Go Home Already: Shouts and Murmurs
Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Compromise Uncertain on Same-Sex Marriage Law
Morning Roundup: Second Helpings Edition
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
WTOP's Adam Tuss reported yesterday on a new report that shows Metro's on time performance and reliability is actually getting worse, and this morning the Washington Post follows up with a front-page story on the same subject. The bottom line? Metro isn't even coming close to meeting its performance goal of having 95 percent of all trains running on schedule.
In November, the latest month in which Metro has stats available, only 85 percent of trains were on-time during the morning rush, while even fewer, 83 percent, were on-time in the evening. Those figures are down from November last year, when trains in the morning were on-time 90 percent of the time, and trains in the evening were at 87 percent.
The main problems keeping Metro from operating on schedule are apparently mechanical and door problems. How many times have you been on a train and had the doors take too long to open? Exactly. So despite some skepticism expressed in yesterday's comments about the need for newer rail cars, perhaps focusing on getting rid of old cars that cause significant delays should be welcomed as a bigger priority for the transit agency.
Photo by digital don
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I like that photo - it's airy and lighted, obscuring the fact that metro stations are dim and gloomy.
reminded me of the School of Athens when I first saw it...
Or something.
Just get rid of the doors....it works in India.
thank you wonderwazz for giving me the laugh of the day....
school of athens...except with fat americans instead of athletic greeks...
I'll ask the obvious question...what are the fare increases for exactly?
fyi, DDOT has plans to try Smart Bikes locations around town. Can't seem to find anything on it yet but I really hope that it takes in DC.
http://www.cscout.com/blog/2007/12/16/trend-public-bikes-%E2%80%93-smart-bikes.html
i'd say those times when the operators can't get the doors to close make more delays than waiting for the doors to open. i've only been commuting regularly on Metro for a little over six months, and i've been whisked off trains at least four or five times because the operators can't close the doors because of overcrowding and have to take the train out of service.
honestly, i didn't even know there was a real schedule for the Metro trains.
If they're not even on time during peak hours, imagine what the stats for off-hours are. I missed a train just after rush hour by 1 minute the other day. The signs said the next train would be there in 8 minutes. 15 minutes later, the train finally arrived. I hate Metro. It's not an urban transit system. It's just a suburban commuter system. It has gotten better since 1999, but it still has a long way to go.
Scheduling does happen, but it is usually at the ends of the line. Trains will wait at the station until their departure time; after that its go until you break.
As someone who has been riding Metro regularly for the past four years, the decline in service has really been noticeable over the last year or so. It's gotten bad enough that I now drive to and from work most of the time. Getting to the office on time just 85% of the time doesn't cut it, Metro.
And I have very little faith that the fare increases are going to change anything for Metro riders, other than reduce overcrowding for those who have no other transportation options.
I must say, I think people in DC constantly underappreciate the Metro. It is amazing that any city operates a transit system that is so comprehensive that you don't need a car to be happy. The metro has problems, yes, but it is still an outstanding system.
I must say, I think people in DC constantly underappreciate the Metro. It is amazing that any city operates a transit system that is so comprehensive that you don't need a car to be happy. The metro has problems, yes, but it is still an outstanding system.
"I'll ask the obvious question...what are the fare increases for exactly?"
Inflation is a factor (and part of that is rising health care costs). For some inane reason people expect things like tolls and train fares to remain stable while the value of a dollar gets lower and lower. But instead of annually adjusting things to inflation, the adjustments are done every 5 years or so and it's a big shock.
"If they're not even on time during peak hours, imagine what the stats for off-hours are."
The off-peak OTP is probably better, because one failure, if resolved quickly enough, doesn't delay the whole line. Even if it isn't resolved, single tracking causes fewer delays during off-peak.
The fare increases are to improve the service. Sorry that the extra $.50 cents a day that you've contributed this week hasn't fixed all the problems yet. But maybe by the end of the month.
My question is how late is late. If a train was scheduled to go from Shady Grove to Glenmont in 45 minutes and takes 47, it is late, but do I really care about the 2 minutes? No. I understand that this has a ripple effect, but I want some context to the numbers.
Politburo, don't forget paying the highest earning Metro personnel overtime. [http://dcist.com/2007/04/20/transit_on_thur.php]
I think we need the fare hike. But I think Metro could better streamline its operations. The deterioration of the cars is a problem. But, Metro unveiled a new design a month ago to help replace the current fleet. Yesterday's unveiled sketches are to replace the new design unveiled last month.
How is that an effective way to use the operating budget when service is worsening, escalators/elevators aren't functioning and fewer people are riding?
Constantly paying a firm to design new rail cars and not actually building new rail cars is not solving a problem. It's wasting money for a cash strapped agency.
Typically, within 10 minutes is "on time" for a transit agency, but I don't know what number WMATA uses.. I searched their site but only found that they consider 30 minutes to be "excessively late".
Does anyone even use a schedule when taking metro?
If you dont, then it's hard to complain about the metro being late.
Ces12 - only when I take the bus, and even that isn't an exact science.
Ces - Before they put the PIDs online, I used the schedule on weekends.
As for the constant re-designs of the new cars, these are still conceptual plans, so they shouldn't be costing that much.. and that money comes out of capital, not operating. But either way, the operating budget is over one billion dollars, and the shortfall at one time was $115 million. You're not going to solve much by cutting a few $100k of consultant expenses. The problem, imo, is mainly labor related (rising health care, too much OT, pensions).
What gets me is the fact that I pay the peak fare for many, many more hours than peak service is actually provided. If I have to pay the peak fare after I get off work at 6:30 PM, I shouldn't have to stand on the platform for 12 minutes waiting for my train when, at 4:30 PM I would have waited for 3 minutes at most. (This happened to me just lastnight, for example.)
I know that there are a lot of federal employees who keep early hours, but not everyone is a government employee! You'd think that with the sheer number of lawyers in this town just the number of people working for them would outnumber the feds...
Ces12 - only when I take the bus, and even that isn't an exact science.
This is true. But busses are affected by so much more outside factors than metro. Since I get on the bus at the beginning of a line sometimes, I do notice that the busses will wait around and leave at a scheduled time. So, they are sort of doing their job.
Ces - Before they put the PIDs online, I used the schedule on weekends
I definitely used to also. I guess I was referring to morning rush hour as stated in the article
Metro performance has definitely suffered over the last few years. But I would be willing to overlook it to a degree if we could get some Wi-fi in there.
It's coming, supposedly, but who knows how long that will take to implement, and who knows if it will be free.