Poll: Which 3 stations to close on the weekends?

[Tritransit Area]

Has anyone else noticed the new residential development immediately adjacent to Morgan Blvd?  I wonder if the ridership from that could justify the cost of keeping the station open?

I haven't seen the development, but I'd imagine that it would...eventually.  I think there's room for plenty of development in the area, and closing the station on the weekend may hurt the potential of plenty of non-stadium ridership.

[Tritransit Area]

I don't believe it's a good idea to close stations that are bus terminals/transfer centers, like Cheverly.  At the same time, there should be a convenient local bus connection from the area of the closed station to the open ones.

What savings does WMATA expect to realize from these closings.  Will everything electric be cut out of the station on these days, or is it primarily limited to staffing/security?

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I don't believe it's a good idea to close stations that are bus terminals/transfer centers, like Cheverly.  At the same time, there should be a convenient local bus connection from the area of the closed station to the open ones.

What savings does WMATA expect to realize from these closings.  Will everything electric be cut out of the station on these days, or is it primarily limited to staffing/security?

More likely the latter, my understanding is station lights and such are usually left on for security purposes.

Cheverly is currently served by two bus routes on weekends, the F2 and F8, each running hourly.  The F8 could be rerouted to Landover on the weekends easily to maintain connectivity with the Orange Line, and the F2 could go to Deanwood.  This would result in unserved segments unless the routes went into the "unserved" neighborhoods and then went back out.  A perfect scenario would be to not need to close stations, but this could work.

George, closing Shady Grove is NOT feasible for many reasons.  It has a huge park and ride fed by an interstate highway, and the trains need to run up there to turn around anyway, unless you stub them into Rockville.  You also have lots of bus traffic that gets fed into there.  Hard to justify shifting everything down to Rockville.  Also, the way Shady Grove is laid out the walkway connecting the two sides of the station is closed when the Metro station is closed.

[Perry]

It would be confusing to have those routes go to two completely different stations on weekends. Signage, schedule adjustments, possibly adding a coach to make sure there is ample recovery time due to the changes in the run...I don't think it's worth it.  They could just have those buses either short-turn at PG Hospital or just still just go to the Cheverly area to hit the residential and businesses they do so people can still use the bus to transfer to something else.

I still like closing Virginia Square.  It's a useless station on weekends even though there is one apt. building right near there.  The problem with this Country is people can't walk a little bit and just head to Clarendon or Ballston rather than keep a pointless station open.  Sorry "Zimmie". LOL

[Transport]

I have a feeling Arlington County would be willing to pay to keep all of their Metro stations open... In fact... I think Metro should close stations in a jurisdiction which doesn't choose to fund keeping potentially closed stations open.

One thought - Judiciary Sq has the Gallery Place station within blocks while Forest Glen does not.  If, however, the District pays to keep Judiciary Sq open than it should remain open.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

It would be confusing to have those routes go to two completely different stations on weekends. Signage, schedule adjustments, possibly adding a coach to make sure there is ample recovery time due to the changes in the run...I don't think it's worth it.  They could just have those buses either short-turn at PG Hospital or just still just go to the Cheverly area to hit the residential and businesses they do so people can still use the bus to transfer to something else.

I still like closing Virginia Square.  It's a useless station on weekends even though there is one apt. building right near there.  The problem with this Country is people can't walk a little bit and just head to Clarendon or Ballston rather than keep a pointless station open.  Sorry "Zimmie". LOL

Maybe I'm turning Israeli or it is just me from maintaining the Jerusalem Bus Map, but I don't see an issue with a different endpoint for those routes.  Perhaps they can get a different designation (F3 5, 7, and 9 are all free) or the weekend versions can be the F52 and F58 or some really high number, the way the A42, A46, and A48 are early morning versions of the A2, A6, and A8.  That said, I don't know much about that area and how important it is to have the neighborhoods between the hospital and Metro served, and how important it is that there be connectivity to the Orange Line from those buses on weekend.  However, in the larger scheme of things, I don't see how rerouting those routes slightly will be a huge issue.

[Sand Box John]

I can think of only one station where weekend traffic might be low enough to justify closing:

Federal Center SW

I can think of numinous stations with more then one entrance mezzanine that could close at least one entrance mezzanine on weekends:

Silver Spring	North mezzanine
New York Avenue	M Street mezzanine
Union Station	West Portico (south) mezzanine
Judiciary Square	F Street mezzanine
Gallery Place	9th Street mezzanine
Farragut North	Washington Sq (L Street south) mezzanine
Dopont Circle	19th Street mezzanine
Friendship Heights	Jenifer Street mezzanine
King Street	Cameron Street mezzanine
Farragut West	17th Street mezzanine
McPherson Square	Vermont Avenue mezzanine
L'Enfant Plaza	Dept of Transportation mezzanine
Stadium-Armory	Independence Avenue mezzanine
U Street	10th Street mezzanine
Shaw	R Street mezzanine
Navy Yard	New Jersey Avenue mezzanine (open on game days)

All of the mezzanine listed above are mezzanine that do not have elevator entrances with the exception of the Jenifer Street at Friendship Heights and New Jersey Avenue at Navy Yard.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I can think of only one station where weekend traffic might be low enough to justify closing:

Federal Center SW

I can think of numinous stations with more then one entrance mezzanine that could close at least one entrance mezzanine on weekends:

Silver Spring	North mezzanine
New York Avenue	M Street mezzanine
Union Station	West Portico (south) mezzanine
Judiciary Square	F Street mezzanine
Gallery Place	9th Street mezzanine
Farragut North	Washington Sq (L Street south) mezzanine
Dopont Circle	19th Street mezzanine
Friendship Heights	Jenifer Street mezzanine
King Street	Cameron Street mezzanine
Farragut West	17th Street mezzanine
McPherson Square	Vermont Avenue mezzanine
L'Enfant Plaza	Dept of Transportation mezzanine
Stadium-Armory	Independence Avenue mezzanine
U Street	10th Street mezzanine
Shaw	R Street mezzanine
Navy Yard	New Jersey Avenue mezzanine (open on game days)

All of the mezzanine listed above are mezzanine that do not have elevator entrances with the exception of the Jenifer Street at Friendship Heights and New Jersey Avenue at Navy Yard.

I think some of those mezzanines on your list are already closed.

In the case of Friendship Heights, I think it is important to note that the other side of the station has elevator access.

[Scrabbleship]

I can think of numinous stations with more then one entrance mezzanine that could close at least one entrance mezzanine on weekends:

Silver Spring	North mezzanine
New York Avenue	M Street mezzanine
Union Station	West Portico (south) mezzanine
Judiciary Square	F Street mezzanine
Gallery Place	9th Street mezzanine
Farragut North	Washington Sq (L Street south) mezzanine
Dopont Circle	19th Street mezzanine
Friendship Heights	Jenifer Street mezzanine
King Street	Cameron Street mezzanine
Farragut West	17th Street mezzanine
McPherson Square	Vermont Avenue mezzanine
L'Enfant Plaza	Dept of Transportation mezzanine
Stadium-Armory	Independence Avenue mezzanine
U Street	10th Street mezzanine
Shaw	R Street mezzanine
Navy Yard	New Jersey Avenue mezzanine (open on game days)

All of the mezzanine listed above are mezzanine that do not have elevator entrances with the exception of the Jenifer Street at Friendship Heights and New Jersey Avenue at Navy Yard.

Silver Spring (North): This one gets some pretty healthy usage with loads of apartment buildings/complexes just north/west of the station. Keep this one open.

New York Ave (M St NE): The closest connection to the 90's buses comes from here and it's the closer entrance for Gallaudet students and those form Bloomingdale/Eckington. Too soon to tell.

Union Station (West): I think the direct connection to the food court/shops would make this a hard one to close.

Judiciary Square (F St NW): Already closed on weekends.

Gallery Place (9th St NW): Might be a good idea.

Farragut North (19th St NW): With the already neurotic escalators on the Q St end, I think a second entry point is key. I think if this closes put in some contingency plan to reopen it if the Q St escalators conk out as they often do.

Friendship Heights (Jenifer St): I might support this one actually. I wonder how often it gets used even if it's the faster exit point.

King Street (Cameron St): Who uses this one even? Close it.

Farragut West (17th St NW): Already closed, much to the chagrin of many.

McPherson Square (Vermont Ave): The fact that his is the closest entrance to the White House might save closing this one.

L'Enfant Plaza (DOT): I think this one's already closed.

Stadium-Armory (Independence Ave): The majority of the bus bays for this station are here as is is the RFK entrance. Close 19th & C instead, that only opens into the old DC General Hospital campus.

U Street (10th St NW): Remember when "African Amer Civil War Memorial" was wedged into the name? Close this entrance on weekends and you'd might as well take that out (thanks Jim!).

Shaw: Debatable.

Navy Yard (New Jersey Avenue): I've heard the reverse of closing the one closer to Nationals Park instead. New Jersey Avenue is where all the buses that run near there stop. Might be something to consider.

[Sand Box John]

Oren, Scrabbleship,

My reasoning for choosing those mezzanines is because they are the minor mezzanines, with the exception of Navy Yard. The major mezzanines have the elevators.

As an aside noted, the Jenifer Street mezzanine was not built as part of the original construction contract for the Friendship Heights station. Oren pointed out the fact that the north entrance has an elevator. The Jenifer Street mezzanine was built at a later date, don't know that date, but it was some time after access to the Western Division bus garage directly from Wisconsin Avenue walled off.