In September 2012, MWCOG released Economy Forward, a call to action for a more competitive metropolitan Washington. This report called for strong centers with housing, jobs, and access to transit as a means to enhance the region’s competitiveness. Through monthly meetings with public and private nonprofit and academic leaders, it concluded that the transportation network is one of the five critical challenges in recruiting new business to the Washington region. It also concluded that “without adequate funding, Metro and the region’s highways will become even more congested, which will hurt the region’s productivity and economic growth potential.”
Read more…
Metro is the nation’s most 
accessible large transit system. All 86 Metrorail stations have elevators and the new 7000-series rail cars are designed to maximize accessibility. Metrobus operates 1,100 fully accessible buses, most of which are low-floor and ramp-equipped and all of which have automated stop announcements. Numerous other changes have been made by Metro to maximize usability so that many customers with disabilities are able to use Metrobus and Metrorail for some of their travel. However, inadequacies such as the lack of curb cuts, sidewalks and traffic signals impact disabled customers’ ability to use Metrorail and Metrobus. MetroAccess serves these trips and others and presently provides about two million trips per year.
Read more…
Improving and expanding capacity at high ridership stations will ensure safe and efficient operations and facilitate passenger movements from street-level to platform as well as transfers between lines. The proposed stations, most of which are in the system’s core, already experience crowding or would reach capacity by 2025. Proposed improvements vary from adding escalators and stairs to building pedestrian passageways connecting platforms within a station and between stations.
Momentum requires Metro to reclaim its leadership role and to ensure that the region’s transit network meets the region’s needs. Metro’s Compact charges it with putting forth plans and mobility projects that enhance regional mobility and to be the champion for the regional rider. This means moving beyond the role of “convener” and mere “coordinator” and embracing the roles of “leader”, “collaborator”, and “co—author”.
Living up to this charge means leveraging the relationships with sister agencies Metro has already built by collaborating with partners from concept to execution. Metro will bring its partners in early to co-author mobility innovations, engage in joint problem-solving, and collaborate on bringing these projects online and into operation. As the lead transit planner, Metro will literally draw the region’s transit map and advocate for its implementation.
Thanks to its funding partners, Metro is now 
engaged in the largest capital improvement program since its original construction. Two years ago, MetroForward was launched – an aggressive, $5 billion, six-year investment program to rebuild the system. MetroForward is investing in what Metro’s customers value most: safety, reliability, and good customer service. With continued investment, it is projected that Metro will continue to make progress on the intensive MetroForward “catch up” phase in the years ahead. MetroForward has already delivered:
- An aggressive escalator rehabilitation program;
- Continued improved elevator availability;
- Station repairs at Judiciary Square, Shady Grove, Rockville, White Flint, Twinbrook and Union station;
- 461 new MetroAccess vehicles in service;
- Over 200 new replacement or rehabilitated buses in service;
- Electrical upgrades to accommodate additional eight-car trains on some lines; and
- Replacement of over 14.7 miles of rail; 36 No. 8 guarded switches; 16,000 ties; 11,731 cross ties; 62,723 linear feet of running rail; 20,745 fasteners; 8,849 insulators; and 9,829 linear feet of grout pads.
Read more…
Metro is critical to the 
prosperity of the region and has a positive effect on business activity. Within one half-mile of rail stations and bus stops there are two million jobs, which account for 54 percent of all jobs in the region. The figure to the right shows how future employment will be focused in the Metrorail service areas of the central jurisdictions and the inner suburbs.
The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) added 275,000 households and 295,000 jobs between 2004 and 2010. Of that growth, 6.4 percent of new households and 13.8 percent of new jobs located within one-quarter mile of urban Metro stations and one-half mile of suburban ones. The land area around these Metro stations comprises only 1.2 percent of the MSA land area, so Metro-adjacent locations are capturing far more than an average share of growth. When asked, 83 percent of business leaders surveyed by Metro in March, 2013 noted the importance of Metro to their future success. Employers have chosen Metro station areas as highly desirable places to locate jobs and attract employees. Seventy-seven percent of them said the proximity of a Metrorail station was important to where they decided to locate their businesses.
In 1967, the federal government passed 
a bill to create the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro). The interstate Compact was signed by the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Maryland. Metro continues to be chartered by this interstate Compact. Among all transit providers in the Washington region – which number more than 15 – Metro is unique in that it serves both states and the District. It provides the only truly regional transit network.
In the late 1970s, Metro trains carried just over 100,000 passengers a day and served hundreds of thousands of passengers on the bus system. Since then, most rail stations in the core of the system have seen ridership more than double. As depicted below, rail average weekday ridership system-wide has gone from just over 500,000 in 1990 to almost 750,000 today, or 220 million trips annually, while weekday bus ridership has stayed at a stable level of roughly 450,000 daily trips, or 134 million trips annually. Read more…
Operating the longest trains possible during the peak periods will maximize the capacity of the existing Metrorail system by enabling operations of 100 percent eight-car trains. Metro will upgrade, replace or expand:
- The rail car fleet
- Traction power substations
- Power cabling
- Third rail
- Train control systems
- Storage tracks and maintenance bays in the yards
Purpose and Need
The Metro system’s core is the destination or transfer point for 80 percent of all rail riders system-wide. Crowded conditions during peak periods exist currently and, without rail fleet expansion, most rail lines will be even more congested by 2025. Operating 100 percent eight-car trains during peak periods and increasing the capacity of transfer stations (under a related initiative) will provide adequate capacity through 2025.
The strategic plan for Metro supports the vision of tomorrow’s transit ride and gives guidance to the types of investments and decisions that Metro can and must make in order to achieve this vision and support the region. The strategies flow directly from Metro’s Board-endorsed vision, mission, and goal statements, and provide the overarching framework for executing the General Manager’s business plan.
Metro’s Board took the lead in building a safety-first culture by establishing the Safety and Security Committee. Metro has also adopted an analytical approach to prevent incidents by employing smart technology and identifying hazards early. All of Metro’s efforts to improve safety since 2010, including increased communication and analysis, have been recognized by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The actions over the last two years include:
- Deploying safety officers and Metro Transit Police geographically based on hazard reporting, analysis of crime statistics and identified “hot spots”;
- Installing hundreds of security cameras and video technology on buses, to decrease the occurrence of incidents and improve alertness;
- Closing all ten recommendations of the FTA’s State Safety Oversight Audit;
- Completing six internal safety audits, making Metro current with the three-year cycle required by the System Safety Program Plan;
- Continuing to develop the confidential close-call reporting system;
- Developing a Fatigue Risk Management System, a Fatigue Executive Steering Committee, and hours of service maximums to effectively address fatigue throughout the Authority; and
- Closing seven NTSB recommendations, submitting fourteen for closure, and continuing progress on six.
Read more…
In September 2012, MWCOG released Economy Forward, a call to action for a more competitive metropolitan Washington. This report called for strong centers with housing, jobs, and access to transit as a means to enhance the region’s competitiveness. Through monthly meetings with public and private nonprofit and academic leaders, it concluded that the transportation network is one of the five critical challenges in recruiting new business to the Washington region. It also concluded that “without adequate funding, Metro and the region’s highways will become even more congested, which will hurt the region’s productivity and economic growth potential.”
Recent Comments