Public Transportation

Key topics in this category:

RECENT POSTS

September 10, 2010 | 1:29 PM | By

Speak Up About the Circulator!

DDOTDC

The Circulator!

The Circulator buses are popular because they are pretty (to me), clean, cheap and generally easy to use. I just took this survey to help improve their service– and tell them how much I like it. If you’d like to tell them what you think, go here and let them know. Questions include:

- What should change about the Circulator over the next 5-10 years?

- What should stay the same?

One of my favorite things about D.C. is how it’s possible to function here without a car. When I lived in Georgetown, the Circulator was my conveyance of choice for getting to work– or a metro station. It’s nice to be asked for input regarding a service I enjoy and appreciate.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Circulator
September 9, 2010 | 5:35 PM | By

Maybe SmarTrip Won’t be Discounted, After All

nevermindtheend

This SmarTrip card is in the red...thanks to a sharpie.

Last week, I posted about having your say regarding Metro’s proposal to no longer allow negative balances on SmarTrip cards. The whole reason Metro considered changing the current system, which allows riders to exit even if they don’t have enough money on their card to cover metro fare was because of a proposal to lower the cost of a SmarTrip card from $5 to $2.50, in order to make the plastic fare card more accessible and affordable. Laudable goal, right?

Well, yes, but officials at Metro then theorized that people could abuse the system by purchasing a card and taking a ride which cost more than $2.50. That’s why they considered eliminating negative balances. What they didn’t consider was how complicated this would all become. For example, there were no plans to change the Exit Fare machines to accept credit cards– they are cash only. That was one of the reasons why negative balances were allowed in the first place; the machines for adding value to SmarTrip cards are beyond the fare gates. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Metro, Money, SmarTrip, WMATA
September 9, 2010 | 10:40 AM | By

Is Metro Parking Under-priced? For Whom?

ghbrett

East Falls Church Metro

There’s a thought-provoking post up over at Greater Greater Washington about how VDOT wants to retain all the parking (if not increase it, in the future) which currently exists near the East Falls Church Metro stop.

VDOT cites the early fill time for the parking lot as justification for considering more parking than already exists. The lot regularly fills before 7:30 am, and data obtained from Metro cites the lot as one of the region’s most crowded.

The author of the post, Michael Perkins, thinks that the lot fills regularly because it is under-priced. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Money, Traffic, WMATA
September 2, 2010 | 3:22 PM | By

Speak up for SmarTrip negativity on GGW!

Mr. T in DC

Mr. T in DC's SmarTrip Card

Greater Greater Washington‘s founder, David Alpert, (who, incidentally, is the subject of a cover story on “Smart Growth” for the latest edition of the City Paper) is calling on readers to go over six possible alternatives to WMATA’s plan to no longer allow SmarTrip cards to have a negative balance.

WMATA raised the hackles of many riders when it announced SmarTrips would no longer go negative. Responding to the outcry, CFO Carol Kissal and her team developed six alternatives for handing the issue, which they presented to the Riders’ Advisory Council last night.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, City Paper, Metro, SmarTrip, WMATA
August 27, 2010 | 5:16 PM | By

Circulator’s New Route? East of the Anacostia River.

It’s happening, next year:

DDOT is currently conducting a comprehensive study to guide the expansion of the Circulator system over the next five to ten years. That includes an ongoing collaboration with neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River to determine the best route for a new line in this location. This planning effort will be completed this fall.

DDOT anticipates the route with service east of the Anacostia River to garner much demand and has already directed First Transit, which operates the DC Circulator, to purchase buses for the new line in preparation for starting service next year.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Circulator, Metro
August 27, 2010 | 10:00 AM | By

A Seizure on the Green Line

Metro train

Beadmobile

What would you do if a passenger on the train got sick?

Quick– if someone collapsed on the Metro, would you know what to do?

When I first saw a post about sick passengers riding Metro, I assumed it was about people with colds or the flu. I was wrong. The Unsuck DC Metro blog was discussing something else entirely– one reader’s frustration with her morning commute on the Green Line, after it had been complicated by what initially seemed like an emergency:

A man collapsed from his seat into the aisle. Passengers jumped up to see what was going on. Someone hit the red button at the end of the car to notify the train driver. We gathered around the man, moved his heavy bag out the way and checked his medical bracelet. He has epilepsy.

Of course, the train stopped moving at that point. But read what happened next:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Disabilities, Metro, WMATA
August 26, 2010 | 3:02 PM | By

Top up your SmarTrip Card, ASAP

Remember: on Monday, Metro rides will become more expensive. Instead of two tiers of prices, there will be three, with a peak-of-the-peak surcharge added to the morning rush hour(s). From WTOP:

Metro will charge Metrorail riders an extra 20 cents on weekdays between 7:30 and 9 a.m.

A 20-cent charge between 4:30 and 6 p.m. was put into place earlier this month.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Metro, Money, SmarTrip, WMATA
August 25, 2010 | 10:16 AM | By

Don’t be blue, Circulate.

circulator

Beechwood Photography via flickr

Georgetown Metropolitan informs us that Circulator buses will be replacing those quirky, loud blue shuttles which transported people from the Dupont Circle and Rosslyn metro stops into Georgetown, starting next Sunday:

…the new Circulator route is identical to the Blue Bus. What will be different are the rates: normal fare will still be a buck, but you won’t get a 50 cent discount for showing a Smartrip. Although, you will get to pay with a Smartrip, which is probably worth 50 cents.

Check out the comments section for a GM reader’s unforgettable memory of riding the blue bus into town– on September 11, 2001.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation
August 24, 2010 | 9:45 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes

dollarcoins

KCIvey / Flickr

Good Morning, Washington, D.C.! While you’re sipping your coffee, enjoy these time-wasting delicious bites of news !

Re: last week’s WaPo article on $1 Coins– did you know paper manufacturers campaigned against the change? (capitalgainsandgames.com)

The “Tea-Partiers Guide to DC” gets skewered on Gawker (gawker.com)

And you thought traffic in DC was bad…try idling for three days, in China A 62-mile traffic standstill on a road leading to Beijing is now in its ninth day, with individual drivers caught in it for as long as three days. (San Francisco Chronicle)

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Public Transportation