Transit on Thursday: Everything is More Expensive Edition
Virginia Railway Express had its busiest month ever in August, hauling an average load of more than 15,000 people per day. It's both a testament to the metro area's thirst for mass transit and a startling turnaround for an agency that was shedding customers left and right as recently as last year. Heck, the system is even looking into possibly expanding its reach.
But there's big trouble rumbling under the surface. According to the VRE's September newsletter (PDF), expenses so far exceed revenue that even with such high ridership, the system will have to initiate not one, but two new rounds of fare increases in the coming year, even after raising rates 3 percent across the board in July. The explanations aren't too far out of the blue: sharply rising fuel costs, increased maintenance of older trains, and the failure of the Virginia legislature to allocate a dedicated $25 million to the carrier is mostly to blame. VRE is proposing two fare increases: up to 15 percent in January, and then up to 10 percent next July. Additionally, the railway says that if that doesn't work, they may even have to cut service to balance the books; the first to suffer would mid-day riders. A series of public hearings is underway to discuss the figures behind the potential fare increases, with one planned in the District at noon on September 22 at the L'Enfant Plaza Holiday Inn.
Photo by sabekkas.
Chatsworth Disaster's Ripple Effects To Be Felt: Of course, our hearts and thoughts go out to everyone involved with last Friday's terrifying Los Angeles Metrolink derailment, which killed 25 and injured more than 100 others. Our friends at LAist have been all over the story - they report that the investigation unearthed the likely cause of the accident: the train operator was text messaging shortly before the crash, causing him to miss a red stop signal before the train's fateful collision with a Union Pacific freighter.
In the fallout, Adam Tuss penned a scathing editorial for WTOP in which he asserts that immediate action is needed from Washington area transit agencies to prevent this type of incredibly dangerous distracted operation. As Tuss correctly points out, Metro has had this type of incident (thankfully, with a smaller scope) before - although an investigation is still ongoing, cell phone usage appeared to cause a Yellow Line operator to fail to apply emergency brakes before striking and killing two Metro maintenance workers in November 2006. As Tuss puts it:
Metro has a strict policy of not allowing train or bus operators to use personal cell phones while on duty. It still didn't stop that Metro operator from doing it. She even lied about using the phone, according to the National Transportation Safety Board...I'm sorry, if I am putting MY life in YOUR hands, the last thing you should be concerned about is what your friends are doing.We couldn't agree more. Metro has regulations in place that prohibit electronic use by operators, but it's unclear how regularly it's enforced. California is now seeking to create legislation to ban cell-phone usage by transit operators. In the area, Baltimore has (we assume coincidentally) recently banned city employees from using cell phones (even hands-free devices) or iPods while driving. We hope that we'll be hearing more from Metro regarding stricter policies in the next few weeks.
Well, With Prices So High, Who'd Notice?: I suppose we should file this one into the "bad side of human nature" category. WTOP reports that the Virginia Department of Consumer Service has received over 2,000 complaints of price gouging at gas stations under the guise of shortages caused by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. To be fair, some stations in our area had been facing a shortfall of gasoline from the storms early on, but Virginia governor Tim Kaine, calling the gouging "intolerable," has taken swift measures to make sure that the supply of gas in Virginia stays steady. If you do think you've been gouged, the hotlines to call are 1-800-552-9963 or 804-786-2476 - but feel free to let us know in the comments about it, too.
Community Transit Meetings Upcoming, Part 2: Metro will be holding another meeting to solicit customer input on the 16th Street Metrobus Line at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 23, at St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 16th and Newton Streets NW. The meeting is part of the wider push to include rider opinions to upgrade the lines - which is something that we can totally get behind. Go and do your part to help unbunch those S buses.
Engines and Cabooses: Something tells me that we're all in for a treat when the videos for this WMATA contest show up on YouTube... Arlington County roundup: Zimmerman calls outdated taxi regulations a "complete perversion" and some roadwork projects are good to go... Silver Spring bus stops are shifting for construction of new transit center... Maybe it's just us, but we can't even read those signs, let alone follow them in a panic... To save money on ICC construction, Maryland will delay building service roads...As if you didn't know: here's why transit is so important in our fair city.