Results tagged “metro”

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend will see a number of changes to Metrorail and Metrobus schedules, so be sure to make a note of them as you try to get around the city over the next few days.

Couple of headlines on local crime trends from the broadcast outlets worth looking at today.

As Metro General Manager John Catoe alluded to recently in one of his weekly online chats, WMATA has decided to go ahead and delay implementing those confusing changes to SmartBenefits we've been hearing so much about, as iMetro reports (hat tip to GGW).

Last night at the budget forum, John Catoe addressed this issue. The conversion of the Smartbenefits program to the new IRS-compliant system has been delayed. An extra year was given for WMATA to come up with a better solution than what was proposed (the three purse system). So rest assured that the SmartBenefits system will remain in its current state at least through the year of 2010. Catoe informed us that this decision was reached on Tuesday, November 17th.

A man was struck and killed by a Franconia-Springfield-bound Blue line train at the McPherson Square station at around 8:35 p.m. this evening, according to Metro spokesperson Angela Gates. No details are yet available on the identity of the victim. The station is currently closed while police investigate. WMATA has established shuttle bus service between Farragut West and Federal Triangle. Preliminary reports indicate witnesses saw the man place himself on the tracks intentionally. We'll update when we have more details. (UPDATED at 9:27 p.m.) Metro says the McPherson Square station is expected to be open for regular service on Tuesday morning. (UPDATED again at 11:07 p.m.)

When it comes to deciphering news about Metro -- or pretty much of anything in this crazy town -- I've found that it helps to simply boil things down to real-life versions of popular Simpsons gags. (But, you know, nothing after season eight.) Take, for instance, this morning's Washington Post report about a kinda-sorta shake-up involving WMATA safety chief Alexa Dupigny-Samuels, which is a lot more digestible through the lens of a classic bit from "Treehouse of Horror III." Observe:

You think WMATA employees are ready for 2009 to be over already? Adding to the list of big-time trouble its already had this year, the transit agency has just been criminally charged with dumping hazardous waste into the sewer system at New Carrollton and Branch Avenue in 2003, the Washington Post reports. This sort of case is almost unheard of.

The criminal claim against the quasi-public agency is extremely unusual, and a search of federal and state court records revealed no other such cases. It is not clear why prosecutors are pursuing the case six years after the alleged violation.

Continue reading "Metro Charged with Hazardous Waste Dumping"

Our friends over at Greater Greater Washington asked us if we'd point our readers to a little usability test they've created in an attempt to compare the old WMATA bus map with the new one. Metro apparently rolled out a new bus map recently without advertising it. Here's what David Alpert says is different about it:

The biggest change is in the color coding of lines. Before, lines got one of several colors to distinguish them, though there were still several red line groups, several green groups, etc. Now, all lines that stay within DC are all red, lines entirely in Virginia purple, and lines that cross borders get different colors.

WMATA now says that NextBus, e-alerts, debit card transactions, SmartBenefits and all other remaining electronic systems that were affected by today's outage were back online by 3:30 p.m. this afternoon. NextBus was indeed working when we tested it just before 5 p.m. Be sure to let us know if you run into any continuing problems on your commute home this evening.

We've been following the massive systems outages at WMATA all day, and now Metro says that its public address system is again up and running. Debit card transactions, credit card purchases of more than $20, NextBus, SmartBenefits and the e-alert system are all still not functioning, however. We'll be keeping an eye on the situation as the evening commute rapidly approaches.

• Metrobus fareboxes are functioning, although some bus operators had difficulty logging onto them earlier this morning. If that was the case, customers were allowed to ride without paying.
• The Bus Operations Control Center had early difficulty communicating with buses on the streets, however bus radios came back into service at about 10 a.m.
• All reservation and dispatch systems for MetroAccess returned to use at about 10 a.m.

WMATA plans to scrounge up $36 million from a combination of stimulus funds, inaugural reimbursements, surplus reserves and insurance money to deal with its widening budget gap for the 2010 fiscal year, both the Post and the Examiner are reporting.

WMATA put out its November track work advisories today, and it looks like Metrorail riders on most lines are in for more of the weeknight delays that made October such a joy, not to mention plenty of weekend work to contend with. A brief outline of what to expect this month is below, but see the two advisories for full details.

We're set to fall back one hour this weekend, when Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1. For Metro riders who will be out celebrating Halloween that night, WMATA has just put out its regular reminder that it will still close at 3 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning, despite the time change. That means that there will technically be an extra hour of Metrorail service on Halloween night: when the time goes back an hour at 2 a.m., it'll be 1 a.m., and you'll still have two more hours of ghoulish fun left before the last trains leave.

WMATA has already held public forums in both D.C. and Virginia on the choices it is facing in FY2011, and now Marylanders will get their turn. Two forums have been scheduled in the state, one on Tuesday, November 3 at Kennedy High School in Silver Spring, and another on Wednesday, November 18 at Prince George’s Community College in Largo. Both meetings will begin at 7 p.m. and include an opportunity for public comment. More details can be found here.

Do you depend on SmartBenefits to pay for your daily jaunts around Metro-land? If so, pay attention: WMATA has announced some changes to the way that your transportation cash will be distributed. The coolest change? Instead of having to go to the farecard machine to download allocations to your SmarTrip card, your monthly balance will automatically be added whenever you tap your card to any Metrorail faregate, parking target or bus farebox, saving you precious seconds. The downside? Beginning in 2010, if, for whatever reason, you don't use any public transportation for an entire month, the funds allocated will be credited back to your employer. While a scenario -- outside of extended foreign travel -- where you don't use touch any sort of Metro farebox for 30 consecutive days is difficult to imagine (and most employers would presumably just roll it over), we can already imagine the kinds of epic complaints that could arise. The changes will also allow the option to allocate funds to a flex account which can be transferred between both parking and transit.

Metro on Monday will being testing a new software program designed to provide a real-time back-up to the rail system's crash-avoidance system, Lena Sun reports in the Post. The software was developed by WMATA and Annapolis-based developer ARINC following NTSC recommendations after the deadly June 22 Red Line crash. "With the software, a malfunction will trigger a visual and audio alarm on controllers' screens at Metro's operations center; controllers will be required to acknowledge the alarms." It'll be tested for the first time during Monday's rush hour, with no set timeline on when it might go into full and complete use.

WTTG/FOX 5's John Henrehan says that Metro Transit Police are bracing themselves for a winter crime season populated by thieves who steal people's expensive coats, especially ones made by The North Face.

The assistant chief of the agency, Jeff Telinski, told the transit agency's board of directors on Thursday that rail systems on the West Coast are reporting an increase in coat robberies. Coats manufactured by North Face are popular targets.

It's Thursday, which means the weekend is blissfully close. But apart from a break from the office and a chance to unwind, you know what weekends also mean: Metro track maintenance delays! This weekend's work schedule isn't as bad as recent episodes, but Red and Orange Line riders should make a note of the following potential delays. Also keep in mind that the entire Metrorail system will open at 5 a.m. on Sunday to accommodate the Marine Corps Marathon. We'll have more detailed information on the street closures that will come along with that event this weekend.

With a big tip of the hat to WTOP, the D.C. Fire/EMS department has just released this 12-minute video about the rescue effort that followed the June 22 Red Line crash, which killed nine people and injured dozens of others.

The video was shot by D.C. Firefighter Vito Maggiolo.

Continue reading "Video of the June 22 Red Line Crash Rescue Effort"

Penn Quarter Living gives us a heads up that there is a not very well publicized public meeting scheduled tonight to discuss a proposal to install a large mural at one entrance of the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro station. The Chinatown Community Cultural Center is 'proposing a “large-scale Chinatown mosaic mural” for the 7th & F St Metro entrance, otherwise known as the Verizon Center entrance. The proposal will be presented by Martha Jackson Jarvis, who painted the mural for the Anacostia metro station,' says PQL. If you're the sort of resident who likes to complain bitterly about not having input on public art installations you deem to be ugly, these are the sort of meetings you need to start attending. Tonight's meeting is at 6 p.m. at the CCCC.

Metro is once again facing a budget crunch (in the form of a predicted $100 million shortfall) and thinking about raising fares, but this time it's changing tactics just a bit. Instead of soliciting rider input at the end of the process, as Lena Sun points out in the Post, this year they're talking to customers at the beginning. And tonight marks the first public forum on Metro’s proposed 2011 budget.

As if the wet weather wasn't going to make dealing with motorists a living hell, the District tossed plenty of road closures in the way this morning. Let's review, shall we? The Light the Night Walk will close 13th Street, NW between Pennsylvania Ave. & E Street and Pennsylvania Ave, NW between 12th & 14th Streets until 2 a.m. Additionally, the multitude of heavily-used roads which were closed for today's 37-mile, car-free Bike DC Community Ride are slowly starting to open up, but there still may be some delays in Arlington. Several buses were rerouted due to the race, so if you were slightly confused about your bus ride today, well, now you know why. One positive note: as of this second, Metro is running smooth! (Having said that, I'll now go walk under that ladder over there on my way to break a few mirrors, as soon as I find a bunch of black cats.)

Last week we got a little too excited about the impending expansion of cell phone service in the Metro system, but now it's official: T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint Nextel customers should be able to use their cell phones inside Metro's 20 busiest stations starting first thing Friday morning (the Post says it'll be turned on at midnight, but of course the system will be closed by then). Verizon customers could already access their network inside the same stations, and they will continue to have that service after the change.

In case it wasn't obvious when you boarded the Metrorail system this morning, WMATA says it did indeed finish up that major rail interlocking replacement and bridge work that saw three Metro stations on the Green and Yellow lines closed for the entire three-day weekend. Also notable: Metro counted 64,228 people who took advantage of the free shuttle buses that were moving riders around the closures. That figure is just shy of the 68,000 or so who used the shuttles during the similar Labor Day weekend closures.

A friendly Friday afternoon reminder from your pals here at DCist about this weekend's Metrorail closures along the Green and Yellow lines. Don't forget that the Waterfront-SEU and Archives-Navy Mem’l-Penn Quarter stations will be closed completely, along with Green Line service at L’Enfant Plaza, starting at 10:30 p.m. tonight and lasting through closing on Monday, Oct. 12.

Back in August, WMATA announced that the first phase of the Congressionally imposed expanded cell phone network inside D.C.'s Metro system would be completed by October 16. That date, by which time Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile customers should all be able to access their networks inside the 20 busiest underground Metro stations, is coming up fast. And earlier this week, it appeared as though some of the stations might already be wired up.

Four and half months after the fatal June 22 Red Line crash and much to the relief of frustrated commuters, Metro announced today that Red Line service near the Fort Totten station has returned to normal. From the press release:

Red Line trains are no longer traveling at reduced speeds or taking turns moving one at a time between the Fort Totten and Takoma Metrorail stations. Maintenance program repairs in the Fort Totten Metrorail station area have been implemented, including replacing original track equipment dating back to the 1970s.

Continue reading "WMATA: Red Line Service is Back to Normal "

One of the biggest crime problems in the Metro system has long been thefts from autos parked in the lots at the end of the different rail lines. Thieves know that Metro's large, outer parking lots are filled with cars whose owners won't return until the end of the day, so they prowl them like kids in a candy store.

The woman who was struck by a Metrobus in Trinidad on Monday evening has died, according to D.C. Police. The victim, who has been identified as Stephanie Richardson, 61, of the 1600 block of 11th Place NE, died at just after 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

Reports of smoke on the tracks at Metro Center starting at about 9:20 a.m. caused major delays on the Red Line this morning, with trains sharing the same track between Judiciary Square and Farragut North. WMATA says the situation had been resolved by about 9:40 a.m., but delays persist in both directions on the Red Line. UPDATE 11:09 a.m.: Metro says the cause of the smoke at Metro Center this morning was a fire that broke out after one of the train's collector shoes, which are attached to the third rail, fell off. WMATA is investigating what could have caused such a piece of equipment to disconnect from the train. Each train has four collector shoes.