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» Focus on Metro (11-4-05) from noon to 1 p.m.

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Greetings!

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Richard White

Hi. Glad you could join me today. Hey, have any of you checked out the new street map that we have now on our web site? Actually, if you haven't, someone else sure has because we're averaging more than 2,000 visits a day!

The new map allows you to see where our stations are in relation to a street map. This means if someone knows they have a meeting at a certain street address, they can check if a Metrorail station is nearby. Or, if you're staying at a hotel or are headed over to view a monument, you can see where the stations are. If you haven't tried out this new online tool, please do. Go to our homepage and in the upper left corner, click on maps and stations, then scroll down a little and there it is!

News outlets have been reporting about yesterday's Board Committee meeting. The group endorsed the idea of our testing out three different railcar interior designs aimed at improving the passenger flow in the railcars. More details on that are included in the news release that is posted on our web site.

I see we've got several questions that have come in early, so let's get this chat started.

Late N2 busses.

Author	Message
patrick	Hi. Thanks for hosting this forum. The N2 going inbound to farragut square is consistently late for its 7:45am scheduled stop. An inspector came out on 10/31 and the bus was 12 minutes late. He said that there is a recurring problem where the busses have to come from another place that makes them consistently late. Can this problem be predicted so that those busses can be on time. this is especially important as the weather gets colder.
Richard White	Thanks for your question. Can you tell me where you board bus? That way we’ll be able to investigate further why the bus is running so late.

Train Layouts

Author	Message
SH	When can we expect to see some of the new train layouts being tested with customers on board that channel 5 reported about? I think that's a great idea. How did you select people to help you come up with your different options?
Richard White	Greetings SH! I’m glad you like the designs. In the spring, we’ll test a total of 24 railcars with the different layouts. Passenger movement will be recorded and studied and we expect to make a recommendation to the board next fall. We consulted station managers, train operators, planners, training instructors, engineers, our elderly and disabled committee and a customer task force of about dozen riders.

Winterizing

Author	Message
SH	Are you doing anything different this year to get ready for theice and snow? Last year I was on a train that had deicers in the trains. Are you going to do that this year too?
Richard White	Hi, We’ve improved our snow fighting techniques by snow hardening train motors. In the past, the engines would ingest snow and breakdown. We’ll be running de-icer trains throughout the day and special equipment on the tracks called prime movers that cut through the ice on the electrified third rail. Our personnel also we’ll be clearing snow from door thresholds, parking areas and other areas. On the bus side, buses undergo winter preparation maintenance this month. Service may be detoured if there are hazardous road conditions. Please check our Web site for service information during storms and listen to local news reports.

Flash Passes

Author	Message
EMP1966	Hiya. When we had our last fare hike, several flash passes were taken out of circulation. One that went should have stayed, the once called "Super Pass" which bi-weekly had been $65, and weekly had been $30. This was a great pass for people who commuted by both bus and train. It also was 1 of the few passes that non seniors could use on ALL busses (so called local AND express alike). This was a saving of a lot of money (with the next best deal to buy weekly bus pass at $11 and $30 train pass for a total of $41). Now with it gone, people like me have no choice, but to buy the $11 weekly bus pass, and the $32.50 train pass for a total of $43.50, when realistically at the time of the hike all you had to do was up the price of the "Super Pass" to $35. When you are years away from being a senior citizen, and you commute to work everyday, it pays to spend as little on Metrofare as possible. Please give serious thought to bringing back the Super Pass, you'll make many passengers under 65 happy. Thanks. Eric
Richard White	Hi, the passes were eliminated during the first fare increase a few years ago. There were several reasons, including the need for more revenue and the fact that these passes were not big sellers. We sell a wide variety of passes through our sales outlets and other retail outlets. Condensing the number of passes to the big sellers helps us serve people more efficiently, including the growing number of people who are buying SmarTrip cards. We’re working on SmarTrip based bus or rail passes and perhaps some bus/rail passes as out fare systems are improved.
W McGee	...is there any chance of reintroducing a pass for use on express buses?
Richard White	We are constantly evaluating the utilization of our vrious forms of fare media, to adopt the best combination for our patrons. We will take another look.

Metro Trip Planner (real-time and PDA access)

Author	Message
JDavid	As one of Metro's tech savvy riders, I use a wireless pda device just about everywhere I go; one of the nice things I like to do is login into Metro's website before I enter the subway to find out how long I can expect to wait (especially in the very late hours of Friday/Saturday night) and whether it will be faster to take the yellow line to Crystal City or continue on the blue line via Rosslyn. Have you considered creating a wireless pda version of the Trip planner site that would be more easily accessible (the bus maps are great)? On a similar note, what about incorporating real-time tracking, so that when someone logs in for rail or bus times, the timing given reflects current conditions whether it be a backup in traffic or delays on one of the rail lines. My sense from talking to one Metro station manager is that the technology is available on your end as they see where trains are- is it a security issue that prevents implementing similar information to customers? Thanks, David Grossman
Richard White	Oh, the wonders of technology!! We believe strongly in the power of the internet to provide people with information for their trip planning. You may have noticed that during the last six months we've added several improvements to our website, including interactive google maps, RSS feeds, and audiocasting of our Board meetings. I'm glad you like the bus maps. Our workplan for the next few months includes the addition of walking maps on our trip planner. We also want to link information from other Metro databases - such as escalator outages and upcoming track work - with our trip planner. Once we have real time bus information, we will provide that on the trip planner. There hasn't been overwhelming demand for real time trip info on the planner, we think mostly because of the frequency of our trains - although we agree that this is something we should work on in the future.

S-2s and S-4s

Author	Message
LL	Are the S-2s and S-4s on 16th Street are always very crowded? Are you going to add more buses to these lines during the rush hours?
Richard White	Although this is one of the most heavily used bus lines in our system, it’s still not meeting our criteria for adding more buses to the line. With trips scheduled every 2-3 minutes in the rush hours, the number of passengers on some trips will be heavier than the average, but they are usually followed closely by a less-than-full bus.

Pentagon Transit Center

Author	Message
Debbie S.	I use the Pentagon Transit Center and there are several panes of the glass windscreen that have been broken for several months--six or more months, actually. One area has the windscreen missing. Other areas have thousands of pieces of broken glass (still in the windows) that have tape across them. One place where there is a "sleeve" for the transit center layout map has fallen and is just hanging on by a thread. When is that all going to be fixed?
Richard White	Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Someone from our maintenance staff is working on this. It may take up to a few weeks for the glass to be installed. It’s a special order.

Seating changes--accomodating senior citizens

Author	Message
Arlington rider	Many seniors, such as my mother, use Metro to ride to doctor's appointments, church, etc. In studying passenger movement and proposed seating arrangments, did you take into account increasing frailty and the relative lack of steadiness of senior citizens? Seniors, such as my 84 year old Mom, need something to hold on to as they get up from their seats and make their way to the door to exit. Overhead handrails are of no use to someone who is only 5'3" and my Mom relies on being able to sit right by the door and to grab onto the vertical poles near the doors to stay steady as she heads for the door. Your test configurations will remove some of the seats close to doors. Also, in accompanying my Mom to church on Metro from Arlington to Silver Spring on Sundays, I've noticed that sporting events (Nationals, Redskins,etc.) often fill the cars to capacity, especially on the Orange Line. I sometimes have to ask when we board at Courthouse, "would anyone like to give a seat to my Mom, she's got a bad knew and can't stand for any length of time." With fewer seats available, what are the chances she can sit down? If she faints, as she is prone to do from discomfort in her injured knee after standing too long, the train would have to be taken out of service due to a "sick passenger." But there's no way to compel people to give up seats, especially if there are fewer seats to begin with. I've noticed young riders (teens and twenty-somethings) tend to be especially oblivious to the need to get up and give up their seats, all too often they ignore seniors standing near them.
Richard White	Dear Arlington rider, We consulted the Elderly and Disabled Committee made up of elderly and disabled riders and factored their suggestions into our designs. We have signs posted in the railcars reminding passengers that to give priority seating to elderly and disabled folks, but I’ve seen it on the train myself when folks take up a seat when there is an elderly person standing next to them. I’ve also seen seniors ask a person to give up their seat and they’ve been accommodated without any fuss.

Police Dogs

Author	Message
SH	What type of training do you do for your police dogs and police officers who work with the dogs? Is it the same level of training that the FBI dogs have?
Richard White	Hi again, the Metro Transit Police Department K-9 Officers participate in a 16 week basic canine regional training academy for patrol dogs. The narcotics and explosive ordinance dogs and handlers receive special specific training for those specific duties. Our K-9 teams are members of the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) and maintain standards that comply with that organization. Our transit police K-9 officers regularly retrain to keep skills in compliance. We are proud of our canine officers for their training, experience, skill and the awards they have received at USPCA canine trials.

Train Layouts

Author	Message
LL	So from what I understand, you're not going to consider NY-style bench seating on your new traincars, right? What other options have been considered and discarded, or are you going to try the various options and maybe do even more?
Richard White	Greetings, suggestions for different configurations varied greatly-- from having only a few seats for disabled customers to not removing any seating at all. The configurations proposed represent concepts that appear most promising to evaluate during the tests. The test results may suggest other concepts to explore in the future.

Eating and drinking on Metrorail

Author	Message
CHS	Dear Mr. White, Please, please do something about the growing abuse of people eating and drinking in the system. I'm a five-day-a-week rider, or more, on the Orange Line (saw you on the train the other day, by the way) and my recent experience is that many more people are violating the rules. It used to be a rarity; now, it's common, and I'd even venture that a majority of trips I take have at least one person ignoring this common sense and common courtesy rule. It seems Metro could do lots more to address this. Station managers could intercept violators on the way in. Those large, sandwich board-style signs could be placed in front of the gates with a prominent warning. Metro police or others (a special food/drink patrol roving between stations and lines?) could patrol the stations and cars, being visible and talking with violators. As it is now, Metro workers generally don't say anything when people pass right by them with food or drink. And when Metro workers ride in the cars, they aren't much visible either, because they often close themselves off in the control room portion of the cars. I often speak with people who eat or drink; there's a real attitude of entitlement or defiancy. The french fry case got a lot of attention, but that doesn't mean the end wasn't valid. It also doesn't help that I not infrequently see Metro employees themselves violating the rules; think what message that sends. I really feel like we're approaching a tipping point. If something isn't done to address this now, it will continue to get worse, and go past the point of easy remedy. Those offbeat signs in the cars and stations simply aren't getting the job done. Can you pick up the effort here? Thanks for your consideration. I love riding Metro.
Richard White	It's a tough battle to fight. As you know, each station, train, and bus has signs that tell people that it is against the law to smoke, eat, or drink on Metro. In addition, our train operators and central contol make regular announcements reminding people that they shouldn't eat or drink. We also have posters in rail cars and stations about our courtesy laws. In the next few months, we hope to start working with shopping malls and food courts adjacent to our stations to get their help in encouraging people to eat before they get to us. Finally, our police regularly enforce these law. Last year, the Metro police issued more than 800 citations and 700 warnings for various infractions. If you do see someone eating or drinking on the system, please bring it to the attention of a metro employee. If you have any creative suggestions, please let us know.

Grosvenor/Silver Spring Metro Trains

Author	Message
queene1979	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. There needs to be a faster turn around at the Grosvenor unload.
Richard White	Hi, we schedule four minutes for the train to leave Grosvenor, enter the turnaround track and return to the Grosvenor station. To accomplish this, we have a second operator board the train at Grosvenor to save the time for an operator to walk through the length of the train.

This mornings Metrorail problem

Author	Message
dpete47	What was wrong with the 4-car train at L'Enfant this morning around 7:30? I'm not sure whether it was a Blue or Orange train, but it had diffculty leaving the station. Was it a door problem?
Richard White	Hi, sorry you were delayed this morning. The problem was at Eastern Market on the Blue and Orange Lines, where a train was having mechanical problems. It caused residual delays.

Seat redesign...

Author	Message
samlitz	Mr. White, The proposed seat redesign for Metro trains seems similar to the design of most cars in the New York City subway system. Have you used that system as a model and, if so, how do you think it would work for Metro? What reaction have you had from riders here about the idea? Thanks.
Richard White	Yes, we did look at the New York design. In fact, it influenced some elements of our proposed configurations. As far as rider reaction, we have committed to getting reaction throughout the process. The designs include input from a citizens group and our Elderly and Disabled Committee. Once the test cars are up and running, we will survey customers exiting the train, get input from a customer task force, and monitor input into our customer relations office.

Still missing stop schedules for the 16 line...

Author	Message
W McGee	It's been 4 months since the schedules on the 16 changed, but the old schedules are still posted throughout Columbia Pike in Fairfax County; thanks to the change, the old schedules show buses departing each stop 15 minutes later then they actually do. No updated schedule has appeared at these stops at all. Can there be hope for someone to update these stop schedules?
Richard White	Hi, we'll look into this. I'm pleased to tell you we are actively working on improving the process to update bus schedules at the stops.

4 vs. 6 vs. 8 car trains

Author	Message
JDavid	I know there has been discussion of moving towards 8 car trains as new batches of trains arrive. In terms of the 4 car trains that run during rush hour, is the plan to upgrade all of those to 6 car trains first before moving others to 8 cars? Thanks, David
Richard White	We plan to get to all 6 car trains during the rush hour within the next three years. Our rider counts show that some lines are overly crowded at certain times of the rush hour - even with six car trains. These lines and time slots will get the eight car trains first. I understand your frustration but please hang with us at least until the additional cars get here.