The stations on the new Silver Line are two minutes apart in the Tysons area, and the Tysons-area stations are eight minutes away from both East Falls Church and Wiehle-Reston East.
Draft travel times for the new Silver Line stations.
Now it’s time to talk about preliminary travel times between Silver Line stations. The map above illustrates the estimated travel times between the five new stations. These times are preliminary and may be refined after operational testing has been completed.
Below is a widget that can be used to look up the travel times between any two stations, including the five new Silver Line stations.*
Metro’s newest facilities show commitment to sustainability.
A bus wash reclaim room at Shepherd Parkway houses tanks that refilter water from the bus wash to be reused.
When it comes to constructing environmentally friendly facilities for employees and customers while reducing energy and lifecycle costs, Metro is taking the lead—LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, that is. As of September 2012, Metro has constructed two facilities that are LEED Silver certified— Glenmont Parking Garage and Shepherd Parkway Bus Facility – an extra effort that is well worth it.
“Sustainable facilities offer functional, comfortable and attractive environments for our employees who work there and for paying customers who use them daily,” said Edward Shepperson, Project Manager during the construction of both facilities and Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) at WMATA. “WMATA will realize benefits through energy savings, improved employee morale and expand the public’s perception of WMATA, not only as a leader in transportation, but also as a responsible custodian of the environment.”
LEED is a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) program that provides third-party verification of green buildings through a rating system. Building projects earn points based on environmental impacts and human benefits of sustainable construction practices. In constructing the Shepherd Parkway Bus facility, WMATA earned points towards its LEED Silver certification for using recycled building materials, and recycling water through a large reservoir when washing buses. Read more…
The number of Metrorail customers riding their bike to the train station increased by 50% over the last 5 years, as Metro makes progress towards its 2020 goal to attract more bicyclists.
More cyclists are accessing Metrorail by bike than ever before. According to results from the 2012 Metrorail Passenger Survey, the number of riders bicycling to Metrorail in the morning rush hour increased from around 1,550 to over 2,380 per day between 2007 and 2012. Bike access to Metrorail now accounts for 1% of entries each morning, which moves us closer to our Board-adopted goal of over 2% (over 7,000 bicycles!) by 2020.
In this survey, riders who access rail by bicycle in the morning peak could be taking Capital Bikeshare to the station, riding and parking their own bike at the station, or bringing a folding bike on-board. The Passenger Survey is one way we measure bicycle access. We see a similar pattern in our annual count of bike racks at stations each spring (currently nearing completion for 2013, stay tuned).
Surveys rank Transit Crowding and Metro Repair Needs as top two transportation challenges in the region.
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) recently released the draft of their Regional Transportation Priorities Plan (RTPP) for public comment. The plan, the result of a multi-year planning effort, worked to identify the top transportation challenges in the region, and pair them with near-term, long-term and ongoing strategies.
The top winner in the priorities plan is transit, as the top-two transportation challenges region-wide were identified as Transit Crowding and Metro Repair Needs and the top-rated strategy was identified as Metro Maintenance.
The study provided three long-term strategies for consideration:
A regional network of High-Occupancy Toll Lanes with new bus rapid transit (BRT) operating on them.
Concentrated land use paired with an increase in capacity of existing transit systems and enhanced bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
A combination of 1 and 2.
The study did not include any expansion of the transit network other than BRT on toll lanes, and opted to not include other strategies/modes in which this region has heavily invested.
August 28th is the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. During the week leading up to the anniversary, thousands are expected to visit Washington and we expect higher ridership than usual.
We have prepared a Rider Guide to help visitors use our system.
Health and sustainability lead to the greening of Metro’s custodial services.
Estelle Strickland, PLNT, washing the glass partitions at Twinbrook station on July 4, 2010
Metro’s Grounds Maintenance and Custodial Services (GMAC) staff are doing much more than keeping the system clean, safe and sanitary for customers and fellow employees. They are going green and improving WMATA’s bottom line through their Green Cleaning Program—an initiative focused on cleaning for health and sustainability.
“Our efforts have included initiating cleaning practices that have a positive impact on the environment, that are less harmful to our internal and external customers and generate financial savings where possible for the Authority,” said Christopher Moore, Superintendent, Office of Plant Maintenance (PLNT).
The primary cleaning solution PLNT uses is a Green Seal-certified chemical that is dispensed through an automatic dilution control device, allowing a custodian to set a dial that dispenses a cleaning solution that mixes with water for cleaning carpets, glass, floors and other surfaces, each at the appropriate water-to-solution ratio. This allows Metro to save money by stocking less chemical in store rooms and reducing handling costs. The solution is also cold-water activated, generating substantial energy cost savings for the Authority by not requiring the use of hot water. Read more…
They proposed the plan to reduce crowding and meet growing ridership needs (In September, they announced that “CTA ridership has risen 16 straight months, adding 22 million riders since June 2011.”) The original plan essentially:
added service to 48 high ridership bus routes
added 17 rail trips to the Red, Blue, Green, Purple, Brown, and Orange lines during weekday rush hour
added rail trips to the Red, Brown, and Blue lines during weekend service
discontinued service on 12 low ridership bus routes (or duplicative)
discontinued service on 4 bus route segments (the entire bus route was not axed).
These service changes went into effect mid-December, 2012. The reasoning behind the addition of service and discontinuation of service was justified by the fact that the high ridership bus and rail routes represent more than 75% of the average daily ridership while the discontinued routes only represented less than 2% of its average daily ridership. Additionally, for the discontinued routes, there was another transit option nearby, such as a rail line, or another bus route. These cuts were also closely coordinated with the suburban bus company, Pace.
Walk access to Metrorail has increased 15% over the last 5 years, especially from those living within a half-mile of the station.
So more rail riders are choosing to walk to their Metrorail station, according to the 2012 Metrorail Passenger Survey. But who are these pedestrians?
Around 40% of Metrorail customers in the AM peak walk to the station. The survey found that younger people are much more likely to walk, with those under 35 were nearly twice as likely to walk to the train as those over 35:
However, younger Metrorail riders are also more likely to live within walking distance of their Metrorail station. Half of all riders under 35 live within a half-mile Metrorail, while 22% of those over 35 do. Younger people in our region generally are slightly more likely to live near Metrorail – 15% of everyone under 35 in the region lives within a half-mile of Metrorail, 12% for those over 35. The chart below shows how younger riders tend to live closer to Metrorail: Read more…
This video of the Vancouver SkyTrain (Expo Line), then (1986, in time for Expo 86) and now (2012), was making the transit news rounds.
We thought we’d share it, because it reminded us of Arlington, and the growth that’s occurred since the Orange Line opened there in the late 1970s. If the Orange Line was above ground, then someone could’ve made a similar video! In the meantime we’ll have to stick to pictures to compare how the landscape has changed since the introduction of the Orange Line. High rises sprouting up and general development with the addition of rail is the common theme here.
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) recently released the draft of their Regional Transportation Priorities Plan (RTPP) for public comment. The plan, the result of a 
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