(Photo by evtwal)

SafeTrack’s second surge is expected to be a much bigger test for Metro than the first one, which concluded last week after two weeks of single tracking on the western portion of the Orange line. This time around, though, two stations are closed entirely and trains aren’t running on another portion of the Blue line. With bus bridges only capable of a fraction of the line’s capacity, Metro and local officials have been practically begging commuters to find other ways into the office.

It turns out, on the surge’s first weekday, a significant number of people listened. WMATA reports that ridership east of the Minnesota Avenue/Benning Road station this morning was down 65 percent in comparison to a Monday last month.

Many of them turned to the Green line, with ridership at Greenbelt up 23 percent and College Park up 33 percent. Among other bus options, Prince George’s County increased capacity and waived fares on the 15X bus route, which travels between Greenbelt and New Carrollton, to help people get to the Green line.

Overall, ridership on the system this morning was down 4.5 percent.

“This is not like what we went through in surge one. This is greater,” Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said last week. “There will be no trains in any direction, at any time” between Eastern Market and Minnesota Ave/Benning Road. There also will be no Blue line service between Rosslyn and Arlington Cemetery or in the District of Columbia. The surge is scheduled to end July 3.