At the end of November, Metro’s new rail chief, Dave Kubicek, decided to switch off-peak trains running during the winter months to the shorter, 4-car only versions as a cost-saving maneuver. Ridership is down in the winter, he reasoned, so Metro can get away with fewer cars. This morning Metro decided to scrap the entire plan and bring back 6-car trains immediately. Metro General Manager John Catoe told the Post he decided to restore service…

The Examiner reports on a new DMV program that would install SmarTrip chips into every new D.C. driver’s license and identification card beginning in October, 2008. The program is a combined effort by the agency and WMATA, the latter of which has made no secret of its intention to make universal conversion to SmarTrip a priority. Recently Metro General Manager John Catoe made SmarTrip cards available for sale at more Giant Food stores and announced…

Via WTOP’s Adam Tuss, looks like Metro General Manager John Catoe is worrying about more than just budget shortfalls. Catoe says he’s about to launch a new initiative to crack down on eating, drinking and chewing gum on Metro trains. “I have noticed (myself) and have received calls and letters that there has been an increase,” says Metro General Manager John Catoe. “We are going to have a focused campaign from the standpoint of…

Good morning, D.C. With much of the hot political action this week taking place at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, it’s our job to pull your focus away from trivial issues the mainstream media seem obsessed with, like global climate change, and bring it back down to what’s really important at the local level, like complaining about how gasoline could be about to get really, really expensive in Maryland. What’s that you…

We’ve arrived at another Friday, Washington, so welcome to it. Some sad news to note off the bat, however, as the Post brings word that the last movie theater left in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, the AMC Loews Dupont 5, will go the way of Visions and the Janus 3 before it and close its doors forever in January. We can certainly attest that the last few times we went to see a film…

Good morning, D.C. Yesterday was just about the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that the city has seen in a long time, and today we’re expecting more of the same. So is there anything on God’s green Earth that could cause us to lose the attendant sunny dispositions we all naturally have as a result? Oh, drat. It’s Thursday. Metro General Manager John Catoe will appear before Metro’s Board of Directors today and recommend raising minimum…

Welcome back to work, Washington. We don’t know about you, but we spent an awfully long time in the sun this weekend consuming too much food at various street festivals, so forgive us if we’re still groggily pondering Saturday’s news in WaPo that the fare change about to be proposed by Metro General Manager John Catoe is an “average increase” of 45 cents. That kind of increase would theoretically raise the base fare of a…

>> ABC 7 reporter Kris Van Cleave is interested in your trash. [City Desk] >> D.C. paramedics treated 12 city employees who were overcome by exhaust fumes this morning. [WaPo] >> An ornate gold medal depicting an eagle, commissioned by George Washington and later presented to the Marquis de Lafayette, is to be sold at auction later this year. [AP] >> Metro General Manager John Catoe: “”The amount of the (fare) increase is something…

WTOP says that Metro General Manager John Catoe will announce the details of his plan for a proposed fare hike at a meeting next week. We’ve been expecting this announcement for some time now, though specific details of the increase, which is expected to be put into effect in January 2008, possibly tied to inflation or the consumer price index and increased accordingly every January thereafter, have been scant. How much will the first hike…

Metro General Manager John Catoe is considering replacing late night weekend trains with buses — both as a way to save money and to create more time to complete track and station maintenance tasks. This is very bad news. No one could argue that Metro needs to rethink how it accomplishes maintenance tasks — the number of weekend track work delays, regular elevator and escalator outages, and out of service trains that need repairs has…