The audit found the agency has made some progress, but much remains to be done in getting call response times up to national standards.

Metro has purchased 26 new mobile emergency response vehicles. Image courtesy WMATA. WMATA has purchased 26 new light-weight, battery operated carts to help ferry first responders to subway accidents and evacuate passengers from danger. The transit agency unveiled the vehicles on Wednesday. The mobile emergency response vehicles (MERVs) move along the rail tracks, are powered by an electric motor and can be assembled quickly by emergency crews. Their big advantage is speed: Metro says…

Another Metro emergency preparedness exercise to keep in mind: later this week, the Friendship Heights Metro station will host a training drill that simulates a report of gunfire in the station. The mock shooting will involve two shooters and multiple casualties. According to the D.C. Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency, the exercise is scheduled for 12:30 a.m., after closing, on Thursday, Feb. 25, so it won’t interrupt Red Line service. It will, however, bring…

Yvette Alexander Ward 7 D.C. Council member Yvette Alexander (D) has to have the worst luck out of all of her colleagues when it comes to crime. Back in June of 2007, she had her purse stolen while at a gas station. And now today, D.C. Wire reports that a suspected robber pulled a gun on her Wednesday afternoon. Alexander said she was driving by when she saw a MetroAccess driver laying facedown on…