Results tagged “transit”

As Metro General Manager John Catoe alluded to recently in one of his weekly online chats, WMATA has decided to go ahead and delay implementing those confusing changes to SmartBenefits we've been hearing so much about, as iMetro reports (hat tip to GGW).

Last night at the budget forum, John Catoe addressed this issue. The conversion of the Smartbenefits program to the new IRS-compliant system has been delayed. An extra year was given for WMATA to come up with a better solution than what was proposed (the three purse system). So rest assured that the SmartBenefits system will remain in its current state at least through the year of 2010. Catoe informed us that this decision was reached on Tuesday, November 17th.

Here's an interesting bill currently before the D.C. Council, courtesy the Examiner's Michael Neibauer: Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) and Michael A. Brown (I-At large) have introduced legislation that would establish 50-foot "safety zones" around any District of Columbia transit stop. The idea here is that any crime committed inside one of the "safety zones" would carry additional penalties and even extra jail time, sort of like how if you commit a traffic violation inside a construction zone, the amount of your ticket doubles (in this case, it would be 1.5 times the maximum fine and 50 percent more jail time). The proposed zones would of course encompass all D.C. Metrorail stations, but they would also include every one of the roughly 3,500 bus stops in the city, which, if you picture it, would cover a really substantial portion of the city. Think this is a good idea?

    

On Tuesday, the District Department of Transportation released the above images of the city's three streetcars being loaded up for shipping. That's good news, considering D.C. taxpayers have been paying to store the streetcars in the Czech Republic for over four years now. DDOT says these images show the streetcars being loaded onto flatbed trucks in the Czech Republic and then arriving in Hamburg, Germany. They are expected to make it to D.C., by ship, in mid-December.

WMATA now says that NextBus, e-alerts, debit card transactions, SmartBenefits and all other remaining electronic systems that were affected by today's outage were back online by 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. NextBus was indeed working when we tested it just before 5 p.m. Be sure to let us know if you run into any continuing problems on your commute home this evening.

We've been following the massive systems outages at WMATA all day, and now Metro says that its public address system is again up and running. Debit card transactions, credit card purchases of more than $20, NextBus, SmartBenefits and the e-alert system are all still not functioning, however. We'll be keeping an eye on the situation as the evening commute rapidly approaches.

WMATA plans to scrounge up $36 million from a combination of stimulus funds, inaugural reimbursements, surplus reserves and insurance money to deal with its widening budget gap for the 2010 fiscal year, both the Post and the Examiner are reporting.

WMATA put out its November track work advisories today, and it looks like Metrorail riders on most lines are in for more of the weeknight delays that made October such a joy, not to mention plenty of weekend work to contend with. A brief outline of what to expect this month is below, but see the two advisories for full details.

WMATA has already held public forums in both D.C. and Virginia on the choices it is facing in FY2011, and now Marylanders will get their turn. Two forums have been scheduled in the state, one on Tuesday, November 3 at Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, and another on Wednesday, November 18 at Prince George’s Community College in Largo. Both meetings will begin at 7 p.m. and include an opportunity for public comment. More details can be found here.

It's been a while since we've posted such a sweet piece of transit porn; so, streetcar advocates, feel free to keep drooling as you read the rest of this text. To the right (and in more detail here), you'll find DDOT's comprehensive idea for an expanded streetcar network, based on the existing plans for H Street NE and Anacostia.

Do you depend on SmartBenefits to pay for your daily jaunts around Metro-land? If so, pay attention: WMATA has announced some changes to the way that your transportation cash will be distributed. The coolest change? Instead of having to go to the farecard machine to download allocations to your SmarTrip card, your monthly balance will automatically be added whenever you tap your card to any Metrorail faregate, parking target or bus farebox, saving you precious seconds. The downside? Beginning in 2010, if, for whatever reason, you don't use any public transportation for an entire month, the funds allocated will be credited back to your employer. While a scenario -- outside of extended foreign travel -- where you don't use touch any sort of Metro farebox for 30 consecutive days is difficult to imagine (and most employers would presumably just roll it over), we can already imagine the kinds of epic complaints that could arise. The changes will also allow the option to allocate funds to a flex account which can be transferred between both parking and transit.

Metro on Monday will being testing a new software program designed to provide a real-time back-up to the rail system's crash-avoidance system, Lena Sun reports in the Post. The software was developed by WMATA and Annapolis-based developer ARINC following NTSC recommendations after the deadly June 22 Red Line crash. "With the software, a malfunction will trigger a visual and audio alarm on controllers' screens at Metro's operations center; controllers will be required to acknowledge the alarms." It'll be tested for the first time during Monday's rush hour, with no set timeline on when it might go into full and complete use.

It's Thursday, which means the weekend is blissfully close. But apart from a break from the office and a chance to unwind, you know what weekends also mean: Metro track maintenance delays! This weekend's work schedule isn't as bad as recent episodes, but Red and Orange Line riders should make a note of the following potential delays. Also keep in mind that the entire Metrorail system will open at 5 a.m. on Sunday to accommodate the Marine Corps Marathon. We'll have more detailed information on the street closures that will come along with that event this weekend.

In case it wasn't obvious when you boarded the Metrorail system this morning, WMATA says it did indeed finish up that major rail interlocking replacement and bridge work that saw three Metro stations on the Green and Yellow lines closed for the entire three-day weekend. Also notable: Metro counted 64,228 people who took advantage of the free shuttle buses that were moving riders around the closures. That figure is just shy of the 68,000 or so who used the shuttles during the similar Labor Day weekend closures.

You have to feel sorry for the 15-year-old son of Vienna's Jenifer Joy Madden, who got outed by his mom in an op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post for having only just now learned how to ride a bus.

We couched it as another test of their mettle. After all, if these 15-year-olds could swing at objects flying 90 miles an hour and get whacked by titanium lacrosse sticks, they could walk to a bus stop and ride a few miles across town.

A friendly Friday afternoon reminder from your pals here at DCist about this weekend's Metrorail closures along the Green and Yellow lines. Don't forget that the Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Mem’l-Penn Quarter stations will be closed completely, along with Green Line service at L’Enfant Plaza, starting at 10:30 p.m. tonight and lasting through closing on Monday, Oct. 12.

Four and half months after the fatal June 22 Red Line crash and much to the relief of frustrated commuters, Metro announced today that Red Line service near the Fort Totten station has returned to normal. From the press release:

Red Line trains are no longer traveling at reduced speeds or taking turns moving one at a time between the Fort Totten and Takoma Metrorail stations. Maintenance program repairs in the Fort Totten Metrorail station area have been implemented, including replacing original track equipment dating back to the 1970s.

Continue reading "WMATA: Red Line Service is Back to Normal "

Reports of smoke on the tracks at Metro Center starting at about 9:20 a.m. caused major delays on the Red Line this morning, with trains sharing the same track between Judiciary Square and Farragut North. WMATA says the situation had been resolved by about 9:40 a.m., but delays persist in both directions on the Red Line. UPDATE 11:09 a.m.: Metro says the cause of the smoke at Metro Center this morning was a fire that broke out after one of the train's collector shoes, which are attached to the third rail, fell off. WMATA is investigating what could have caused such a piece of equipment to disconnect from the train. Each train has four collector shoes.

       

City officials gathered this morning to open the new Union Station Bike Transit Center, the first secure bicycle parking facility of its kind on the East Coast.

WMATA released its October weekend track maintenance schedule on Monday, which details the Columbus Day Weekend closures of the Waterfront-SEU, Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter and L’Enfant Plaza stations on the Yellow and Green lines they had previously warned us about, in addition to myriad other work that will affect the Red and Orange Lines during three other weekends throughout the month. It'll be a busy month for weekend track work, but considering the average month, par for the course.

Last week, we reported that the Georgetown/Union Station route of the popular Circulator bus would cease traveling up Wisconsin Ave. beginning Oct. 4, and Monday the District Department of Transportation announced several other route changes to the Circulator buses. The changes will result in the complete cancellation of the National Mall loop during the off-season, plus the loss or addition of service to some stops on other routes.

Virginia Railway Express is thinking about no longer selling its discounted youth tickets because they believe more and more adults are abusing the system by pretending to be younger than they really are, the Examiner reports today. Currently, anyone under 21 can get VRE tickets for half-price, so it's not too hard to imagine a number of 20-somethings are getting away with paying less than they should. There will have to be a public hearing before anything more happens, but VRE is proposing raising the age of children who ride for free when accompanied by an adult to 10, up from 6, in order to make up for the change. The commuter rail agency estimates eliminating the youth discount could generate $300,000 per year.

Have you signed up to participate in Car Free Day yet? The big day is tomorrow, but as of this writing only 4,759 people have pledged to reduce or eliminate their car use for one day, well short of the 5,445 the event logged last year. You can find the Car Free Day online pledge form here. And don't forget that from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., F Street NW between 7th and 8th will play host to the big Car Free Day celebration, which will feature, among other things, a free outdoor yoga class from Yoga District at 1:30 p.m., a lesson on bicycle repair at noon, and a special bonus for Penn Quarter office workers: the Fojol Bros., the Spy Diner sidewalk food cart, and On the Fly will all be at the event to sell tasty food cart lunches to all comers.

Transit nerds rejoice! The District's long-long-long-awaited return to streetcars -- the vehicles for which have lied in a state of chrysalis in the Czech Republic for several years -- has begun to take form, as tracks are beginning to be laid in Southeast D.C. Although the streetcar plans have been kicked around in some shape or form for quite some time, the visible laying of tracks, beams, and the such is certainly the project's most exciting development, as the Post notes. Neighborhood blog Barry Farm (Re)Mixed brings us the visual evidence that, yes, we're well on our way to combining the least annoying parts about Metrorail, taking the bus and walking into one easy to use moving solution.

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire reported last night that Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) has fired off a letter to WMATA General Manager John Catoe complaining that the transit agency did not adequately prepare for last Saturday's 9/12 Tea Party protests, in some cases leaving participants stranded. The Post also has the story.

The Washington Post's James Hohmann digs into the driving record of Carla Proctor, the Metrobus driver who was behind the wheel of the bus that struck 30-year-old jogger Amanda Mahnke on Sept. 3. Proctor had two previous on-the-job accidents: one in 2004, when she crashed a Metrobus into the back of a parked vehicle on the 1300 block of Wisconsin Ave. NW, and another in 2003, when she allegedly failed to properly apply a brake before she exited a bus to inspect a faulty door. That bus "rolled down a hill and struck a car, setting off a chain of crashes that damaged seven vehicles as well as the bus."

Tuesday, Sept. 22 will mark this year's Car Free Day, and organizers in the D.C. Metro area are hoping to exceed the number of pledges they get from last year's total number of participants, which came in at 5,445.

We frequently hear complaints during the school year about groups of kids on their way home from school misbehaving and causing problems on the city's public transit system. And now WMATA is encouraging you to lodge those complaints with Metro Transit Police. Metro has designated a specific phone number, 202-962-2118, to report disruptive behavior on the part of kids. The transit agency also says it will be deploying additional officers to trouble spots during the after-school hours, in an effort to break up trouble before it escalates. “We want to start off the new school year right, and let students and all of our riders know that their safety is our top priority. Everyone should feel secure while riding Metro,” said Metro Transit Police Chief Michael A. Taborn in a statement.

Two Metro workers were injured Wednesday evening after two rail cars hit each other in the rail yard at West Falls Church, the Post is reporting. Thankfully, the two employees suffered injuries that are being described as "non-life threatening," though they were transported for treatment to Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Greater Greater Washington's Michael Perkins has been doing great work chasing down why, exactly, WMATA and Google can't come to an agreement and get Metro data into Google Transit. This post gets into the details, but the short version is that WMATA isn't inclined to play nice with Google, apparently because the agency thinks its schedule data might be worth something. No, they're not sure if they can get any money for it, but they'd like to find out: Metro has been talking about bidding out a half million-dollar contract for a consultant who can tell them whether they might be able to monetize their schedule data. Today Perkins saves them the trouble by reporting the likely answer: no. He's got Google on record saying that they don't pay New York for its transit data, despite a history of the MTA trying to extract money from those using its data. If the Big Apple can't shake down Google, what hope do our local transit bureaucrats have? It's looking an awful lot like WMATA is stonewalling developers, inconveniencing its riders and preparing to waste $500k for nothing. Maybe Metro should focus on moving people around the city and leave the dreams of internet mogul-dom to the Californians.

Ongoing track circuit repairs on the Red Line and scheduled maintenance on the Blue, Orange and Yellow Lines this weekend will lead to delays across the Metrorail system. Here's the details: