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I think that WMATA is its own worst enemy at times and I sometimes wonder if they're aware of that what they do, good or bad, has consequences. Did they really think that announcing that off-peak trackwork will be the rule until the next decade or that the Silver Line will open without an increase in cars would get only positive feedback? Sometimes I wonder if they actually like coming off as the bad guy and bask in the negative attention and this stretches to individual people merely linked to WMATA. The Jackie Jeter "slavery" comment, Dan Stessel's condescending lines about sexual harassment, even the RAC Vice Chair's tweets that rising union costs aren't why the agency is near broke.

Also, I think the generally polarizing nature of the DC area adds flames to the fire. The constant flow and churn of people means there isn't much in the way of institutional memory to begin with then toss in other factors and it doesn't work well at all.

Would you and these "twitter critics" rather they not single track and let the system fall apart instead?

I think shutting down whole chunks of lines for a couple of months as other cities have done would be a better move then to run a barely skeletal system outside of peak for nearly a decade. Your choice commuters would adjust to driving elsewhere and your non-choice commuters would adapt to shuttle bus service just fine. Problem is that these critics - who often resort to dystopia because WMATA as an agency seems very corrupt and mismanaged - often want attention and retweets and readers instead of forming a real pressure group.

The fact that the system started to fall apart not even 20 years after being built is very telling and makes me wonder if building it fast trumped building it right.

One notable WMATA Twitter critic says that since this is an MWAA (and Virginia) project that they can dictate when it opens even if it would produce a chronic car shortage. Their view is that it may mean no 8-car trains for a while and the possibility of 4-car trains on the Yellow.

Between this, the severe teething problems of Rush+, and the news that off-peak single-tracking and shutdowns will be the norm until decade's end, the last week has been very rough to Metro, hasn't it?

Farragut North to Rhode Island Ave: Yes, March 1976-January 1977.

Greenbelt to Farragut North: Yes, 1997-1999 (Green Line Shortcut).

Ballston to Addison Road: Yes, ca.1981-1983 during the "Round Robin" phase.

New Carrollton to National Airport: Yes, 1978-79 before the Rosslyn-Ballstson segment opened and again during the "Round Robin" era.

Franconia-Springfield to Greenbelt: Did not run regularly but was the original intended Yellow Line route before the southern terminal swap with the Blue Line.

Huntington to Rosslyn: Yes, on July 4ths until 2009.

Vienna to Largo: No.

Shady Grove to Stadium Armory: No.

Greenbelt to Grosvenor: No.

Huntington to U Street: Yes, Yellow Line for most of 1991 prior to the L'Enfant-Anacostia segment opening and the Green Line being introduced.

National Airport to Rosslyn: I'll take a stab, July 4ths in the 1980s?

Huntington to Franconia-Springfield: No

I had the opposite last year: I had school buses (both from Harford County) with AC that was freezer cold. Still is proof that the 2008 FTA changes did more harm than good on most fronts.

First, A piece of rail broke near Tenleytown shortly after opening then while single tracking a train in the single track zone had a door problem. This zonked the Red Line until midday.


Then, around 11:00 PM WMATA suffered a communications meltdown that froze the entire system for nearly an hour. WMATA's website was down as well. Granted it was late at night but it took hours for anyone to contact the press.


I know that DC is a very cynical city and the unique structure of WMATA (plus the contempt Richmond has for NoVA/Annapolis has for MoCo and PG) plays some role in this but the structure issue goes only so far.

Perhaps I don't mind the distance based scheme since I grew up with it, but I think there needs to be a balance found between a fair fare and an affordable one.  Do we have that balance?  Based on what riders and potential riders are saying, it seems the answer is no.

I think a lot of the concerns ridership has is that they'd be paying more money but service keeps getting worse and worse over time. Since I moved, I've noticed that even though there parts of the MBTA infrastructure that are in declining shape that it's much easier to tolerate it at $1.70 a ride than at three times that as some WMATA commuters do. When a 35 year old system is in many respects in worse shape than a system that is 100+ in some parts, that is a cause for alarm.

That said, as the MBTA faces doomsday, I think some people there may regret getting rid of the extra fares on the southern Braintree Branch and the D Line west of Reservoir seeing how much extra money those avenues could bring.

Are you going through town on the new commute or not?  UnsuckDC Metro did some BS analysis of how WMATA's low base fare isn't as good as the WMATA Board and Staff claims, they should look at that analysis I convinced you to do when comparing the WMATA fares to other systems. 

As I'm looking for work (move is because the wife's family is up there and she wants to be closer to them), it'd vary based on day. However, should it matter given that the MBTA is a flat-fared system and my transfer to rail would be free? However, if the MBTA were to be run like WMATA a) my area would be close to rail and b) the fares would be in-line with WMATA if the MBTA adopted such a system.

Distance from my new residence to Haymarket (terminus of said bus): 11 miles. Travel time: 25-30 minutes plus the walk to the stop and travel time to final destination.
Commute from my old place in Arlington to White Flint, following the literal Metro path: Just under 17 miles. Travel time: 60-70 minutes plus a 10 minute walk to final destination


The alternate routes in my new case would be to either transfer to the Blue Line or to take a bus in the opposite direction and go to Commuter Rail and that would be pointless during the week as it takes more time and costs more money.

Agreed.  In the case of Metrobus, I agree that the increase would be significant, but I still think that $2 (nowadays) isn't too much, especially if the current transfer privileges remain intact.

Metrobus has been a bargain for quite some time and I think that $1.70/$2.00 is very reasonable at this point.

I continue to have very strong feelings in regards to metrorail fares.  That said, I won't even get started on them except to say that I think metrorail riders have been getting gouged for years, and I feel for those who have no other commuting options.

I guess this is the time to mention that I'm moving this weekend from DC to the Boston suburbs and my commute into Boston (via "Inner Express" bus at $2.80 with free transfer to subway) would be a couple of dollars below Metrorail peak hour fares. And for how under-speced the MBTA's buses are and how the 01200/01500/01600's are wheezing, it seems more fair given the cost than when I was doing a bus-to-Metro commute that was nearly double that from North Arlington to White Flint.

The state of the Metrorail system coupled with the high peak-hour fares (and poor headways even in some cases in peak, let alone nights/weekends) has bred the discontent of riders more than anything.

that station looks like it could be Metro Center

My guess would be Gallery Place. Platforms seem a little narrow to be Metro Center.

I thought all Metrorail stations already had Smartrip vending machines for some time now.  Which ones do not?

Every station without parking. The machines that would be added are machines where actual Smartrip cards can be bought as opposed to machines that can handle Smartrip transactions. When I first came here four years ago, I was a bit in shock that I'd have to go all the way to Metro Center from Bethesda for a Smartrip (this when the only offsite sales were commuter stores and a scant few Giant locations).

The farecard changes are bittersweet.  I like the idea of having a flat rate (I'm sure you guys have seen just how confusing it is to try to figure out how much someone has to pay to travel between stations) but the prices are bit ridiculous.  Perhaps they can do a "zone" type of thing, with a DC rate, an intra-suburb rate, and a DC to suburb rate.   Of course, at the same time, this would make the daypasses a better deal.

I think it's an attempt to try to phase out paper farecards. At those prices, who would want to buy them? With RFID chips becoming more flexible, they could move passes to a thinner version of Smartrip at a lower cost than paper if they put their minds to it.

Ending the Peak of the Peak surcharge, putting Smartrip vending machines in all Metrorail stations, and shifting paper farecards to a $4 off-peak/$6 peak structure.


The 5%, of course, isn't evenly distributed as farther-out rail riders get a hike of nearly 30% off-peak ($2.70 to $3.50) and 15% off-peak ($5.00 to $5.75). Bus fares would go up to $1.60/$2.00 with cash Express going to $4. Post article below.


[size=78%]http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/commuting/metro-proposes-5-percent-fare-increase/2012/01/06/gIQACLoumP_story.html[/size]

I don't know how the contract was set up with Gillig, but since now Gillig makes CNG buses, it's possible that their next CNG bus order could go Gillig's way.

I thought that as Gillig was not making CNG's when the deal was signed that any CNG deal would be open. That is, unless they'd amend the deal if Gillig gave very favorable terms for a CNG order.

which ones are those? I do not have any knowledge of the fleet down there. All I know is that NORTA has all Orion VII NGs (as far as I saw) and MARTA has a more diverse fleet.

The WMATA rejects are a handful of Orion V's that NORTA bought that would have been the rest of WMATA's 4400's had they not rejected them. If any survived Katrina, they'd probably be rush-hour only at this point if they didn't strictly retire them at 12 years.

NORTA bought some DE60LFR's earlier this year and I think that they got a few DE40LFR's too.