The Manhattan Project
Morning Roundup: Second Helpings Edition
Compromise Uncertain on Same-Sex Marriage Law
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
Sculpture Garden Ice-Skating Rink Remains Closed
Good morning, Washington. If you're the kind of person who delights in reading angry product reviews on consumer web sites, head over here and read some of the comments about the Presidential Inn on New York Ave. Highlights include "I have never been so disgusted with a place in all my life," "I can't even believe that it is running legally," and, tellingly, "upon my departure I noticed small red bumps all over my body." This morning NBC4 tells us that D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer is moving to shut down the Presidential Inn, because of unsanitary conditions. Guests have reported being infected with scabies, and investigators found what they described as "an enormous amount of dried blood" on a mattress, as well as rat droppings. Lovely.
More Details About Adams Morgan Fire: The Post has a rundown on what's come out so far from hearings about the struggles fire fighters faced with Adams Morgan's antiquated water mains during the recent fire on Adams Mill Road. It's pretty grim stuff, with WASA and the fire department pointing fingers at each other: the fire department says a WASA official who responded to the scene had an outdated water main map, and wasn't able to order a sufficient increase in water pressure from a nearby pumping station; WASA says there were two hydrants close to the building that had adequate water pressure, and that firefighters actually used one of them.
Free SmarTrip Cards Next Year: Metro plans to stop charging riders for SmarTrip cards next year, as a way to encourage more people to use them. Instead of heading down to Metro Center and shelling out $5, customers will be able to get them for free, and at alternative locations, like supermarkets. The catch? The cards will at the same time also become required for transfers.
Briefly Noted: D.C. public works supervisor accused of taking bribes ... Three people shot, one dead, overnight ... Charter schools may get funds for kids not enrolled.
This Day in DCist: Last year we warned you of the coming terror of people dressed up in panda costumes, and the year before that we told you where to go eat to get the most out of an expensive bottle of wine.
Photo by spiggycat
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Wait a minute, is metro eliminating free transfers from bus to bus? Or am I reading the story incorrectly? I use smartrip now but get a paper transfer to catch my connecting bus. Under this plan am I going to have to pay the same fare twice if I need two buses to reach my destination?
"The catch? The cards will at the same time also become required for transfers."
Finally. I swear it seems like I'm the only person that pays for the bus sometimes. Everyone else seems to have a permanent transfer that they just wave at the driver.
If you already use a card, you don't need the paper transfer. The machine automatically registers a free transfer if you change buses within the alloted two hours using your SmarTrip. If I understand correctly, it seems that the paper transfers will go away.
Guest 1 - You don't need a paper transfer even now, and the drivers aren't supposed to be giving them to people using smart trip cards. The card is programmed to get you on the next bus free. You touch it, it recognizes that you are transferring.
Guest #1 - No, it just automates the transfer process. Instead of having to get a piece of paper, when you pay with the Smartrip card and then transfer to another bus the 2nd bus' machine will pop up with a "$0.00 transfer" message (or "$0.35 transfer" if you're transferring from Metrorail). No more little pieces of paper to deal with, just the card.
Incidentally, you shouldn't need the little piece of paper now, unless you're switching to another local system which has not yet installed the Smartrip readers - the automated transfer process is already in place for Smartrip cards.
What the fuck is up with the autorefresh on the site? It makes reading at a leisurely less than possible. Or am I just hallucinating it?
Why can't the metro system be programmed to allow for Bus-to-Metro transfers even though they give Metro-to-Bus transfers?
For example, I ride the bus in the morning to metro and have to pay $2.60 ($1.25+$1.35) to get to work, but on my way home I pay $1.70 ($1.35+$0.35).
Shouldn't the cards just be programmed to give a $0.90 discount when transferring from bus to metro?
not a big fan of the autorefresh myself, but it only happens about every 15 minutes, right?
This is great that Metro is finally moving toward all Smartrip cards, but what about allowing discount rail and/or bus passes to be purchased and used via the cards? I know when I was using the bus to commute daily each way that getting a weekly or monthly pass was cheaper than paying for the full bus fare each way (and any trips past just commuting were gravy). The savings was just a buck a week, but a buck's a buck, and why pay it if you don't have to?
Pretty much ALL the hotels along the NY Ave strip, from Florida to Bladensburg Road, are where hookers take their johns. Been that way since at least the 1970s.
Uh... not that I'd know anything about that.
[shrieks, throws feces, escapes by swinging through tree vines]
"Finally. I swear it seems like I'm the only person that pays for the bus sometimes. Everyone else seems to have a permanent transfer that they just wave at the driver."
I often feel the same way. I also get suspicious that the homeless shelters hand them out. I never see a homeless person pay for a bus, they always have a transfer.
Everyone seemed to miss the point of Guest 1. I have experienced the same thing.
I use my Metro card, but others just wave a paper transfer I swear they have had for over a year. Only about 20% of the bus drivers check.
ALSO...you only can ad money at a Metro station. This sucks when you want to take the bus and need to put money on. Metro should allow you to ad funds online - like a Starbucks card.
I agree with Guest 7. It shouldn't matter at all whether you're transferring from a bus to a train or a train to a bus. Previously, I'd heard that the reason there was a difference was because of the paper transfers. Now it seems that there's no impediment to making the transfers either way. Of course, Metro will lose money on all the double charging it has been doing for bus to metro transfers. Any way to find out whether the elimination of paper transfers will make all transfers the same value now?
I think any additional rollout of the SmarTrip cards should be accompanied by a way to charge them online. I am having visions in my head of all of those people with paper transfers now standing at the front of the bus trying to add value to their cards. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard... they've got half the concept down already with SmartBenefits.
re: guest with bus-to-metro transfers... makes sense to me. I was never quite sure why they didn't activate that as an additional incentive to get people on SmarTrip cards. Maybe they thought it would look bad to have a group of people getting a cheaper fare having paid for a SmarTrip card, but that reason will go away with the above.
Reid, this is sure to flip your wig, but I've actually seen the BUS DRIVER give transfers to homeless folks, even when the homeless guy doesn't pay for the initial ride!!!!
Oh, the humanity!!!!!!
"Shouldn't the cards just be programmed to give a $0.90 discount when transferring from bus to metro?"
I used to think that the reason they couldn't do this is because your card doesn't register where and when you get off the bus (unlike how it registers where and when you get out of the Metro). So the system couldn't know for sure that you're boarding the Metro within a few blocks of where you got off the bus. But if they are allowing bus-to-bus transfers, I guess they don't seem that particular about making sure your transfer is within so many blocks of where you got off or so many minutes of when you got off. So yeah, they ought to be able to do this.
Although I'd much rather they focus on getting NextBus up and working sometime this century.
I never see a homeless person pay for a bus, they always have a transfer.
Along with being able to wear the parka-and-wool-blanket-combo in mid-August, free transfers are one of the few perks the homeless have left. Clearly, the rest of us need to take advantage of this by embracing transient couture and the aromas that go along with it.
I hope this means that the SmarTrip readers will work more often. I've gotten about 20 free rides this year because the bus's reader doesn't work. With an increase in riders having cards, Metro will lose a lot more money if it continues to let buses run with broken readers.
Guest No. 12: You can also add money to your SmarTrip card on the buses, using pretty much the same process as at Metro stations.
And yeah, that hotel is a classic. The one jury I've served on here, the crime was committed in that hotel's parking lot.
"Everyone seemed to miss the point of Guest 1. I have experienced the same thing.
I use my Metro card, but others just wave a paper transfer I swear they have had for over a year. Only about 20% of the bus drivers check.
ALSO...you only can ad money at a Metro station. This sucks when you want to take the bus and need to put money on. Metro should allow you to ad funds online - like a Starbucks card."
No, they got the point of Guest 1, you're just responding to Politburo, whose post is shown first if you're hiding all guest comments. Also, as pointed out by jstreet, you can add value to your card on the bus. There's a button for "add value" on the reader; although in all honesty I've never seen anyone try it.
The better idea would be to make it an auto-replenish, like EZ-Pass does.
"Add Value" on the bus sucks...I've seen at least 3 people lose their sh*t on the bus driver because the thing sucks in their money and doesn't 'add value' to the card. And honestly, I think I have seen about 10 people in total try the stupid thing.
Plus, even when people successfully 'add value' it backs up the line to get on the bus. Web-based adds or an auto-replentish are a must.
One can add value on the bus; that's what those gray buttons are for. But honestly, who in their right mind is going to hold up the queue as they plink quarter after quarter into the machine? You think a bus driver or the other riders would tolerate that as the green light in front of them runs out?
What's the secret to adding money on the bus? I've tried, and if it can be done, it's not intuitive, and as far as I could tell, there weren't instructions on the pedestal. Although I might have easily missed them with all the impatient 32 denizens stamping their feet and huffing behind me.
I always thought that the $5 charge for a SmarTrip was for the debit feature, where one can exit the train without proper exitfare and go into negative value. Will they eliminate this feature? Instead of enticing people into getting SmarTrip with this handy feature, they might instead hold them hostage with the transfer limitation. Lovely.
I have never seen a bus driver hesitate to continue driving their route regardless of who is standing or still trying to pay their fare.
As for all those people using the Presidential Inns free high speed wireless connections to check the latest news at DCist, it is time to pack your things and change hotels.
That's a good point (DCfist). Why not just get a free SmarTrip card, add 5 cents to it, take your ride and exit with negative balance, then toss it? Talk about a waste of plastic cards.
They'll have to force people to add $5 to it when buying it, or something.
I still don't know why WMATA doesn't give discounted fare for SmarTrip users. If they want to encourage more cards, this would be a logical incentive. Look at London's tube system and the Oyster cards. If you don't have an Oyster card you pay 4 pounds for a one-way fare vs. 1.50 pounds with the card.
"they might instead hold them hostage with the transfer limitation"
I had a friend named Charlie face this problem in Boston back in the 1960's.
27: WMATA doesn't give a discounted fare because that would be a waste of money. They already have the leverage of requiring SmarTrip for parking, and soon they will have the leverage of requiring it for transfers.
guest 23, the bus drivers will tell you how to do it if you ask nicely. It basically involves a routine of button-pushing, swiping, and inserting your money, which once you do a couple of times becomes easy.
Whenever I know I will be adding money, I just get on the bus last, so that the driver can close the door behind me (and drive away, even though technically nobody is supposed to be standing in front of that yellow line) and nobody has to wait. Duh.
if i remember correctly, you used to be able to add 20 bucks to your smartrip and it would give you an additional 10% free (so it added $22 to your card). that was back when fares were about $1.10, so it was almost the equivalent of two free rides benefit for using your smartrip and spending 20 dollars.
Miss Bee,
I believed Metro gave a 10% discount on all purchases either farecard or smartrip. I do find it a little funny that people wonder why Metro doesn’t give discounts especially when they are running at capacity and are having serious cash flow problems. Metro is long past the time where it has to provide incentives to get people to ride the metro; they have us by the balls and they know it.
Guest30 -- it's nice you are optimistic everyone who wants to "add value" will be as considerate as you and wait for last to get on the bus.
I've found it more likely for people to act like true me-first Washingtonians and not give a damn about the 30 other people standing behind them, even when it is raining, snowing, etc.
Discounted fare is not an incentive to ride the metro, it would be an incentive to use the card. I am completely aware of the leverage Metro has, but maybe they should start thinking about eliminating wasteful paper cards and think about rewarding those who buy a refillable plastic card.
#34
Why have any incentive at all. Want people to use Smartrip, elimate the paper card forever and make the card the only option. Use Smart Trip or don't ride.
I would hope that if they make SmartTrip cards available at grocery stores, you will also be able to add value there as well. As great as it would be to be able to add value via the internet, that is not going to help the low income people who don't have a SmartTrip card now because it is either inconvenient to get one or because it costs $5 to acquire in the first place.
Back when SmartTrip cards were first introduced I recall reading that they were considering changing the system so that you would get a discounted fare transfering either to or from the metro, but it wasn't going to be a 90 cent transfer either way, but a reduced fare that would be equivalent to the reduction in fare you receive now if you make a round-trip (ie. 45 cent reduction each way).
Reid/#28,
Nice reference to the Kingston Trio song about the T in Boston.
-Mr T in DC
I'm gonna grab a bunch of farecards and sell them on ebay.
"What's the secret to adding money on the bus? I've tried, and if it can be done, it's not intuitive, and as far as I could tell, there weren't instructions on the pedestal. Although I might have easily missed them with all the impatient 32 denizens stamping their feet and huffing behind me."
Show some common courtesy and wait until everyone has got on the bus and paid their fare -> Press grey button on left of touchpad ("Add Value" button) -> touch your SmarTrip card to touchpad -> slip dollar bills into machine -> touch your SmarTrip card to touchpad again -> done.
Show some common courtesy ...
Of course this being Washington, DC, all helpful advice must be accompanied by a dash of priggish sermonizing.