metro

Photo by PoPville flickr user Pablo Raw

From WMATA:

“In his first public policy address since being appointed Metro’s General Manager/CEO last November, Paul J. Wiedefeld today [Monday] began to lay out his plans to make Metro safer and more secure, improve service reliability, and get its financial house in order.

During a luncheon at the National Press Club, Wiedefeld discussed his roadmap for restoring the public’s trust in Metro. While confronting some hard truths regarding Metro’s current safety culture, declining ridership and the mechanical failures that have caused a deterioration in Metrorail on-time performance, Wiedefeld identified clear priorities with defined immediate and longer range deliverables for the entire Authority.

“In many ways, what you see here today is the CEO’s ‘To Do’ list to get Metro back on track,” said Wiedefeld. “It’s my commitment to be transparent about what needs to be fixed, how we are going to fix it, and ensure that our stakeholders can easily monitor progress so that public confidence is restored in Metro.”

Wiedefeld said there is no single action that will turn Metro around but a combination of efforts “to grind out critical changes at all levels” is needed to improve the customer experience.  Some of those actions are already underway – including increased police patrols, installing new radio systems and cell phone cabling in tunnels, changes to rail car parts inventory, and the accelerated delivery of 7000-series trains.

Other actions will be implemented over the next weeks and months, such as a rail service reliability program to reduce waiting, crowding and passenger offloads. Other highlights include: (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Rob Cannon

From WMATA:

“Reconstruction of the Metrorail system will continue over the weekend of March 4-6 with service adjustments on all six lines. Trains will operate as follows:

Orange and Blue line trains will operate every 20 minutes.
Silver Line trains will operate every 10 minutes between Wiehle-Reston East and Ballston only.
Yellow Line trains will operate regular weekend intervals between Huntington and Mt. Vernon Sq only.
Free shuttle buses replace Green Line trains between Navy Yard and Congress Heights.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday through closing Sunday, buses will replace Green Line trains between Navy Yard and Congress Heights. During this time, Anacostia station will be closed.

Red Line trains will operate every 12-24 minutes.”

And don’t forget:

“Starting Sunday, March 6, Metrorail faregates accept SmarTrip only and will no longer accept paper farecards, a key milestone on Metro’s yearlong phase-out of the outdated fare media. Customers with paper farecards may transfer the value to a SmarTrip card by using the brown vending machines at Metrorail stations or at any Metro sales office through June 30, 2016.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user nevermindtheend

From a press release:

“Governor Larry Hogan, Governor Terry McAuliffe, and Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an important step forward in the establishment of a new Metro Safety Commission, an independent oversight agency that will ultimately direct the safety and security of mass transit systems in the Washington Metropolitan Area, including the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

Metro+Safety+Commission+MOU

Governor Hogan, Governor McAuliffe, and Mayor Bowser signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will move Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. closer to establishing the new Metro Safety Commission. WMATA is the only public transit agency in the nation that is comprised of three separate, co-equal jurisdictions which have worked together to oversee safety of mass transit in the region through the Tri-State Oversight Committee.

“The safety and security of public transportation is an area where Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. can act as one,” said Governor Hogan. “Metro gets millions of people in the region to and from work each day and the Metro Safety Commission is an important first step to ensure that riders have access to a world-class public transportation system.”

“The Metro system is an enormous economic asset for the entire region and ensuring that it is as safe as possible must be priority one,” said Governor McAuliffe. “I look forward to continuing our work with Maryland and Washington, D.C. to execute this MOU and establish the Metro Safety Commission as soon as possible.”

“The District is committed to working with our partner jurisdictions and the new Metro leadership to ensure that the region has the safest, most reliable public transportation system in the nation,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. “While we move forward with a new Metro Safety Commission, we will continue to push for needed reforms to improve Metro.”

This MOU is an agreement by all three parties to commit resources and staff, share information, and work together in a transparent fashion to develop strategies that will help to establish a fully compliant oversight agency. Additionally, each jurisdiction has agreed to submit necessary budget appropriations of agreed upon amounts in future budgets to fund the Commission.

This MOU brings Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C a step closer in fulfilling a federal mandate as established by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act of 2012 (MAP-21), which gave the U.S. Department of Transportation enhanced oversight over states and jurisdictions with rail fixed guideway public transportation systems and required eligible states to have a safety oversight program.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr.TinDC

Ed. Note: Last Friday we spoke about whether or not folks felt safe on metro. See the poll results here.

From a press release:

“Metro General Manager/CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld and Transit Police Chief Ron Pavlik today announced plans to increase patrols onboard buses, trains and within Metrorail stations. The additional measures will result in sharp increases in the number of officers on patrol at selected times of day, and also better utilize officers working in “limited duty” status to provide additional “eyes and ears” at key locations.

Metro Transit Police will begin implementing the following measures immediately: (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Beau Finley

From WMATA:

“Reconstruction of the Metrorail system will continue over the weekend of February 19-21 with service adjustments on all six lines. Trains will operate as follows:

Orange, Blue, Yellow and Green Line trains will operate every 20 minutes.
Silver Line trains will operate every 10 minutes between Wiehle-Reston East and Ballston only.
Red Line trains will operate every 12-24 minutes.”

and

“Metro is advising customers on the Orange, Silver and Blue lines of important track work beginning at 8 p.m. next week on Monday and Tuesday nights that will improve safety and reliability.

Metro is planning to replace nearly 400 feet of rail through a sharp curve in the area of Smithsonian Station. Due to the labor-intensive nature of the work, crews will need more time than is available during the overnight hours when the system is closed. As a result, Metro will begin the work at 8 p.m. for two consecutive evenings.

In addition to replacing rail, crews will use the time to replace more than 100 third-rail insulators and approximately 2,000 fasteners that hold the rails in place. Leak mitigation, drain cleaning and general debris clean up will also occur.

Customers on the Orange, Silver and Blue lines are advised:

• On Monday, Feb. 22, and Tuesday, Feb. 23, beginning at 8 p.m. each night, Metro will conduct track work between Smithsonian and Federal Center SW stations.
• Orange and Blue line trains will single track through this area, resulting in delays of approximately 15 minutes in each direction.
• After 8 p.m., Silver Line trains will run between Ballston and Wiehle-Reston East stations only. Riders traveling to Silver Line stations in Virginia should take an Orange Line train to Ballston, and then transfer to a Silver Line train on the same platform.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Dean M

From WMATA:

“Reconstruction of the Metrorail system will continue over the weekend of February 12-14 with service adjustments on all six lines. Trains will operate as follows:

Free shuttle buses will replace Green Line trains between Gallery Place and Navy Yard.
Yellow Line trains will operate every 10 minutes between Huntington and National Airport only.
Silver Line trains will operate every 10 minutes between Wiehle-Reston East and Ballston only.
Orange and Blue line trains will operate every 20 minutes.
Red Line trains will operate every 6-20 minutes.

There is no scheduled track work for Presidents Day, Monday, February 15.

Buses replace trains between Gallery Place and Navy Yard | 12:01AM Saturday until Closing Sunday

Green Line trains will operate as follows: (more…)

Thanks to Ally for sending from yesterday’s rush hour ride home:

“At Farragut West they only let u down to platform in waves bc too many ppl on platform. Wow.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user nevermindtheend

From WMATA:

“Shady Grove-bound Red Line train offloading at Friendship Heights, will turn back to Glenmont for service. 8:38a #wmata”

“Shady Grove-bound Red Line train offloading at Van Ness, will turn back to Glenmont for service. 8:33a”

“Red Line delays continue in both directions – power problem outside Grosvenor. 8:34a #wmata”

Ed. Note: Red Line – you shouldn’ta been so smug in the 90s/00s!!