PlanItMetro

Since 2011, Metro has made great strides to improve customer service through the Customer Service Action Plan. As a starting point, to determine customer priorities, Metro conducted customer and employee research to define good customer service and to identify customer priorities. With the information gathered from its customers and frontline employees, Metro identified the areas needing improvement in the respective departments and then put together individual corrective work plans. Through the Customer Service Action Plan, Metro has accomplished the following:

• Developed new customer service training programs and trained over 2,000 employees;
• Replaced and/or rehabilitated 28 escalators in 2012;
• Introduced new and improved bus maps;
• Assigned over 30 more police officers to improve bus security;
• Developed and launched a trip planning and information site designed for mobile devices;
• Installed digital flat screens in all stations to improve customer information;
• Deployed MetroAlerts so customers have access to real-time detour and disruption information;
• Installed over 2,600 static stop signs to enhance service information at bus stops;
• Enhanced MetroAccess’ on-time performance standards in response to customer survey feedback;
• Installed SmarTrip dispensers in all stations; and
• Implemented the Better Bus program to improve service.

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Proximity to transit, especially high-quality, frequent, high-capacity rail, increases property values, attracts development and provides mobility choices. Property values are higher near Metro’s high-quality, high-frequency, high-capacity services, and deliver an incremental increase in total tax revenue to the Compact jurisdictions.

• Property taxes on land around Metrorail stations generate $3.1 billion annually in revenues to the jurisdictions.
• Of these revenues, $224 million is extra value that would not exist without Metro. This amount is equivalent to providing the following public services.

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Momentum employed a multi-pronged outreach and feedback gathering strategy, including both conventional and modern tools. Metro staff gathered input to inform a draft plan and subsequently, gathered feedback on the plan prior to finalizing it. Metro staff heard from almost 12,000 stakeholders during the outreach process through the following tools. The input has informed Metro’s understanding of the public’s short- and long-term needs. Read more…

Metrobus’ Priority Corridor Network (PCN) Plan will improve bus service, travel speeds, and reliability on 24 regional corridors, which serve half of Metrobus ridership. Improvements include:

• Improved operational strategies such as transit signal priority and exclusive bus lanes
• Increased frequency and span of service
• Improved customer information
• Added MetroExtra, Metro’s limited-stop bus service, routes and buses
• Expanded fare payment options
• Added safety, security and incident response measures
• Enhanced bus stops and facilities

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Metro will create a safer and more secure transit experience for customers and employees.

Metro customers and employees deserve and expect a safe environment – on the job, in the buses, on the trains and in the stations and shelters. Our commitment: A Metro ride is a safe ride. In 2011, eighty employees were recognized as Champions of Safety for their efforts in safeguarding Metro employees, equipment and customers. More than eighty-five percent of both Metrobus and Metrorail riders are highly satisfied with security. Read more…

Over the last five years, Metro has cut $200 million through efficiency-related reductions and achieved similar savings in costs avoided through management efficiency initiatives, restructurings, one-time savings and other actions, including:

MetroAccess: In FY11, by encouraging select paratransit riders to use fixed route transit, Metro saved more than $25 million in paratransit costs. Continuing to promote this travel training has lowered MetroAccess demand and has allowed Metro to avoid spending an additional $10 million in FY13 alone.

Energy Efficiencies: Metro’s bus fleet has improved its fuel economy by 27 percent over the last eight years, saving money on rising fuel costs.  Meanwhile, Metro’s facilities are saving money as well – the new Shepherd Parkway facility is LEED-Silver certified – and the new escalators and elevators are realizing significant energy savings.

Parking Facilities: Metro saves $3.1 million each year as a result of automating its parking facilities.

Employee Health and Wellness: As a result of a health insurance benefits program audit, Metro has cut $3 million per year, and plans to continue on the wellness track by incentivizing healthy behavior and habits to help its employees, increase productivity and further reduce health insurance costs.

Overtime: An organization-wide review of overtime procedures and pay is paying dividends. Since the end of 2012, overtime is $3 million lower than the same period for each of the two preceding years.

Transaction Costs: Metro is encouraging more SmarTrip Card usage, and as a result has reduced the use of paper fare media from 20% of payments to 12%, saving $1 million per year. Metro has its eyes set on more savings by targeting a 5 percent paper fare card usage rate.

Identifying More Efficiencies: An independent efficiency analysis is underway to assist in identifying further opportunities to save money in administrative areas. 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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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