Posts Tagged ‘WMATA’
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Greater Greater Washington has an article up on why we should add rapid transit bus lanes.
WMATA believes that the future of Greater Washington’s transportation rests on priority bus corridors throughout the region, like the MetroExtra (#79) bus from Silver Spring to downtown DC. With Metrorail running out of capacity by 2030 and serious core expansion costing billions, Metro sees rapid buses as the best chance for a real capacity boost.
This has been adopted in many countries include the UK where I grew up, and if the DC area can move away from a car focused transport policy, then rapid bus lanes might actually become a reality.
Tags:dedicated bus lanes, rapid transit buses, WMATA
Posted in bus, DC, MD, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
The Dulles Rail Silver Line extenstion passes another hurdle by getting the sign off from the FTA for the federal contribution of 900 million to the $1.63 billion needed to build the first stage of the Metro rail extension out to Dulles Airport.
Metro has also started procurement of 64 new 7000 series metro rail cars that will look significantly different from the existing fleet. The rail cars would have a stainless steel exterior. The exterior brown paint and stripes would be gone. The Fiberglass seats would be replaced with stainless steel ones and carpet would be eliminated. They are also considering interactive linear maps, and automated announcements stating the station names. While I am all for the automated announcements, I remember the 6000’s doing it when they first started rolling out, so why don’t they do it now?
With the silver line looking like it might actually be built Track Twenty Nine has some very interesting diagrams on the capacity issues the Silver line will create at Rosslyn Station.
Metro is considering routing some blue line trans across the bridge to DC rather than going to Rosslyn as they currently do. When you add the silver line in the rosslyn tunnel it doesn’t look like metro will have any other choice than to reduce the blue line service to the station unless they expand or build another tunnel into DC.
Tags:7000 series, dulles rail, Metro, silver line, WMATA
Posted in bus, DC, Metro, Uncategorized, VA | No Comments »
Friday, October 31st, 2008
It seems that DC Metro may have been affected by the collapse of AIG. StreetBlog looks at the affect of AIG on transit leasing, they quote the Philly Inquirer
The trouble stems from leasing arrangements made years ago between transit agencies and lenders in which the banks bought transit equipment and facilities, such as railcars and stations, and leased them back to the agencies.
The transit agencies got much-needed cash, and the banks got tax benefits. In 2003, the tax benefits from those kinds of transactions were prohibited by the IRS.
AIG served as the insurer of many of those deals. The collapse of AIG downgraded its credit rating, allowing the lenders to demand full payment from the transit agencies if the agencies did not quickly find other insurers.
The Washington Post says the Washington Metro needs to pay back 43 Million.
In Metro’s case, the regional transit agency could face up to $400 million in payments, the system’s chief financial officer, Carol Kissal, said in an interview yesterday. One bank, KBC Group of Belgium, has told Metro that it needs to pay $43 million by next week. Metro officials confirmed the details but declined to name the bank.
This is a sad time when public transit is at a all time high.
Tags:AIG, Metro, WMATA
Posted in DC, MD, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
Ever wonder where your bus is? The Washington Post is has a story on a new system that WMATA was put in place that allows them to track how buses are doing.
For the first time in its history, Metro has figured out how late its buses are. They are off schedule more than 25 percent of the time, and some of the worst performing routes are late more than 50 percent of the time.
At least they know where the problems are
Other measures include coordination with regional transportation departments to set aside more dedicated bus lanes and traffic signal technology to help get buses through traffic, he said. There is a dedicated bus lane for the heavily used 70 and 79 routes from Silver Spring to downtown D.C., but other vehicles are often double-parked in the lane, he said.
Enforcing and ticketing cars parked in bus stops and bus lanes is a must to make Public Transportation work. I would also be in favor of reducing the number of bus stop on busy streets. They should should also look at how large the area for bus stops are. I frequently see buses loading and unloading from the main traffic lane instead of pulling into a bus stop.
Tags:bus, late, metro bus, Missing, WMATA
Posted in DC, MD, VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
WMATA is performing major track work this weekend
This weekend, Metro will undertake a major track rehabilitation project on the Blue and Yellow lines that will heavily impact service between the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Braddock Road Metrorail stations. The stations will remain open, but the track between them will be closed, so customers using the Blue and Yellow lines should add 30 minutes into their travel plans to allow to transfer to a shuttle bus to get through the affected area.
Tags:Braddock Road, Ronald Reagan Washington national Airport, WMATA
Posted in VA, WMATA | No Comments »
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
The Washington Post has article on using buses as an alternative to driving.
Buses may lack the hipness of subways or light rail, but they are the best hope for accommodating large numbers of new riders quickly and affordably. To harness the increased demand for mass transit, officials are turning to new ways of delivering and marketing their bus service.
When looking at public transit we need identify the major routes, then use local connections, walking, biking, and local buses to feed into those major routes. Washington has metro area already has the metro which act as major trunks, we should be looking for the gaps and filling them with express buses, bus rapid transit, light rail etc. The Washington area does best when linking buses to the metro, we need to do more with rapid bus links to make interconnected journeys possible.
It sounds likes WMATA’s Catoe gets it and is already working to this goal.
Expanding and improving Washington’s bus service is critical to shift some of the pressure off the rail system, which is packed during rush hour and has little room to add longer or more frequent trains. Catoe has proposed an extensive network of express buses that would use shoulders or bus-only lanes to help meet the region’s immediate transportation needs.
Tags:Catoe, Metro, metro bus, WMATA
Posted in Bicycling, MD, Uncategorized, VA | No Comments »
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
The Post reports that metro has been testing new straps that will help people who can’t reach the top pole..
The transit agency is testing several different styles of overhead handles in rail cars to give riders something to hold onto for extra balance and comfort.
I haven’t tried them out in person, but some of the Fairfax Connector buses have spring-loaded stainless steel handles, which I have found to be next to useless on the buses, you need something solid to brace your self on as a bus swings round corners. So hopefully the straps will work out better.
After using the new 6000 cars I dislike that they have removed a number of polls that go from the floor to the ceiling, they are my favorite brace point for when you have to strand. it also always a natural hand grab for all heights.
Tags:Fairfax Connector, Straps, WMATA
Posted in DC, WMATA | No Comments »
