Photo: Pack some snacks and take along a book. Credit: R. Pace/SSP.
Metro’s Red Line got the green light to roll through Takoma station Sunday, but WMATA warned of further delays and fewer trains during rush hour, at least until Thursday.
Commuters can add 30 minutes or more to their rush-hour rides, WMATA wrote in a press statement. And if trains get backed up, WMATA says it will offload passengers at the nearest station. Fuck ‘em if it’s not their stop.
Those trains then can be turned around immediately to serve passengers elsewhere, the transit authority explained. It’s unclear whether those passengers will reach their designated stations or be dumped along the way.
Passengers who manage to stay on the train can expect that ride to roll at a reduced speed between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations, where two trains collided on Jun 22. The thing is this: When one ride creeps, others along the line must do the same as they wait for the crash zone to clear.
Not only will Red Line trains roll slower, there will be fewer of them during rush hour. It’s WMATA’s way of keeping too many trains from clogging the route, the press statement described.
For now, delays are confined to the rush hour. But starting Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) might ask WMATA to close the Takoma station again starting at 10:00 p.m. If this happens, trains will run between Glenmont and Silver Spring, and between Fort Totten and Shady Grove. Shuttle buses will haul passengers between Silver Spring and Fort Totten stations.
The NTSB could wrap its investigation by Wednesday, in which case everything goes back to normal, WMATA wrote. Whether Metro’s automated control system — that thing that may have caused last month’s crash — runs the show is unclear.
But if the NTSB needs more time to study the crash site, WMATA said it would announce further delays past Thursday.
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“…And if trains get backed up, WMATA says it will offload passengers at the nearest station. Fuck ‘em if it’s not their stop.”
The hell? Seriously…why do we even pay to ride the metro if this is allowed? So basically, I moved down here at the worst possible time and for the next four years it will be easier for me to drive into the District than take the metro. Thanks, WMATA. Thank you so very much. While you’re at it, why don’t you tell the environmentalists that I’m sorry that I’m unable to increase my reliance on public transportation due to a lack of forward-looking planning on the part of WMATA. Is it just me that thinks a number of these problems should have been addressed a long while ago?
Ok “don’t see yuppies” I agree with you, except for the part about it being easier to drive. Tried that earlier this month… still took me an hour and my blood pressure was much higher and I couldn’t just zone out and imagine being somewhere else.
I don’t get the unloading. They did this at Silver Spring last week with about 3 trains in a row headed outbound at evening rush hour. When a train came that was finally going on, they couldn’t even fit everyone on the platform onto that train. Is our half of MoCo just less important?… oh wait, I already know the answer.
It’s been said before, but… this is a great time to learn how the buses work. I’m pretty sure there’s one that will get you where you need to go, and it’s much less blood pressure-raising than driving or braving the Metro.
My first thought upon seeing this statement on the WaPo Get There blog was nice that Metro is pushing the blame for its delays on the NTSB. Probably is most likely that the NTSB is the cause of a lot of the slowdowns, but it struck me that Metro was just shuffling all the blame off on someone else.
I dunno, I rode the 70 to Chinatown Saturday and it was pretty blood pressure raising in its own right. My problem with the buses is simple – it takes forever to get from point a to point b because people are able to request a stop whenever they want, so the thing stops at every bloody intersection from one end to the other. For the bus system to be truly embraced, by me at least, it needs to take on the metro model of only stopping at dedicated stops. Plus, for whatever reason, every bus I get on seems to be without air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter. Must be my luck lol.
Corona, I have not seen this “pick your own stop” phenomenon. I keep hoping that the NextBus system will work, and one of its advantages will be showing bus managers just what the bus drivers actually do and when. Although that won’t show the passengers or other vehicles…anyway, we need to take buses far more seriously in the Washington area. Trains get too much of what little transit money exists, and we now whoppingly see that this amount is insufficient. Rail brings redevelopment pressure, and state/local govts keep dreaming of all the juiced-up property tax revenue possibilities. In the meantime, more buses could have been getting people where they need to go.
LuvMyHood – I’m surprised you haven’t seen it because you are by all rights our resident bus expert. I don’t think its an option on the express/extra buses, and maybe its just a problem on certain routes, but people can and do pull that yellow wire seemingly at every intersection. I saw the same thing happen when I used to ride the bus from SS to visit a friend in Rockville at Shady Grove – the bus forced to stop at every intersection up and down georgia/viers mill as bus riders got off specifically next to their home street.
Bus has alot of potential and if certain requirements/changes were made I could see it becoming more popular. Better drivers, better logistics, slightly nicer buses (I’d settle for ones with AC), more frequent buses so that the ones we have were not so packed, etc. could all make buses more desirable.
Ironically, for whatever reason, my main gripes are with the MetroBus Routes. I have never, ever had a bad experience with Ride-On Routes.
Corona is right. Too many stops. In residential areas at least limit it to every two or three blocks (the inbound Qs and Ys stop twice in the same block north of Spring) Dumb.
I took the 70 down to Chinatown last weekend, and it was OK. Not great, the trip took 45 minutes and there were a lot of stops, but I had planned ahead and was in time for the Fringe Fest play I had a ticket for.
I used Metro yesterday to go downtown, and aside from a slowdown ‘twixt Takoma and Fort Totten, it was like any other day.
Corona and Buzz, I now recall that RideOn has said that it will make individual stops at night. And a Metrobus let me out on Rockville Pike early once, so I wouldn’t have to cross Gude Drive, a scary experience. So I have seen this phenomenon, just not in DC.
Crossing some streets in MoCo is just awful, and some of the too-close stops may be there to keep people from running across a wide, hill or curvy road with 40mph traffic. I shudder to think of many places in Aspen Hill: BelPre Road, as well as Ga. Ave. and Conn. Ave. Viers Mill is very scary.
Thank you for the compliment on my “expertise,” but I bet there are many riders far more savvy than me.