Posts Tagged ‘survey’

How Do Metrorail Riders Get to Their Station in the Morning?

September 30th, 2013 3 comments

Peds_CrystalCityTwo-thirds of Metrorail riders take transit, walk, or bike to Metrorail for their morning commute.

Every morning, thousands of people walk through the faregates and into Metrorail. Did you ever wonder how they get to their station? Our 2012 Metrorail Passenger Survey tells us the answer to this question, for the morning rush:

  • More than a third (38%) of Metrorail riders get to the station in the morning by walking or biking.
  • Another quarter arrive by bus – Metrobus, as well as other bus operators in the region.
  • Another third arrive by car – most by parking at or near the station, but some by getting dropped off.
  • Finally, about 4% of riders arrive via commuter rail – mostly at Union Station.

Of the 25,000 or so daily riders who access rail by “Other Bus,” the top three contributors are Fairfax Connector (6,700), Montgomery County’s RideOn (5,700), and private shuttles (4,900). Of those who parked at their station, one-third were driving from less three miles away. Carpooling to Metrorail is very low – we estimate average vehicle occupancy at 1.03 passengers per parked car.

Systemwide_Metrorail_AccessMode_May2012

The map below shows how the answer to “How Did They Get to the Station?” varies dramatically station to station. (For the sake of legibility on this map, I’ve simplified the access modes into 4 groups). Read more…

Time for Those Walking Shoes, Part 1

July 30th, 2013 7 comments

Walk access to Metrorail has increased 15% over the last 5 years, especially from those living within a half-mile of the station.  

More and more Metrorail riders are lacing up their walking shoes and taking a short walk to their rail station these days.  According to results from the 2012 Metrorail Passenger Survey,  the number of passengers walking to Metrorail each morning grew by 15% between 2007 and 2012, from 78,500 to 89,900 in the AM peak period – far outpacing overall growth in ridership in the same period.

Where are all the new pedestrians coming from?  From stations all over the network, but the growth is strongest among those walking a half-mile or less.  Those walking from less than a half-mile rose by over 20% – faster than the overall growth in walk access.

Walk access to Metrorail has increased 15% over the last 5 years, especially from pedestrians walking a half-mile or less.

Walk access to Metrorail has increased 15% over the last 5 years, especially from those living within a half-mile of the station.

Read more…

Categories: Engage Tags: , , , ,

Support from the Business Community for Metro 2025 Initiatives

July 30th, 2013 Comments off

Business leaders were asked a series of questions about Momentum to gauge the extent that they believe the strategic plan is focused in the right direction. Five different growth options were presented and respondents were asked their level of support for each of them. The options included:

  • Running all eight-car trains;
  • Installing bus-only lanes as well as other bypass measures;
  • Improving stations via widening platforms, more escalators/elevators, pedestrian tunnels;
  • Improving communications infrastructure at stations, bus stops, online & fare payment; and
  • Relieving track and station congestion at Rosslyn with new infrastructure.

There was clear support for the eight-car trains, with three out of four business leaders choosing this as a priority. Improved communications was also supported by six out of ten surveyed. The rest of the improvements had support from approximately one half of the total respondents.Business Community Survey Read more…

Stakeholder Outreach Response

July 8th, 2013 Comments off

Momentum employed a multi-pronged outreach IMG_1280and 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…

Share of Reverse Commute Trips Growing

May 6th, 2013 13 comments

Metro is focused on solving one of the region’s most pressing mobility issues – increasing the capacity of the system to handle more trips through the core (defined below) of the Metrorail system.  While Metro’s planning staff has been conducting technical analyses and searching for the best solutions for some time, we also asked for ideas for increasing core capacity from you as well as discussed the potential for  new lines, new connections and expanding to all 8-car trains during peak periods.

There are also operational strategies Metro could employ to provide more trips on the rail system without expanding capacity.  Among the various options is to promote and encourage more “reverse commuting” where commuters travel opposite the peak travel direction in seats that would otherwise be empty.  Data show that reverse commuting has already increased over the past 10 years and many speculate that it will only increase further as the region builds more suburban town centers near Metro and as Metro begins operations on the Silver Line later this year.
Read more…

New Topics on MindMixer – We Want to Hear from You!

February 26th, 2013 7 comments

WMATA_ An Online Conversation for the Future by MindMixer

Thank you for all for your valued contributions on MindMixer over the past several months. All of your comments and ideas have been reviewed to see what improvements we can begin to undertake and plan for and many have been incorporated into Momentum: The Next Generation of Metro, our strategic plan. We also appreciate your continued patience while we developed new topics.Blue Momentum Cover

We’re happy to announce that new topics are open! We want to hear from you on the staff draft of Momentum and initiatives for Metro 2025 so that we can maximize our existing system. Additionally, for the cartographers out there, there is a question about proposed changes to the Metrorail map in advance of the Silver Line opening later this year. So please log back on and let us know what you think. If you haven’t joined the conversation, please do! We want to hear from you and we’re listening.

MindMixer – What Happens to All Your Comments and Ideas

November 21st, 2012 Comments off

Since Metro’s MindMixer site opened on September 27th, the response has been overwhelming. To date, we’ve had over 425 participants provide more than 1900 votes, 450 comments, and115 ideason a range of topics. The first round of questions generated over 150 pages of comments alone! The site is expected to continue through the end of the year at a minimum, so please continue to join the conversation.

Metro is using MindMixer to start a conversation with our customers about how they envision the next generation of Metro. A quick review of the site shows a wide range of comments and ideas, some that are short-term and many that are very far in the future.

All comments and ideas are being reviewed as part of Momentum: The Next Generation of Metro, the agency’s strategic plan. Metro staff is responding to some of the comments and ideas as they are posted. Often this is to direct a participant to work that is already underway or to provide short responses or explanations of current policies. Other ideas have created discussions between participants, which is one of the main purposes for the site. The vast majority of ideas and comments require further study, more discussion of what is possible within Metro’s environment, and/or prioritization among other needs at Metro. Many of the ideas also require substantial resources to implement.

As the site continues, we are collating and summarizing your comments and ideas based on themes, such as core capacity, information provision, and non-Metro expansion.  This high level summary will be used to support Momentum, our strategic plan, as it provides an indication of the elements that are most important to you, our riders. We will also be taking comments directly from MindMixer to incorporate in the strategic plan document. As part of this blog, we will be further developing some of the ideas and comments to form the basis for a Metro 101 section on PlanItMetro. These posts will help increase the level of understanding of transit in this region. Lastly, for those ideas that require further study, they will be compiled and when MindMixer concludes, this information will be circulated to the respective Metro departments. This will help ensure that decision makers throughout the organization review the thoughtful ideas that have been provided on MindMixer.

MindMixer – What We Heard from the First Round of Question about Momentum: the Next Generation of Metro

November 16th, 2012 2 comments

The first round of MindMixer questions for Momentum: The Next Generation of Metro closed on October 26th. 370 people joined the conversation and posted over 90 ideas, 300 comments, and 1,600 votes. There were 4,300 visits to the site, of which 63% were unique visits. There were almost 24,000 page views and visitors stayed on the site for an average of five and a half minutes. The response was terrific and we’re excited to continue the conversation and new questions are currently on the site.

Who Commented

Mind Mixer responses by zipcode. Click for larger version.

Your fellow Metro riders who joined the conversation came from across the region.Below is a map of the number of participants by zip code.Participants ranged from 18 to over 65, with an average age of 36.5. 70% of participants were men.As our ridership is much more evenly split, we’d love to hear from more women, so please don’t be shy!Guys – please tell your female colleagues, friends, and family about the site and encourage them to comment.This month we are advertising on buses and in multiple English and non-English newspapers to further engage our riders, so keep an eye out.

What We Heard

We have compiled a summary of the vote tally from each first round question, as well as a summary of the themes of the comments within each question. The major takeaways for Metro were that our riders have a lot of interesting, creative ideas for small, short-term improvements to their daily ride, many of which could be inexpensive. Additionally, there is a desire for large infrastructure projects to expand the system, connect communities, and increase the capacity in the system core. We also noticed a need for a Metro 101 to better explain the basics of how Metro operates, as well as the pros and cons of ideas and concepts. Stay tuned to PlanItMetro for posts tagged as Metro 101.

Overall, the major themes we heard were:

  • Safety—repair and relieve crowding
  • Address core crowding first
    • More train frequency
    • Bus priority
    • Station entrances; faregates
  • More information
  • Integrate and connect other services, communities
  • Funding—long-term source

Momentum Outreach Update: Join the Conversation in Round 2!

November 8th, 2012 Comments off

Are you eager to tell us what needs to happen to make bus service more predictable and make your trip faster?

Do you have a great idea to help move more passengers through heavily-traveled stations in Washington and Arlington?

Do you sit in traffic and think, if only there were a fast, quick, comfortable transit option, life would be so much better?

Have you noticed a great concept or idea in another city’s transit system that Metro should implement?

If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes!” then please join the conversation about the future of your transit system at Momentum: The Next Generation of Metro.  We are using asking the public about how we can better serve their needs, and among other ways we are hosting questions at wmata.mindmixer.com!

Join the Conversation about the Next Generation of Metro

October 18th, 2012 2 comments

MindMixer, our online community engagement tool, has been live for more than two weeks. We started the conversation to gather your thoughts on some of the key questions facing Metro and the region in the future, such as:

  • What do you think our priorities should be for future infrastructure investments?
  • What areas should be better connected by transit?
  • What concepts that work in other cities should we use here?

Response has been high, the discourse has been positive, and several great ideas have been proposed!  For example, some of the ideas include:focus expansion and development in the core before any end of line expansion; develop an all inclusive mobile application for next bus, schedules, SmarTrip® balance, and alerts; and add mezzanines, improved signage, and stairs to our stations.

As of of October 15th, there were 325 active participants who have cast 1,300 votes to our survey questions, posted 375 comments, and have generated 66 ideas.  The site has been visited 2,900 times, with nearly 2,000 by unique individuals.  The next set of questions is slated to go live on October 27, so please check back next week and invite your colleagues, friends, and family too. We’re listening!