Public Transportation

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RECENT POSTS

November 29, 2010 | 1:58 PM | By

Stabbing at Petworth Metro Station on Sunday

Wayan Vota

This is so disturbing (via WAMU):

Metro Transit police are investigating the stabbing of a man at the Georgia Avenue-Petworth station. A Metro spokeswoman says a man was stabbed while exiting the station around 4:15 p.m. on Sunday.

The victim had passed through the fare gate when he was approached by another man who stabbed him in the neck.

The Georgia Avenue-Petworth station, located in Northwest D.C., services the Yellow and Green lines.

Metro says the victim was taken to an area hospital. His condition is unknown.

I hope the victim makes a full recovery, and that they catch whoever did this.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Crime, Metro, WMATA
November 15, 2010 | 4:45 PM | By

Relegating Buses to Second-Class Status

iwantamonkey

WMATA Bus Stop in Hyattsville, MD

Here’s a great post about how much the location of a bus stop matters. Poorly-located or -designed stops discourage riders from using the bus, unless they absolutely have to. Additionally, the fact that some malls don’t want bus stops on their property reinforces the “second-class” perception of that mode of tranpsort:

The result is to create additional burdens on those using the bus for shopping, requiring them to haul or push their purchases a significant distance to the bus stop, a process that would be particularly unpleasant in rain or snow (or, here in Vegas, when it’s 117 degrees), or for those with mobility issues.

When mass transit stops are systematically located in inconvenient or isolated areas, it disadvantages those who are dependent on public transportation and discourages others from choosing to ride rather than driving their own car, and reinforces a common perception of the bus, in particular, as an inferior form of transportation…

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Access, Race and Class, WMATA
November 12, 2010 | 5:42 PM | By

“Be on the lookout”, on Metro

marrngtn (Manuel)

So, last week Metro Transit Police heard from a Metro-rider that two men were engaged in shady behavior at L’Enfant Plaza and on the Orange Line (via WTOP):

The rider told Metro he saw two men acting suspiciously and videotaping platforms, trains and riders.

“The men, according to the citizen report, were trying to be inconspicuous, holding the cameras at their sides,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel says.

The rider was able to photograph the men who were videotaping and sent the photo to Metro Transit Police.

Metro Transit Police issued an internal memo to officers telling them to “be on the lookout for” the men, a standard tactic used by police departments to share information with their officers.

However, that internal memo was leaked. Metro says the memo was meant for an internal audience only and was not intended to be a public notice.

Some photographers are alarmed at how this memo could be misinterpreted, and as a brown female who always has her camera with her (it’s part of my job!), I understand why. At the same time, I worry about how vulnerable Metro is to a terrorist attack. How vigilant is too vigilant? And how much liberty should we lose to be safe?

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Metro, WMATA
November 9, 2010 | 10:57 AM | By

Metro’s “Grab-bag of Good Ideas”

laffy4k

Metro Center

After the escalators at L’Enfant Plaza malfunctioned ten days ago, injuring several people, I worried about how safe they were. The Greater Greater Washington blog has obtained a copy of the report that WMATA commissioned on elevator and escalator maintenance. Their verdict? It’s not good:

Quite simply, the escalator report is not well done. It doesn’t specify the specific goal of the audit, and ends up being a grab-bag of several findings, many positive and many negative…If the brake issues were a real concern to the consultant, the report certainly doesn’t reflect that. They are buried between recommendations for better housekeeping and for better training in the Maintenance Management System.

This gets to the heart of the real problems facing Metro. As we have repeated on several occasions, Metro’s fundamental flaw in both maintenance and safety is its inability to proactively prioritize action items based on how much an issue contributes to downtime or risk of injury.

Instead, Metro creates grab-bags of good ideas, pursues them in no particular order, and then when a major incident occurs reactively spends mountains of money addressing the immediate causes of that incident. Metro is doing the same here, by now testing the brakes on every escalator in the system.

Not everyone can afford to keep a car or live somewhere where they can walk to everything they need; people depend on Metro. It’s disheartening that WMATA is unable to prioritize access to safe transportation over housekeeping. I love a clean station, too. But when I spent the better part of a year with my mobility impaired, limping in a brace, a sparkly floor meant nothing to me if I had to pass a broken elevator and then stumble down a broken escalator to enjoy it.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Access, Metro, WMATA
October 28, 2010 | 11:08 AM | By

How safe is Metro?

Riding on the Metro-o-o.

Well, this is harrowing:

A survey of Metros 10,000 employees has found that nearly two-thirds of them have observed a safety violation in the past year…

The survey found that safety violations are reported nearly 70 percent of the time, and fear of retaliation was the top reason employees cited for not reporting safety breaches. Employees were also reluctant to report their peers. Another main reason workers said they did not report safety problems was they believed nothing would be done about them.

“There is a sense of futility,” said board Jim Graham, who is also a D.C. council member.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, WMATA
September 22, 2010 | 2:15 PM | By

Must. Resist. Car.

Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

But it would be so hard to resist a six-speed manual...oh, the earth is sad? Well, all right.

Dr. Gridlock on “Car Free Day”:

So to me, Wednesday’s Car Free Day is about raising consciousness concerning choice, not about pushing people out of their cars. So I hope people who usually drive will consider options that could save them money and stress. You don’t have to take a sudden and lasting plunge into a completely different commuting style. But do think through the alternatives of transit, biking, walking or telecommuting — even once in a while. As Nicholas Ramfos of the Commuter Connections program says, “Just try it.”

I am so grateful I get to work from home. I’m more productive in my quiet apartment than I am in our bright, electrifying newsroom. I can run down the street when Go-go legends are hanging out at Ben’s. I can read without being disturbed and make phone calls without disturbing others.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Environment, Metro, WAMU, WMATA
September 20, 2010 | 5:12 PM | By

How many hyphens and slashes are enough?

Mr. T in DC

The Green Line likes long names.

DCist discusses local groups (like ANCs and BIDs) who would like to add even MORE words to our already cluttered, hyphenated Metro stops:

This isn’t a new debate. Metro station names have gotten somewhat out of hand over the last 15 years, especially on the Green Line. (Excuse me while I hop on at U Street / Cardozo / African-American Civil War Memorial, roll through Mount Vernon Square-7th Street / Convention Center, and then exit at Archives / Navy Memorial / Penn Quarter.) It’s station name creep, plain and simple, and especially galling when you think about how, at the genesis of the Metrorail system, station names had a limit of 15 characters.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, ANCs, Metro, WMATA
September 16, 2010 | 1:30 PM | By

Poor Information, Poor Planning, Poor WMATA

Ah, the continuing saga of SmarTrip and WMATA. Will they discount the $5 cards and make them more affordable to strapped commuters who are already smarting from a fare increase? Will they allow riders to exit the station with a negative balance? Will scofflaws abuse the system? Who cares, the situation is even worse than we thought. An “embarrassment”, even! Via WTOP:

Metro says it has no idea when — or even if — it will be able to put a SmarTrip discount in place.

During a tense board meeting Thursday, Metro Board members talked about the issue, but could not find a solution.

“This is an embarrassment,” said Board Member Jim Graham, who represents D.C. “I think we should move off this agenda item. With every passing minute, this looks worse.”

I’m concerned about Metro Board considering changes when they are on the receiving end of “bad information”: Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Metro, SmarTrip, WMATA
September 13, 2010 | 2:26 PM | By

Take Metro? Step Away from the Door, Hide your iPhone.

B.Romain

Well, that's one way to keep your iPod safe.

WTOP reports that Metro Transit Police are concerned about the rise in robberies of phones and mp3 players:

From Jan. 1 to June 30, 2010, there were 540 robberies on trains and buses, according to Metro statistics. (See Slide 14) That’s about 160 more compared to the same point last year, and almost double compared to 2008.

Many robberies involve smartphones or iPods that are simply snatched right off riders.

Much like real estate, location is everything: Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Crime, Metro, WMATA