September 27, 2007
Transit on Thursdays: Now with Bated Breath
While we sit here tap-tapping our fingers, eagerly awaiting the Metro Board’s next move on our collective fare fate, we will distract ourselves with other traffic and metro related tidbits: metro savings, the ICC goes on and weekend delays.
Photo by philliefan_99
In the world of Metro, it’s safe to say: the more trains, the more room, the more frequency and the more accuracy, the better.
That’s why a little line in a recent Examiner story about shaving off some of WMATA’s $186 million funding shortfall through savings worries us.
Savings where, exactly?
“A Metro spokesman declined to elaborate on what services might be scuttled, but possibilities include fewer new railcars and buses, less security and safety training, and ending extra Yellow Line service.”
Maybe this Examiner reporter was just speculating, but if "ending extra Yellow Line service," or in other words rolling back the off-peak extension of the Yellow line to Ft. Totten that went into effect in January, is based on some possible reality, we really hope Catoe reconsiders. Green line passengers will no doubt agree that the Yellow Line extension is the greatest thing that's happened to them since the Regal Gallery Place movie theater opened up, and we can imagine a small but insistent protest movement emerging should you choose to yank it away from them so soon.
Maybe they can also stream Grey's Anatomy?
Catoe, of course, isn’t just making you wait longer for the sake of money in the bank. He’s also still exploring new ways to rake in the dough, reports WTOP. First it was those flashy, advertising signs in tunnels. Now he says they plan to install more flat screen TVs, like the ones installed outside some station (Chinatown, for example) giving train arrival updates, or public announcements like the weather.
As a side note: This Washington Post reader has some interesting suggestions for what seems like common sense things Metro can do to save some change. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from the Germans after all?
Highways = green? Not really.
Up in Maryland they are still toiling away on the Intercounty Connector, one of those fun multi-billion dollar projects folks have been working on since before this blogger was born.
The Montgomery Council has renewed concerns that the project, which will cut through communities with an 18-mile controlled access toll road, will hurt the environment, reports The Examiner.
Council, please note this almost universal rule about highways: Are they needed? Generally. Are they environmentally friendly? Not so much. Should you have already worked this out since umpteen draft environmental impact reports were released and scrutinized over the last ten years? We're thinking, yes.
Weekend track work, delays
Red Line trains will share a track between Ft. Totten and Takoma stations thanks to track maintenance from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Add up to 20 minutes of travel time to your trip.
Orange Line trains will share a track, also for track work, between the New Carrollton and Cheverly stations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. To make things faster into downtown, every other Orange Line train will terminate at the Cheverly station and return to the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU station. Add up to 30 minutes of travel time to your trip.
Delays again this weekend on the Green Line thanks to continued new railcar testing. Trains will single track between Greenbelt and College Park from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and you should add 10 to 15 minutes of time to your trip.
|
Wow, the "I spent six months studying abroad in Hamburg" letter is full of problems.
--The suggestion that escalators should only run when being used. The writer neglects the fact that such constant turning on/turning off of the system adds much more wear and tear, meaning more maintenance, meaning more out-of-service escalators.
--No back-lit advertising. Doing this would greatly reduce the value clients are willing to pay to advertise in these locations. The savings might be greater, but they might not.
--And the biggest joke: no-turnstile, honor-system based admission. Is he/she kidding? That might work in Hamburg. But this is America, more accurately, DC. Not necessarily the land of honest, law-abiding civilians. And the solution of using undercover police to randomly enforce this? Would the savings of eliminating magnetic strips and turnstiles really make up for the cost of adding so many more salaried positions?
I'm starting to wonder if someone on the staff is sleeping with Philliefan_99. Not that they're bad pictures, but just from the sheer number of them selected recently.
I like how the ICC critique is followed by a LONG list of Metro delays. Could it be Monkey County drivers want their ICC because Metro can't get its act together, assuming Metro was ever even an option? How many of those tech corridor jobs are located anywhere near a Metro station?
To add to the fun: the Navy Yard Metro expansion may not be ready for opening day at the new Nationals Stadium.
Also, how much does it cost to run the Yellow line up a few more stations? I can’t imagine where the extra cost comes from besides the extra electricity.
As for the cost saving ideas from Germany, I think the escalator idea is a bad idea. The constant turning on and off of the escalators will reek havoc on the mechanics; newer models maybe able to handle it, but not our dinosaurs.
But if you want to save energy, cut back to 4 car trains on the weekends, less empty space to haul around and less wear-n-tear on the rolling stock.
Another way to save money is to flex the time certain stations are open and close. Some stations don't need to be open later at night when there is a more utilized one a few blocks away.
By the way, I'm all for doing anything to cut costs on Metro (higher fares for decreased service is something we'd all like to avoid). I just think that letter-writers ideas, while noble, just need to be challenged and looked at from all sides. It's simply naive to think that a high-ridership Metro system in a large American city would benefit from an honor code-type fare scheme. The system is policed too little as it is.
"Green line passengers will no doubt agree that the Yellow Line extension is the greatest thing that's happened to them since.."
Not everyone on the Green Line lives between Mt. Vernon and Ft. Totten... in any case, I thought most of the cost of the extension was new signage and maps. I suppose there is an extra train or two on the line during off-peak to keep the headways the same with the extended distance.. but if you remove it, you're going to have to change all those signs back.
From the Hamburg letter: "These backlit advertisements cost more than paper signs because of the expense of printing on transparent plastic and of illuminating the signs."
Presumably the advertiser covers the cost of the plastic sheet, I would hope. They are backlit with fluorescents, but it does add up with multiple ads in each station. However with the current lighting situation in underground stations, you kind of need the backlighting. I certainly agree there should be more ads on the system in general.
POP does not work in the US.
#2, it is a bit reminiscent of my own photo.
alas, i checked the creation dates. his is 3 weeks older than mine. dammit.
in any case, i like seeing photos from lots of different users, so yea, i agree with the sentiment on lots of photos from that user. (i admit, my friends and i are always excited to see each other in the credits.)
Utilities are a relatively minor expense as over 50% of the metro budget goes towards pay and benefits.
The way to solve the problem is to determine how to reduce over-time costs (taking on the Union) and to get VA, MD and DC to pony up more money (taking on the politicians).
How bout this cost cutting measure:
Eliminate all the useless "Ask Me" metro employees loitering on the platform.
Once I counted 8 just standing there letting us know that the train is coming.
I imagine there are a rather large number of people who post pictures to DCist photos and tag their photos with DCist yet we only see a handful on the actual site. Every couple months there seem to be complaints about who is being "favored" at the time. I personally was getting tired of every picture being from Eye Captain but what are ya gonna do? They take interesting photos and the staff is obviously (and hopefully) drawn to that and not the fact that they've met these people at a meetup.
how about that monthly/yearly pass? i'd certainly buy it.
I believe the correct spelling is "BAITED breath"
it's bated breath
Yup, it's bated. As in having one's breath abated in anticipation of something happening.
Although, I always bait my breath when I'm fishing for compliments.
Yeah, a few too many Metro employees standing around on platforms during rush hour.
There are regularly groups of two or three loitering on both sides of the L'Enfant Plaza green/yellow line platform. Just waiting to help someone, but they never seem to be actually doing anything.
If this sort of waste of human resources is any indicator, there may be some systemic problems with overstaffing at Metro.
Why is Metro so intent on all these flashy ads? First it was wrapped trains, then the in-tunnel "moving" ads, now flat panel screens. What seems to be missing from the discussion is the type of advertising that is the standard in all other systems I've ever ridden in: more in-train ads above the windows and more in-station billboards.
One can consider whether they're appropriate for a system like Metro, but it's odd to me that they're never even discussed here.
I'm pretty sure the Metro advertising issue has been discussed to death here. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we get tv screens in every station and every car blaring ads. Add a few kegs and the soccer game and Metro would be practically indistinguishable from any neighborhood bar.
Everett - thank you for getting the DC sex scandals out of the airport restrooms.
Advertising is free money. The more attractive it is, the more free money Metro will get.
Turn off the escalators completely. Woodley and Rosslynn don't need to budget extra time to work-out now.
Bob--
Hah?
Oh, I gotcha. Heh. Well, I'm always looking to do my part to rid society of sex!
Wait a minute, no I'm not...
BostonRay notes: They will roll back the rate increase to about 25 cents but move up the effective date by months.
re: an "honor system" for fare collection. I am not saying it would or wouldn't work in DC, but this type of system is currently used on the LA transit system and on many of the newer light rail systems including Baltimore, Hoboken-Jersey City-Bayonne, and Trenton-Camden.
What they ought to do is increase fares at the low end of the cost spectrum (like within the city/$2 or less fares). People living in Vienna or Silver Spring are getting ridiculously ripped off already...
But how many of them are govt or whoever else that is getting their metro checks for free? Employers will automatically raise what they are giving them anyway.
An honor system metro wouldn't work because large chunks of the DC population are still under a Barry-era mentality that the government owes them and that paying for government services = the government doesn't care. The yuppies and professionals would pay because of conditioning but everyone else would enjoy a free ride.
#24,
Metro check are limited by the IRS at $110 (+ or - a few $). Anything more is considered taxable income. Only an act of congress can raise that limit.