects will be completed in late 2004.
• Metro completed construction for the newly expanded mezzanine at the Mt. Vernon Square/7th Street-Convention Center Metrorail station at the 7th and M streets, NW entrance. The mezzanine connects directly with the new Washington Convention Center. 
• Metro opened its new Branch Avenue rail yard on the Green Line, with a storage capacity of 178 rail cars. The yard includes a car wash building for exterior car cleaning; an eight-car capacity maintenance building for the inspection and minor repairs of rail cars; and an operations and maintenance building, the focal point of yard activities which serves as the center of interior car cleaning and maintenance functions.
• Metro completed installation of the new comprehensive radio system for the Metro Transit Police Department and the Metrobus system.
• Metro successfully completed construction on the installation of canopies at four Metrorail stations as part of the Comprehensive Escalator Canopy Pilot Program. Canopies were installed at Brookland-CUA, L'Enfant Plaza, Medical Center, and Virginia Square-GMU. 
• Metro continued to introduce its new series 5000 rail cars on the Green, Orange, and Blue lines, accepting 182 of its 192 rail cars.
• Metro introduced its first four modernized BREDA series 2000/3000 rail cars on the Yellow Line. These modernized rail cars contain several amenities for providing safe, attractive, convenient, and reliable service for all customers, including those with mobility requirements. The rail cars also have a totally new interior color scheme to match the series 5000 rail cars.
• The Metro Transit Police created a new squad of officers called the Rail Anti-crime Target Squad whose main focus is the enforcement of Metro's public conduct ordinances.
• Through a special grant from the U.S. Department of Justice COPS program, the Metro Transit Police Department will add 10 new officers.
• The Metro Transit Police Department targeted parking lot crime with a new auto theft unit. This unit uses a variety of resources including officers in plain clothes, officers on motorcycles, officers with K-9 partners, officers on bicycles, portable aerial towers, and even Metro employees who are on workers compensation assignments that allow them to work for the police department as parking lot observers. The auto theft unit works varied hours, and shifts target stations that statistically are impacted by parking lot crime.
• Metro installed a new self-cleaning public toilet inside the Huntington Metrorail station as a one-year test to determine customer acceptance and feasibility, as well as the impact on safety and cleanliness.
• Metrobus officials continued testing new high-tech fareboxes that accept SmarTrip cards on 85 buses departing from its Arlington bus garage, marking the first step toward extending the use of smart card technology on the entire Metrobus fleet and other transit services throughout the region. Testing expanded in late 2003 to 93 Metrobuses operating out of the Southern Avenue Bus Division and serving routes in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
• The Metro Is Accessible Campaign was launched to encourage more people with disabilities to use fixed-transportation like Metrobus and Metrorail route service.
• The Metro Transit Police obtained a state-of-the-art explosives detection robot able to render safe any such device in the Metro system. The department also acquired a special EOD vehicle for transporting the robot where needed. 
• Metrobus system maps were made available on-line for free on Metro's web site at  http://www.wmata.com/metrobus/maps/metrobus_service_maps.cfm. Visitors to the web site can click on each jurisdictional map for the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia to get an overview of bus service.
• Metro launches its advertising campaign "Information Anytime," reminding customers how they can obtain information via phone, fax, e-mail, and through the Metro Web site.
• Metro converted its Bladensburg Bus Division Heavy Equipment Overhaul Program area to include the installation of a fueling station for Metro's new compressed natural gas (CNG) buses. The project involved the installation of a fueling plant and a canopy to service the first 164 CNG buses that are currently in operation throughout the District, and to upgrade the electrical service to support the fueling plant. The first portion of the project was completed in February 2002, when Metro took initial delivery of its first CNG Buses.
• Metrorail customers took advantage of additional hours on the weekends with the rail system opening at 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings from the end of the rail lines, and closing at 3 a.m., every Friday and Saturday night.
• Metro offered free e-mail subscription service to notify its customers of elevator service disruptions at Metrorail stations. Customers were able to sign up and receive the notification at e-mail-capable computers, cellular phones, pagers, or personal digital assistants. The new electronic elevator notification service complements Metro's "eAlerts" service which sends e-mail messages on disruptions or delays to rail service. Both the electronic elevator notification and eAlert subscription services are free and available through Metro's web site.
• Metro opened its new expanded parking structure at the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station, adding an additional 1,000 parking spaces, bringing the number of parking spaces available to 5,100.
• Metro and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) partnered to unveil the GrandDriver Program, an education and awareness initiative that provides a hands-on learning experience for the area's older adults on the Metrorail and Metrobus systems.
• Metro launched its ?Trip Planner' service via telephone, allowing individuals without access to the Internet to secure Metro travel information by dialing its main number at (202) 637-7000.
• Metro approved a two-year demonstration program to implement a Small Business and Local Preference Program. The Small Business and Local Preference Program is designed to assist small business owners and employers of these businesses in benefiting through an infusion of funds from Metro. The program calls for a preference program for simplified acquisitions. Simplified acquisitions are those procurements for which Metro pays $100,000 or less. Under Metro's procurement procedures, simplified acquisitions are not subject to the same requirements of larger procurements, so therefore, Metro can make them more accessible to small businesses in the Washington metropolitan region.