Transit on Thursday: Are You Satisfied?
For all its foibles, Metro is still something most of the capital region wants to take pride in. Sure, all the news lately about the Metro funding bill touts the importance of federal workers riding the rails on a daily basis - but when it comes down to it, Metro in general is something beloved by most area residents, regardless of where they work.
Metro conducted one of its Customer Satisfaction Measures over the past couple of months. Over 80 percent of respondents found Metrorail satisfactory. There's even more love to be found in the survey: as pointed out in the Examiner's writeup of the results, a large majority of people feel safe on Metro - 85 percent of bus riders and 89 percent of rail riders, to be exact. It's a good number, considering last year's rash of bus accidents and the fact that robberies in the system have been on the rise this year. Other large city subway systems have lower figures in the same categories. (For instance, levels of perceived safety on New York subway lines have been hovering close to 50 percent since 2005. Philadelphia has also seen a rash of incredibly violent crime in SEPTA trains and facilities recently.)
But just like anything you love, sometimes you need to be the one to tell them the awful truths. For instance, only a slim majority of Metro users surveyed (54 percent) use the WMATA website to get information about trains and buses. We know plenty of folks who don't even realize that you can get real time train arrivals at any station. It's a disappointing figure and a sign that Metro could benefit from some enhanced web capabilities - for instance, the eventual integration of Metrorail with Google Transit should help spur activity.
Photo by NCinDC.
A few other interesting tidbits from the survey:
- A staggering 98 percent of rail riders have one or more cars in their households. The repercussions here are two-fold - first, it is certainly a good thing that Metro is attracting such a high number of people who could conceivably be driving to work and other activities. On the other hand, the figure is indicative of the breakneck pace that Metro seems to be on, ridership-wise. If this number stays steady (or rises), Metro will easily smash their projection of nearly one million riders per day in the near future.
- About 80 percent of rail and bus riders are employed; but whereas 83 percent of Metrorail riders have a college degree, only 56 percent of Metrobus riders are college educated. Obviously, such a gap in education is very interesting; is it a matter of Metrobus simply reaching more areas than Metrorail, or is it indicative of a wider social gap in public transportation availability?
- Finally, you know it, we know it. Metro's oft-pathetic bus service earned only a 63 percent satisfaction rate.
Around a thousand bus and rail riders were surveyed for the CSM over the past couple of months. If anyone out there was one of the lucky ones surveyed, do feel free to share your experience in the comments.
Now You Can Plan The Rest of Your Weekend Activities: It's no secret that Metro delays are part and parcel of the typical Washingtonian weekend. But at least WMATA has taken the proactive step of releasing the entire schedule for weekend work one month in advance, ranging all the way to the first weekend in November. Before, the most amount of notice for such typical work was three or four days. This month, every line is affected, with the notable exception of the Yellow line (of course, the last two months have seen the Yellow line have its fair share of track work). Upcoming delays consist entirely of single tracking due to track maintenance; as usual, the agency recommends that passengers add an additional 20 minutes to their weekend commutes because of the work. There's also little work that will affect folks traveling between central portions of the city - but if you're planning to venture out to the 'burbs, do check the schedule. If you don't, no worries - we'll keep you posted.
File Under Recommended Listening: We've always been a big fan of Adam Tuss's Metro reporting, and he hasn't disappointed with his recent series of audio reports on our flailing rail system. While we're fairly certain that if you're reading this, you're well aware of the material that Tuss covers in Parts I, IV, and V. But Tuss's reports on 2x4s holding up Metro platforms (Part III) and the perils of the success of MetroAccess, an issue which we noted back in May (Part VI) are really enlightening.
Engines and Cabooses: Metro facing Justice Department discrimination suit... Comparing the Underground and the Metro - basic finding? The Underground's way bigger... Some Fairfax County buses returning to normal service... Metro to open early on Sunday to accommodate the Army ten-miler... Funds allocated to rail improvements between Richmond and D.C. will increase currently sluggish performance - and are a bargain at $13 million... With Metro expansion on the way, Loudoun County begins to talk public transit... D.C. earns grant to fund community trails.