Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
They're basically going to shut down my metro entrance (Shaw south) and gut the line that I use most frequently (Yellow).
A fundamental consideration to purchasing my house was the proximity to the metro station. I'm willing to deal with the crackheads etc from the public housing, poor public schools, unreliable city services, the comical burden of being in a 'historic preservation district' for the convenience of spending less than 40 minutes a day commuting to and from work.
I'm also not inclined to think about my fiance walking the extra three blocks past some fairly dicey areas as being a minor inconvenience.
Considering that so many of the 'transitional' neighborhoods where young couples are trying to make a start of things are on the green/yellow line, what kind of message do you think this is sending for continued urban renewal?
Spending on public infrastructure--and particularly public transit--has not and in the near-term woon't be a focus for our country. It just isn't. This is but one very small symptom of that.
Meh. I might lose access to the North entrance of the Silver Spring station and I will have to wait longer for the Red Line trains during off-peak hours. Not a big deal for me because I can just ride the S-9 Express bus from downtown Silver Spring to K Street in DC.
How about getting more federal and state funding? Renegotiating the contract with ATU so that rail operators don't make $150K a year?
As soon as I land a job, I'm getting a car. I reckon I can make 600-800 a month working part-time at DC minimum wage, which is enough for car payments AND ridiculously high insurance.
Obviously all the proposals aren't good for riders, but some of them really make you scratch your head.
4) Getting rid of 8 car trains - has anyone from WMATA management actually ridden the portions of the system that are typically most crowded during the peak period, like most of the Red Line (especially the western branch) and the western half of the Orange Line? The trains usually aren't spaced properly anyway during rush hour (hence I actually think Proposal 6 is a good idea), but when you can get an 8 car train it mitigates the crush that occurs when the trains stack and people have to get on what would otherwise be a jammed 6 car train because A) they are in a hurry or B) they are dumb.
9) Closing Morgan Boulevard, Deanwood, and Cheverly on weekends - I'm sure the people who live near these stations and use the Metro extensively (or may be dependent on the Metrorail and Metrobuses) aren't going to be too keen on this idea. How about shutting one entrance, like what is proposed for some of the other stations? Also, Morgan Boulevard just so happens to be the closest station to FedEx Field, and although it is about 1 mile to the stadium from the station, walking between the station and stadium is doable. (I know because I've done it.) Closing the station on weekends means people can't use the Metro to get to FedEx Field and have to give up a pair of limbs when paying for parking. Who had this idea, Dan Snyder?
10) Opening the stations an hour later on weekends - well, I guess WMATA wants to harm Amtrak a little too, because when people make day trips to various cities, especially New York, and use Amtrak to get there, they need to get to Union Station early enough so they can get a train that actually gets to NYC fairly early so you can make a day of it in the Big Apple. That one hour makes a big difference. I personally really dislike this proposed change.
11) Opening the station 30 minutes later on weekdays - I have some co-workers who wouldn't be too happy with this proposed change. Luckily, I'm usually still in La La Land at 5:30 AM.
12-14) Closing the station up to 3 hours earlier on Fridays and Saturdays - I can understand closing the stations earlier than 3 AM, but a 12 AM weekend closure seems a little too early to me.
15-16) Modify/shorten Yellow Line service - Washington, DC has seem dramatic growth in the U Street and Columbia Heights neighborhoods in recent years (primarily as a result of the Metro Green Line opening in full), and in part because of that dramatic growth, extended the Yellow Line. The populations in those areas are still growing, but now they want to cut back Yellow Line service? Maybe they can cut back Blue Line service between Rosslyn and Stadium-Armory while they are at it too. Perhaps even more notably, that Yellow Line actually allows people not living in Virginia to get to National Airport a lot easier than they would otherwise. Does Metro REALLY want to encourage increased use of the 5A (Dulles) and especially B30 (BWI) buses, which I'd guess are even bigger subsidy losers than the Yellow Line?
One other proposal I don't like personally, even though I think it is a little more acceptable, is the proposal to close certain entrances at Metro stations (#7), especially Silver Spring North and New York Avenue South. I don't use either entrance/exit that often on weekends, but I do use them.
Looking at the list, it appears the proposals that would get people the most up in arms are the latter half of the proposals. The inference I draw from that is WMATA has listed the proposals in order of likelihood of implementation, from most likely to least likely.
It's just pathetic that we can't adequately fund this system and are left wringing our hands about service cuts that shouldn't even be getting considered. Our traffic is already the second-worst in the nation, the absolute last thing we should be doing is enacting measures that would encourage additional commutes by car. But they seem hellbent on doing exactly that.
The other irksome thing is that certain things they're proposing--closing entrances to certain stations, for instance--aren't overly bothersome, but also aren't going to put a sizable dent in the budget shortfall. In other words, none of these are going to address the root of the problem, which is that Metro is chronically underfunded. Even if some patently ridiculous suggestions (like cutting back Yellow Line service) don't come to fruition now, you can be guaranteed they'll be revisited next year, and every subsequent year until the budget problems are addressed.
The problem is that unless there is a constant stream of additional funding from governments, WMATA will HAVE to implement some sort of cost-cutting solution.
What do the governments do with the money collected from car registration fees?
I wouldn't exactly call the proposal 'decimating' the yellow line or shaw station users.
Just look at their impact statements. I regularly use one of the stations whose entrances they are planning on closing earlier on weekday evenings. Potential impact? 650 people a day will have to use a different entrance, but will likely not change ridership. I don't like it but I am level-headed enough to recognize that proposal seems pretty fair.
Morgan Blvd, Cheverly and Deanwood? Yeah I'm sure the 'extensive' ridership mentioned above--a mere 600 riders a day for all three stations--will be crying. But will the rest of us be hurting if those 600 people don't ride? Hardly.
Getting away for weekend trips? Did no one go to NYC before 2003? Because that is when they implemented the 7AM opening. Before that, everyone made do with 8AM openings.
As for closing at midnight on weekends, you can see they've done their homework and I wouldn't be surprised if we see one of the alternatives--closing at 1AM would result in a ridership loss of only half the number closing an hour earlier would cause.
Of all the proposals, the one that concerns me the most is the change in weekday morning start time. It doesn't affect me personally. But the riders who use the metro at early morning and late night hours are frequently the ones who need it the most: low hourly-wage workers like our office cleaners, make our donuts, sweep our streets, and direct traffic downtown. The people who make it possible for the rest of us to sleep in later. They make far far less than most people who are complaining about it, and will be far more affected by these changes, because they are far more reliant upon cheap and timely public transit.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
