“Dear PoPville,
Wondering if you knew what’s up with TSA doing random security checks at the Columbia Heights metro this morning?”
We’ve spoken frequently about Metro Transit Police inspections but this is the first I’m hearing of TSA security. Anyone else see increased security at other stations? If so, did you notice if it was TSA or Metro Transit Police?
Photo by PoPville flickr user bajidc
From WMATA:
“General Manager & CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld announced today that a track department supervisor has been dismissed for abuse of overtime, and others are under administrative review.
“It is disturbing and disappointing that any employee would misuse overtime. The supervisor in this matter has been dismissed effective immediately,” said Wiedefeld. “As stewards of the public’s trust, all of us at Metro must hold ourselves to a standard of conduct that is above suspicion and reproach. We have a code of ethics that prohibits abuse of employment here for private gain.”
The administrative review was prompted by an interim report from Metro’s Office of Inspector General, which is conducting an ongoing investigation into overtime fraud. (more…)
The Washington Post reported WMATA will:
“consider selling the naming rights to some stations — despite ongoing concerns about the risks of adding commercial brand names to historic Metro stops.”
Good way to raise revenue?
Before you answer just think how much coffee that would buy.
Photo via WMATA
Metro crushing the coffee scene.
From WMATA:
“Need coffee? A SmarTrip® and a visit to participating @DCDunkin locations can get any sized hot/iced coffee for only $1.49.”
Side note: Sunday HipCityVeg closed an hour early so that “our staff gets home safely with the new Metro schedule.”
Full Disclosure: I still love Dunkin and will be taking advantage of this offer.
Photo by Tim Craig
Speaking of our new metro commutes, thanks to Tim for sending this from HipCityVeg.
“We are closed an hour early this evening dute to our staff getting home safely with the new Metro schedule.”
712 7th Street, NW
Martha reports Sunday just after 2pm:
“Insane crash on western ave just off the circle – the telephone pole is cracked in two spots and being held up by a small crane. Tons of pepco trucks.”
At 9:19 this morning Alert DC reports:
“DDOT reports Western Ave at Chevy Chase Circle, NW is clear. All lanes are open.”
Allyson reports:
“Anyone know what happened? Taxi flipped at 14th and L NW around 11:30pm on Sunday. I was driving by and police hadn’t shown up yet. Seems the driver was still in the car. Hoping everyone is okay!! People were surrounding it trying to help.”
Photo by PoPville flickr user Eric P.
From DDOT:
“The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will kick off a series of public events on the design phase of the 16th Street NW Bus Lanes Project. As part of the events, DDOT will provide a project overview, present roadway layouts, and gather feedback.
The 16th Street NW Bus Lanes Project is an effort to improve bus service and reliability in the 16th Street NW corridor. The corridor was identified as a transit priority in moveDC, the District’s multimodal transportation plan. In April 2016, DDOT released the 16th Street NW Transit Priority Planning Study, which proposed a set of recommendations to advance to the design phase. The recommendations included peak-hour, peak-direction bus lanes; bus service changes; bus stop improvements; and transit priority infrastructure. The project’s design phase will use recommendations from the 16th Street NW Transit Priority Planning Study to begin environmental documentation, and to develop preliminary engineering designs.
There are three opportunities to provide input on this phase of the project. All events will cover the same material and seek public feedback. (more…)
Photo by PoPville flickr user Julian Ortiz
From WMATA:
“Maintenance work over the weekend of July 7-9 to keep trains operating safely and reliably.
Highlights
Yellow and Green line trains operate regular weekend service
Red Line trains will operate every 20 minutes
Buses replace trains between Foggy Bottom and Federal Triangle, see below for details
Silver Line trains operate regular weekend intervals between Wiehle-Reston East and Ballston (more…)
“Dear PoPville,
How has Metro’s decreased rush hour service been impacting peoples’ commutes? How do we get the ridership data that informed WMATA’s decision about service levels? I travel from Georgia Ave to Archives, and since they reduced service (eliminated yellow line service and reduced frequency of cars), a lot of people at U Street and Shaw typically haven’t been able to board the trains, and today they closed the doors on people as they were trying to exist at Chinatown because there were so many people.”
From metro:
Metrorail service levels
On Metrorail, changes are being made to service levels during rush-hours only, where trains will run every 8 minutes on each colored line, rather than every 6 minutes on most lines today. On the Red Line, trains will run every 4 minutes between Grosvenor and Silver Spring; trains between Shady Grove and Glenmont will run every 8 minutes.
The Blue Line, which today runs every 12 minutes during rush hours, will see an increase in service with trains running every 8 minutes — the same as all other lines.
Rush+ Yellow Line service between Franconia-Springfield and Greenbelt will be discontinued. During rush hours, all Yellow Line trains will operate between Huntington and Mt Vernon Square. (Yellow Line service will be extended to Fort Totten during off-peak hours.) Riders north of Mt Vernon Square should use Green Line trains for continuing service.
“Dear PoPville,
Just after the new year the intersection at the corner of 11th and Pennsylvania NW, right in front of the Trump Hotel, was changed, to the benefit of the new entrance to the hotel and the detriment of those traveling south on 11th. Now the light is green only about three or four seconds long for those going south and turning left on 11th, with a light that is even longer for the few cars exiting the Trump entrance. This is constantly causing backups and done in a way that clearly benefits the hotel. I assume DC still controls the streetlights in this town… what’s up?”