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Welcome to a rainy Friday

Author

Message

Richard White

Hi. I’ve been looking forward to today’s chat. There is plenty to talk about, but first, let me address what has been a major national news story since last night—rail security. Last night New York City officials revealed that they are concerned about a possible terrorist threat to their subway in the coming days. Here in Washington we have no such information about any threat targeting our system. Our Metro Transit Police receive daily updates from the FBI’s Terrorism Task Force, and there is no current credible information of any threat to our system. We remain always vigilant, however we have no information to warrant altering our alert level. We continue to encourage everyone—customers included—to remain vigilant, and if you see something, please tell someone!

This weekend we have a track maintenance project that we’re working on that involves the closure of four of our stations from tonight at 10 p.m. through Sunday. Those stations are Minnesota Avenue, Deanwood, Benning Road and Capitol Heights. If you are using the east end of the Orange and Blue Lines, add 30 minutes to your trip because you will need to take a free shuttle bus to get around the track work. Shuttles will run every five minutes between Stadium-Armory and Cheverly and between Stadium-Armory and Addison Road/Seat Pleasant. If you plan to enter the rail system from Prince George’s County, I advise you to enter at Branch Avenue or Greenbelt on the Green Line to bypass the track work. If you want more detailed information about this important work that we’re doing, please read our news release that is posted on our homepage.

I know that customers have been frustrated by delays due to ongoing weekend track work. The work is a must to ensure system’s safety and service reliability. We are fixing and replacing parts of our system before there is a break, breakdown, or other type of serious impact to service. We have an aggressive plan to make these fixes. Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of a larger system like NYC, where there are extra tracks that can be used when one set of tracks is being repaired, which means we single-track.

We have a thorough customer communications effort to get the word out in advance about what’s going on. We post information on our homepage about weekend track work every Thursday. We make station announcements. We issue e-alerts to those who sign up for them. We issue news releases and encourage media to let their listeners, viewers and readers know about the work. Depending on the specific work, we post signs in stations along the affected lines and stations to let people know. Our customer call center representatives also know this information should people call there to ask. But still, people are caught off-guard. Last weekend’s track work saw lengthy delays (our news release warned of 38-minute headways) that were compounded one afternoon when one of our track workers was struck by a train in the area of the work, closing the tracks altogether for about two hours while we set up free shuttle buses around the incident.

We are looking at new ways to provide more detailed information for you about our track work, including an advanced calendar so that you will know of planned work weeks in advance, so stay tuned. Okay, now let’s get chatting.

rail frequency

Author	Message
Archie	I am posing what must be a very common question. Why are trains so infrequent? Mainly, I'm wondering about evenings and weekends. When each train runs less frequently, the time needed to get home when you have to change trains increases twofold. The result is that it takes much longer to get somewhere with metro than by car (and so people drive instead of taking metro). I know that most of the cost of operating metro is fixed - it's a matter of maintaining the infrastructure and staffing the stations. So, would it cost that much more to run trains more frequently? After all, this isn't commuter train - this is supposed to be transportation for people living in the city, with trains available and convenient at any time. You really shouldn't have to look at the schedule. On a sidenote, why are trains so infrequent even at peak times? Even on the red line, which shares its track with no other trains, it's 2 to 4 minutes between trains at rush hour. Not that it matters that much, but it is much more of a wait than other cities. I hear conductors rushing us into the trains, closing doors on people trying to enter, yet the next train is not about to arrive. In Paris, they guarantee a train every minute thirty (1:30) during rush hour. In reality, there is a train something like every minute. Archie
Richard White	Hi. During peak hours, the trains run as frequently as we are able to move them. Yes, the headways between trains on the Red Line are the most frequent. We cannot move more trains on the tracks. On the other lines, we can’t increase the frequency because we don’t have more rail cars to make up more trains. Once we start getting the new 6000 series cars in our fleet, we will be able to make trains longer, not more frequent. A recent peer review of our rail system conducted by the American Public Transportation Association recommended that our service reliability would be improved if we ran fewer, but longer trains. We think that improved reliability is a huge factor in people’s decision to use our rail system. On the weekends, we run the service that the demand/usage warrants.

How many ad-wrapped railcars can we expect to see?

Author	Message
BeyondDC	So far I've seen 4 on the Orange line since the first McDonalds car started running several months ago. Personally I love them. Metro railcars are fairly bland and these add some welcome color and variety. BeyondDC.com Tracking urbanism, planning and transportation in the DC area.
Richard White	Hi. Glad you liked the ad-wrapped railcars! Four advertisers so far--McDonald's, WJLA-TV7, Chevy Chase Bank and WBDC-TV—have advertised with us so far. Chevy Chase Bank bought five cars (one on each Metrorail line) and McDonald's had two cars. More advertisers are on the way. Blue Cross/Blue Shield is coming later this month and don't forget to be on the lookout for the wrapped Metrobuses with advertisements for Timberland, Juniper Networks, WMET Radio, the German Embassy and the Puma Shoe Store.

Trolleybuses

Author	Message
BeyondDC	Has WMATA ever studied or at least considered using catenary-powered trolleybuses, such as transit agencies use for some routes in San Francisco, Seattle and Dayton? They are smoother for customers and quieter for surrounding residents. Plus, with gas prices rising as they are (and are sure to continue doing in the future), I would think there are considerable cong-term cost savings that would justify the initial capital expense. Naturally not all routes could be catenary-powered, but for trunk routes such as the K Street busway, Columbia Pike and Georgia Avenue, trolleybuses seem like a perfect solution. BeyondDC.com Tracking urbanism, planning and transportation in the DC area.
Richard White	Hi. Currently overhead wires that provide electrical power to transit vehicles are not allowed in the Old City of Washington, which generally includes the area south of Florida Avenue and west of the Anacostia River. The implementation of light rail or streetcar services that are powered by overhead wires in this area would require changes in the law by the DC City Council and possibly the US Congress. To address this issue we are looking at streetcars that are powered via a rail embedded below the surface of the pavement that is only activated as a streetcar vehicle passes over it. One of the advantages of bus rapid transit to address transit needs in this area is that it would not require the overhead wires, not require any changes to DC law, and avoid possible neighborhood visual impacts. Bus options can also use alternative fuels to reduce the potential impacts on air quality and have the flexibility to operate almost anywhere throughout the city. Given these considerations and the higher capital cost associated with the trolleybuses, they have not been advanced as a transit option in DC. In the case of San Francisco and Seattle, part of the justification for the considerable expense of using trolleybuses is that they are much better able to handle the very steep hills in those cities than standard self-propelled buses. In addition, in Seattle, dual-mode buses use overhead wires to travel through tunnels, where diesel fumes would potentially be a health hazard for users.

Additional seating at Vienna bus queues

Author	Message
BeyondDC	What would we have to do to get some additional seating at the northside bus queues at Vienna Metro? Every morning I commute from Arlington to Fairfax via the Orange line and a City of Fairfax CUE bus and there are nowhere near enough seats for waiting passengers, particularly at the shelter for the Gold 1 bus, which is the most direct to both downtown Fairfax and George Mason University and therefore the busiest. I don’t think any more full shelters are necessary, just some places to sit. A couple of simple/cheap concrete slabs would do just fine. BeyondDC.com Tracking urbanism, planning and transportation in the DC area.
Richard White	The existing bench in each shelter at Metrorail stations is exactly sized to fit that shelter, so there is no additional room to extend the existing bench or install another bench without compromising the amount of standing room and ADA requirements. Basically, the placement and positioning of station furniture such as signs, shelters, trees, trash receptacles, etc. is planned precisely when a station is designed so as to not block walkways and sight lines entering and exiting a station. We have no “extra” benches in stock because we only order and install them when a station is constructed.

Broken Escaltor

Author	Message
dpete47	Why is the escalator that broken down and caught fire at Capitol South taking two months too fix? Are you waiting for a part? In the meantime, the escaltor motor exposed to the rain. Capitol South should have a canopy to protect the escaltors
Richard White	Thanks for your question. The damage to the escalator at Capitol South was in the gear box components. Replacement parts are on order and unfortunately will take several months to manufacture and arrive here. There are still two operating escalators at the Capitol South entrance, one operating up and one operating down. We're working as quickly as we can to get the escalator you asked up back in service.

Weekend "Train Test" on Green Line

Author	Message
Biker on Rail	Is the single tracking on the Green Line for "train tests," per the press release on wmata.com, for the acceptance testing of the 6000 Series Alstom cars? Also, would it be feasible to possibly construct a test track somewhere so that new equipment and other rail car tests would not need to occur on revenue trackage? In New York City, they have several out of service tracks that are used for testing trains.
Richard White	Yes, through the remainder of the year, we will be testing our newest series 6000 railcars, mainly on the weekends, requiring us to single-track. Delays to customers will be minimized by conducting the testing on weekends, or occasionally mid-day during the week. The testing is expected to continue for several months. These tests are a necessary part of our due-diligence and rigorous safety testing of the cars. We expect the testing to be complete by spring 2006, when we are hoping that some of the cars will be certified for use. As a reminder, the 6000 series cars are part of a 184-car purchase through Alstom Transportation, Inc.

Single Tracking

Author	Message
Silver Spring- R...	Mr. White, Why did it take METRO nearly two weeks to post information on its website about week-day single tracking on the red line? Why didn't METRO give more notice in this regard? J Silver Spring Red Line / J Bus rider for 3
Richard White	Hi. In the past we have not traditionally posted information on week-day single-tracking on our site because headways during mid-day periods are longer, and the impact of single-tracking is minimal. With that said, however, this has recently been an ongoing internal discussion that has resulted in our Customer Service Department’s looking into how best to disseminate information on mid-week/mid-day single-tracking. So stay tuned.

Off-Peak Service

Author	Message
Silver Spring- R...	Mr. White, Why is the quality of your off-peak service so bad? There have been times when I've had to wait as much as 20 minutes for a train during off-peak periods during which no track-work was occurring. If the headways are 20 minutes- that means' you're runnning three trains per hour- it might be worthwhile to put this in a timetable so that people can plan to board a given train instead of spending 20 minutes waiting around. J Silver Spring Red Line / J Bus rider for 3
Richard White	Headways during off-peak hours are less frequent because there are fewer customers. To increase the frequency of trains to rush-hour service late at night would mean we were spending millions of dollars to run empty trains. Not something anyone wants. You also inquired about publishing timetables for our trains. We do publish them! If you look at our homepage in the upper left corner, there is something called “Schedules and Fares.” If you move the mouse on it a drop-down menu offers you the option to click on “Rail Schedules.” All of our train timetables are right there for you to use! Hopefully this will save you from waiting around.

Communication Delays

Author	Message
dpete47	When you announce a delay, PLEASE announce the cause, so can guess how long and plan according. For example, last month when you had a switch problem, don't say you have a track problem, instead say you have a switch problem. Take a look at VRE, they are good at annoucing delays, such as the cause and how long the delay is. They send an e-mail later in the day detaling the exact cause.
Richard White	To the extent possible we have our train operators make timely announcements. If our operations control center has knowledge of the problem, then the announcements are specific to the location and the nature of the problem. If the location or nature of the problem are not immediately known and trouble-shooting is required, train operators won't necessarily know what the problem is. With that said, we are continuously working to improve the announcements we make to our customers on the train and in our stations. We are constantly striving to do better in this area, and we hope you'll see the results of our efforts in the near future.

Cross-County Transit

Author	Message
Silver Spring- R...	Mr. White, I know that there is a lot of talk going on regarding a purple line, high speed bus service etc. Has METRO considered beefing up the number of J-4 buses as a stop-gap measure- maybe such that it comes at least six times and hour and twice as much during peak periods? That could provide frequent service between Silver Spring and Bethesda while you contemplate a more permanent arrangement. Also, has METRO considered having a bus that goes from Bethesda to Dunn Loring on a regular basis (4 times an hour?) It seems atrocious to have to go all the way into the city in order to connect to the orange line. J Silver Spring Red Line / J Bus rider for 3
Richard White	We are working on a plan for restructuring east-west service in the corridor served by the J4 route and will be talking with MDOT and Montgomery County about the proposal. The routes 14 A, B and M between Bethesda and Tysons Corner via the American Leagon Bridge was not a success and so was discontinued. We have no reason to believe that a Bethesda-Dunn Loring Line would do any better.

Trip Planner

Author	Message
Darcy	The Trip Planner on the Metro web site is truly one of the great things about Metro. It makes the whole system much more usable for me than it otherwise would be. One thing I am wondering is if it would be possible to create an address "memory" for each visitor to the Trip Planner using cookies. Presumably many people are entering the same few addresses over and over again, and it would be nice if addresses they have recently used could be accessed in a drop-down box in the starting point and destination boxes, rather than having to be typed over and over. A number of sites that offer driving directions have this functionality for starting points and destinations, such as Mapquest and Rand McNally, and I would think it might be an improvement that would be possible to implement on the Trip Planner. Thanks.
Richard White	Hi. No, that is not something that we will be doing. To quote our privacy policy, "Metro does not set cookies from any page in the wmata.com domain." We have found a significant number of our web visitors are very sensitive about privacy and our policy reflects that concern. If you click on "Privacy Policy" at the bottom of any of our web pages you can see our entire privacy policy.
queene1979	Another suggestion would be to have a pull down of ALL Metro stations so they would not have to be entered each time. And the box could also be typed into.
Richard White	Thanks for your suggestion. This is something that we are considering for future upgrades. We also are considering using local landmarks as a destination.

Grosvenor/Silver Spring Metro Trains

Author	Message
queene1979	Hello- I have a few concerns with the Grosvenor/Silver Spring Metro Trains, it seems to me that they take an inordinate ammount of time to clear the track so that the Shady Grove bound can enter and continue on. Also, I would like to suggest that the Grosvenor/Silver Spring Metro Trains be extended and go to White Flint/ Forest Glen, I think that would help with the crowding on the Red Line trains. Another concern is that frequently I will enter a Metro train and be overwhelmed by a mildew stench, it would be wonderful to clean the cars.
Richard White	In the area of the Red Line where we turn trains around at Silver Spring and Grosvenor, there is a pocket track north of each station to allow us to turn back trains within our current schedule. Unfortunately, we do not have the same track capabilities at our White Flint and Forest Glen stations. As for the mildew smell and the need to clean our railcars, most of these odor problems come from old carpets on our trains. We have recently increased our carpet replacement for our oldest railcars, so you should be seeing (and smelling) improvements by the end of the year.

September 24 events and single-tracking

Author	Message
SchuminWeb	Mr. White: On September 24, with the large anti-war protest and also the National Book Festival all happening at once, drawing thousands upon thousands of people into downtown Washington, why did Metro not reschedule its track maintenance in order to allow the system to operate at full capacity for what turned out to be rush hour-sized crowds, many of whom came from out of town? With three lines single-tracking, this meant that actual train movements at some locations would not agree with the posted signage. Additionally, some trains were not following their regular service pattern, as some outbound Yellow Line trains terminated at Pentagon City. I'm sure many riders from out of town were more than confused while trying to get on the right train to go downtown. In addition, at side-platform stations like Pentagon City, putting all passengers on one side, on what basically amounts to a half-sized platform (compared to center-platform stations) created serious crowding conditions. Walking along the Pentagon City platform, about the only room I had to walk was along the platform's granite edge. I just hope that next time there is a large event like this scheduled in Washington that coincides with track maintenance, that the track maintenance is rescheduled to allow the system to operate at full capacity. However, despite all this, I would like to take a moment to publicly commend the station manager at Pentagon City on the evening of September 24. From the kiosk, this station manager made continuous station announcements regarding the color and destination of upcoming trains. This was very helpful, and I hope that this station manager gets the recognition he deserves. Ben F. Schumin
Richard White	We try, as much as possible, to schedule track work at times when there is little or no impact to customers. Much of our track work is due at night, but some times we need to do track work in the off peak and on weekends. Washington, DC, is home to many events, and every weekend--especially in the fall--brings events to this region. Track work is key to providing safe and reliable service--a goal we strive for.

Security

Author	Message
SH	Hi. Have you had any threats to the DC Metro? Have you beefed up security?
Richard White	We are in touch daily with the FBI’s Terrorism Task Force. We have received nothing from them that would indicate that there have been any direct threats to our Metrobus or Metrorail system, and so we have not elevated our alert level. We continue to be in constant contact with our regional law enforcement partners as well. With that said, we remain vigilant, and we ask our customers to do the same. If you see something, please inform someone (See it? Say it!) or call us at 202-962-2121 or call 911.

Random Searches

Author	Message
SH	Hi. Are you going to do random searches here?
Richard White	We continue to do our due diligence as it relates to the possibility of our considering bag searches. We have talked to officials in New York who are doing it there. We have seen how they are doing it there. We are looking at whether it could be done here, and if so how it could be done here in a way that is as least intrusive as possible. At this point, however, we continue to do our homework, and there are no current plans to implement a bag search. If we decide to move in that direction, there will be an announcement (press conference) to get the word out.

Train Status signs

Author	Message
dpete47	Why is it that the sings sometimes say --- train -- minutes? Does the computer not know what train is coming?
Richard White	One of three things may be occurring based on your description of the situation. In one instance, the next train, where it's left blank on the PIDS signs, is not yet on approach to the station in question. In the second instance, the PIDS sign may not be functioning properly. And in the third instance, the next train approaching may be a special train or an "out of service" train. Just so you know, since we added the capability to have the next three arriving trains and the length of the train on these signs, we've had overwhelming positive feedback from our customers.

42 service

Author	Message
abefroman329	Service on this line has been ridiculously sporadic in 2005 (I board the southbound 42 at Columbia and Ontario, a few blocks from its start in Mount Pleasant, and frequently find myself waiting 5-10 minutes with other commuters for 2,3, even 4 busses at once; don't blame "traffic" when the route starts only a few blocks away!) and a couple days ago, I was dismayed to see the 5-10 minute wait was for one of the smaller busses of the type normally used on the 98 shuttle! Extremely frustrating to have a small bus on a well-traveled route; the bus was packed, half the passengers had to get off to let off 1 passenger at stops, and everyone at bus stops past 18th and Columbia was left to wait for who knows how long. Why was this allowed to happen and what can be done to improve service?
Richard White	Let me first apologize for the service you received on the #42 bus. We realize that there are running time issues on this route and it has been identified by the APTA Peer Review panel as a route targeted for improvement. We will propose in the FY 2007 budget additional supervision to concentrate on service management issues like the one you raised. The #42 route is at the top of our list, so we will be making improvements to provide the appropriate separation of buses to help minimize "bunching" and improve overall service along the entire route. Thanks for raising this issue in today's chat.

Escalators

Author	Message
Denise	Is there any way that a sign can be placed before an exit gate that notifies passengers that escalators going out of a station are not working? There have been several times that I have exited the gate at either Metro Center or Gallery Place and found that the escalators going up out of the station are not functioning and I am not able to walk up all of those stairs. If a sign were placed before the exit gates, then you could turn around and exit through another gate without having to pay again. If that does happen, can your money be refunded to your Smartrip card for the extra entrance and exit into the same station?
Richard White	We are looking closely at our escalators station by station to improve flow and find better ways to inform our customers of outages that may affect their trip. We will add your idea to the items we are considering. If you do find yourself in a situation where all the escalators at a station are not operating and the station has more than one exit, ask the station manager to let you go back into the station to exit at the other side of the station