WMATA Trackwork Communication...Or Lack Thereof

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Is anyone else aware of what is coming on the Red Line this weekend?  Unless you peruse the WMATA press release at the start of each month or the weekly announcement that outline trackwork projects, and these aren't always easy to find on their website, you probably don't know that the Red Line will be single tracked between Dupont Circle and Judiciary Square this weekend.  I haven't heard one word about it in any media outlet.  The weekly press release came out a day earlier than normal, but that only does so much.  I think the trip planner now reflects some trackwork related changes, but I don't know if it always does so or not.

I once suggested to WMATA in an online forum that they develop a clearly marked and easy to find trackwork disruption page like the one on the NYCTs website.  It allows you to see all advisories for a given line or system wide for a specific date.  Their response was "we think the way we are doing things now is good, and will continue doing it this way."  I don't like to use "every other transit system does it differently" as the reason why WMATA should change its ways, but on this one, it is a valid reason for change.  No other agency that I know of makes its passengers browse through press releases to find out when trackwork is going to take place.  And they usually give more than 2-3 days notice before the weekend of work taking place.

On the bright side for the busfans, the 80, 42, and L2 will all have extra service as an alternative to using Metro.  For some reason, WMATA isn't encouraging riders to change at Fort Totten for the Green and Yellow lines to get downtown, or to use other paralleling bus routes such as the Ys, 50s, Ss, 60s, and 30s.  Circulator is encouraged as an alternative, but there is no extra service on those lines as far as I know.

[Scrabbleship]

Didn't WMATA learn their lesson for lack of information from the debacle with the Blue/Yellow shutdown last Labor Day weekend when even the Post and local TV (and, of course, the Examiner and the blogosphere) raked them over coals for being too hasty?

To be somewhat fair, all other agencies aren't angels on this either. Two separate occasions last year I didn't get advance notification of line shutdowns on 2 different Blue Lines (Chicago and Boston) until the work started to take place.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Spontaneous experiment:

CTA has service status listed on the right side of its page, and then an option to see all alerts.  Similar for the MBTA.  OTOH, for WMATA, the show all alerts only shows planned bus detours and ongoing issues, not planned disruptions. 


Hard to say if WMATA has learned anything since right now, I don't think anyone else knows.  To be fair, I haven't been on the Metro since last Friday, so maybe there are signs and announcements, but I have my doubts.  As for last Labor Day, I forget the exact timing of the whole thing, but I think people were more irate that airport service was cut off than anything else.  Hate to say it, but when do those people want the maintenance to take place if it isn't on long weekends?

[WayneNYC]

I think a big problem at WMATA is that they seem to do things the same way they've historically been done.  IMO, a perfect example is the current bus route designations.  Not saying that a younger person needs to necessarily be the GM, but I think WMATA would benefit from having younger minds that are willing to think outside the box throughout the management levels.

[Scrabbleship]

I think a big problem at WMATA is that they seem to do things the same way they've historically been done.  IMO, a perfect example is the current bus route designations.  Not saying that a younger person needs to necessarily be the GM, but I think WMATA would benefit from having younger minds that are willing to think outside the box throughout the management levels.

This is precisely why social media (and the Examiner) are so full of WMATA hate. Those who are relatively new to the area often have something else to compare WMATA to and see the number of problems are much higher there than elsewhere. Add in the large number of transplants who come here optimistic to "help change the world (to paraphrase a pastor of mine) and they see the broken-down WMATA and want change there as it could be seen as a low-hanging fruit for change. This crowd is usually quite young (under-40), in the case of the Examiner it's a fairly young publication in its current form so it can take some liberties that the Post and the TV stations wouldn't want to do.

After a long discussion with a GGW contributor last night, I have come to the realization that WMATA and those who are in power are stuck about 20 years behind reality. The Metro board is largely middle-aged with deep roots in the DC area and are trying to run an agency under mindsets that are no longer fully true without true regard of how DC has changed in recent years. They see an agency that at least built out their goals for rail and can rest on those laurels rather than try to adapt to a changing world. Their world is full of poor people who somehow can't get bus passes/Smartrip and of inner-city old ladies who would complain if their bus route was streamlined as they'd miss church over it. Given the instabilities up top, it can be said that the board really operates WMATA and the GM is a figurehead. This can also apply to Jackie Jeter at ATU 689 and to the press (Fox 5 excepted) that usually don't take Metro to task.

A good example of this divide: In Jim Graham's district, the young, relatively new-to-town crowd is against him because of things such as his non-use of Metro and that he doesn't try hard to represent them. The poorest persons are his biggest allies as he represents them a little too much as they're vocal to him because he'll help give them stuff and keep their bus fare down.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Here we go again:

I had a 40 minute wait at Dupont Circle (12:35 AM to 1:15 AM) for a Shady Grove bound train tonight.  I just missed the train (saw it from the mezzanine).  I knew there was trackwork this weekend, but the release says trains will run every 8-9 minutes in the core (although not at nighttime) and every 15 minutes otherwise.  I asked the T/O about it, she said they were running every 30 minutes.  I understand the need to do trackwork and preventive maintenance during operating hours.  However, if the waits are going to be longer than 15-20 minutes, this should be publicized and publicized well.  Issue a schedule.  Alert people.  I would have taken the L2 or the even 30s, or possibly even biked to where I was going tonight, if I had known I'd be standing on the Dupont Circle platform for up to 40 minutes.  The trip planner indicates a 15 minute headway, lately it has had the schedules it displays updated to reflect trackwork schedules (it has this week's shuttle on the Blue Line and Yellows going to Greenbelt).

I honestly think people's expectations for how Metro handles some situations to be too high.  When someone commits suicide and jumps in front of a train, Metro can't "prepare" for that.  Some of the design constraints of the system that exist as a result of how it was constructed cannot be magically undone.  But communicating with passengers about "scheduled delays" and trackwork so they can plan their trips accordingly can be done, and in my opinion, is not being done.  This is the kind of small thing that Metro could easily improve and shouldn't take much effort to accomplish.  The larger problems aren't going to just disappear overnight obviously, but WMATA should try to improve in areas where it can do so easily.

[Scrabbleship]

I think there is a culture of secrecy and non-communication at Metro that goes back many years. Coupled with people in charge who are doing it merely for the attention, it breeds what has come about now where nobody trusts anything Metro says.

Is there anything in the compact that can allow a director to terminate an entire board and construct a new board? I think newer minds, more people who have roots to transit or urbanists than those who are doing it for attention, need to be in charge. No more politicians with their own agendas making a mess of Metro.