The Metrorail Station at Union Station is the busiest station in the Metrorail system, with 70,000 passengers entering and exiting daily. This station has experienced substantial ridership growth in the past three decades from the development of surrounding DC neighborhoods, expanded intercity travel and commuter rail’s growing popularity. The existing station, designed in the 70s, can no longer accommodate the current and future passenger travel. Passengers experience congestion on a daily basis.
In late 2009, Metro, in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), initiated a Union Station Capacity and Access Improvements Study. The objective is to assess capacity deficiencies and develop alternatives to enhance pedestrian access, increase station capacity, reduce travel time and improve connectivity to the other transportation modes. To be able to compare the benefits of the proposed alternatives, Metro used a pedestrian simulation tool, developed by Legion, to quantify and assess the performance throughout the station’s north mezzanine under the current station conditions and with the proposed capacity improvements. We’ve put this post up so people can see the kinds of analysis tools Metro is using to evaluate station capacity and to visualize capacity and operating issues. Metro will be using the pedestrian simulation tool and analysis at other stations experiencing crowded conditions, such as the Gallery Place-Chinatown station.
The RTSP Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is convened for the express purpose of reviewing the work products, data and recommendations developed by the RTSP study team during the planning process. The TAG members will be responsible for providing the team with timely information, briefing their respective organizations and informing the team of current transportation plans, proposals and operations which are relevant to the development of the RTSP 2040.
1. What is the Regional Transit System Plan (RTSP) 2040?
The Regional Transit Systems Plan (RTSP) for 2040 is a study of the region’s future transit needs, developed with input and guidance from all of the WMATA signatories, which, upon completion, will result in a long range multi-modal, transit system plan for the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Northern Virginia.
2. What transit modes does the RTSP include?
The RTSP will evaluate the impact of all modes of transit including: local bus, express bus, streetcar, light rail and heavy rail. Additionally, the RTSP will identify opportunities to enhance efficiencies of the aforementioned modes by providing improved access to pedestrians, bicycles and single-occupancy vehicles (SOV’s) at transit facilities (i.e. stations, stops, etc.).
After providing the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) with data and information on the future transit demand and growth patterns, during the 3rd TAG Meeting, Metro staff shared with the TAG some of the opportunities and challenges discussed with the various regional jurisdictions in their respective meetings. During this meeting the TAG also discussed the development of a website and blog to keep the public engaged in the RTSP process and to hear their thoughts on transit service in the year 2040. The TAG reviewed and discussed proposed strategies to meet the future transit demand and the process by which we would evaluate and measure those strategies. The RTSP Strategies would then be modeled, refined and evaluated individually to determine their impact on future transit demand.
Before Metro and the TAG could begin the discussion of new transit services, it was important that we review and assess the population and employment forecasts for the year 2040. The second TAG Meeting provided us with an opportunity to evaluate transit trips in the region and assess growth patterns and findings to develop an understanding of the impact of these trips on future transit capacity. A key indicator of transit demand is the land use surrounding the transit resource. To learn more about the key employment and activity centers in the region, Metro staff conducted over a dozen meetings with local jurisdictions and federal agencies in the metropolitan region to inform the RTSP development process.
Metro and its jurisdictional partners face considerable financial challenges as we continue to provide quality, affordable and safe transit services to the Washington metropolitan region. However, these challenges should not stop us from planning for the transit needs of the region beyond today. To this end, Metro convened a group of regional transportation and land use professionals in a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) last winter to discuss the development of a Regional Transit System Plan (RTSP) for the year 2040 and ways in which we could achieve four key goals: 1.) Maximize the core capacity of our existing transit system; 2.) Improve system accessibility; 3.) Identify new surface transit services and; 4.) Serve emerging markets of the future.
The RTSP Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is convened for the express purpose of reviewing the work products, data and recommendations developed by the RTSP study team during the planning process. The TAG members will be responsible for providing the team with timely information, briefing their respective organizations and informing the team of current transportation plans, proposals and operations which are relevant to the development of the RTSP 2040.
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