Mystery Riders, Now This

This is why we don't trust Metro's judgment.

According to WTOP, local taxpayers could end up footing $1.5 million to cover the cost of the extra service Metro provided for the inauguration.

"The understanding was that the extra cost for the big events around the inauguration were going to be borne by the federal government," says Zimmerman.

Gee, did you get that in writing, Metro?

DC Examiner's account

Board Stuck Just Like Its Trains

As is often the case with Metro trains, the Board finds itself stuck in a tunnel with no apparent way out.

The The Washington Post is reporting that Metro is delaying a decision about how it will close a nearly $29 million budget gap because some jurisdictions weren't able to reach a consensus about service cuts. Metro officials will try again next Thursday.

Meanwhile the suggestion of charging for parking on the weekends seems to be withering on the vine. According to the Post, "a Metro staff analysis found that charging as little as $1 for weekend parking would reduce ridership and produce a net revenue loss." Way to think that one through.

The Board is deadlocked.

"Nobody wants to cut any stuff," said Chris Zimmerman, who represents Virginia. If subsidies are not increasing and "nobody wants to talk about anything on the fare increase, what the heck is left?"

But heck. There's a light at the end of the tunnel that will save us all. The report said Metro is considering "a deal with Redbox, the automated DVD rental company, to install kiosks at Metrorail stations." Here's the kicker: "He did not know how much revenue such an arrangement might generate."

So there you have it folks. Metro may depend on DVD rentals, a quickly dying industry, to save it. Good luck!

Weekend Roundup

Monday was shaping up to be uneventful on the Orange Line, but starting at Smithsonian, the doors began to act up. At L'Enfant, we sat there nearly 5 minutes as the doors opened and closed repeatedly. I watched one rider mutter the f-bomb under his breath while several others rolled their eyes and looked rather disgusted. Still, considering last week's fun, it wasn't that bad.

Here's your weekend roundup:

• About.com takes on what Metro should do with the stimulus money.
• WMATA celebrates a birthday of sorts.
• Metro takes up the "25 things" Facebook phenom
• Arlington keenly interested in Metro's budget

Photo: John Morris

Does Catoe Ever Use Metro?

After reading this, you may come to the same conclusion that we did: that he never has.

The Washington Post has an article summarizing some ideas WMATA has for saving money. Basically, it's the same stuff Dr. Gridlock talked about yesterday--fewer buses, fewer trains--but what really struck us was this quote from Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr.

"This is the first time we've recommended service cuts," Catoe told the board yesterday, talking about the current budget cycle. "We don't want to do any of this," he said. "But we have a shortage of revenue and we looked at what could we do that would have a minimal impact on service."

Service? What service? Metro can't even get us to work on time, and we think that has more than a "minimal impact" on many riders' lives. He's starting to sound like the train conductors one reader mentioned who tell you the train will be moving "momentarily" knowing full well there's a major delay down the track. Metro would do well by leveling with its customers.

Also mentioned in the article is how "managers outlined how they had found more revenue and expense cuts to shrink the gap from $73 million to about $29 million."

Where did that $44 million come from? According to the article, "finance officials readjusted their estimates by budgeting more revenue from such measures as eliminating paper transfers. They reduced operating expenses for items such as preventive maintenance, relying on capital funds instead."

Metro's financial arrangements would be hard enough to understand without the smoke and mirrors games Metro seems to like to play.

We LOVE the caption on the photo here.

It's Surreal

UPDATE: According to the Orange Line Twitter feed, service on the line is apparently still disrupted. While we imagine that's no longer the case, it'd be nice if they tweeted that they'd fixed the problem!

We haven't been keeping this blog for very long, and we don't use Metro every day, but over a very short span of time, we've already had the pleasure of three major delays or problems on ONE line, the Orange Line. Here's one, and here's another.
Today, it was because "a piece of track equipment derailed before the rail system opened this morning," according to a Metro press release we got once we were at work nearly an hour late! Missed an important meeting to boot. Thanks Metro!

We also thought, well, perhaps we should have joined Metro's Orange Line Twitter feed and perhaps that would have saved us some headache. We, along with a whopping 241 other people who follow the feed, would have known something was wrong, but not the extent. Metro doesn't seem to realize there is a limit to the number of characters allowed in a "tweet." Nothing about delays mentioned--at all!

It's beyond the point of ridiculous for a major metropolitan mass transit system to have this many failures.

Just look at the past four work days:

• Feb. 12
• Feb. 13
• Feb. 16
• Feb. 17

Unacceptable!

Then add Metro's good cop/bad cop routine about how great they were over the Inauguration and then trial balloons about possible service cuts, and you get a picture of a transit system in crisis and woefully mismanaged. At this point, you have to wonder if funding given to Metro is just money down a rat hole.

Aren't there any other people out there who' d like to help us document stuff like this? Personal stories pack so much more punch! Doesn't have to be long, just a sentence or two about something that struck you on your commute.

In other news:
Gotta love GGW's optimism on a day when Metro can't even get the basics down. Check out their "fantasy" Metro map.

Photo: John Morris

Metro's Drunken Pole Dancers

Does Metro really want to cut late night service?

As many of you know, Metro floated the idea of shutting down service after 10 p.m. on weekdays and curtailing some late night service on the weekends as a way to save money. While we think a total cut of these services would certainly be bad for the service's image, Metro might want to take a look at what shutting down service could unleash on our roads.

For the ladies:



And for the men:



More drunken Metro shenanigans:
This is REALLY DUMB
"Spider Monkey"
Yet another pole dance

Now we know why there are so many poles on Metro!

More on Bridging the $154 Million Gap

The Washington Post has an article today talking about the possibility of Metro charging for weekend parking and other service cutbacks that have been in the news. Metro board Chairman Jim Graham said it was too early to talk specific cuts. Here's the key graph:

"This has needlessly agitated our riding public," he said. The board must first continue "extensive scrubbing" of expenses and get a "full understanding" of how the pending economic stimulus package could help Metro's budget.

Of course it has agitated the public and further tarnished Metro's image.

In other news, the Examiner has a great piece about Metro's failure to capitalize on increased usage. Among the possible reasons cited is the changing habits of riders who are using Metro more on offpeak hours to save money.

An entertaining article on NBC4.com

MSNBC weighs in

Anyone out there have any ideas for Metro?

Oh, and as free Metro reading fare goes, we think the Examiner is vastly superior to Express yet you hardly see anyone reading it.

Photo: John Morris

Metro Board Chairman Interview

Prepare for Drunk Drivers

If you've ever been grateful to Metro for getting you home safely from a night of a little too much celebration, prepare to for over fork a cab or take your chances behind the wheel. According to this WTOP article, Metro is considering stopping service at 10 p.m. on weeknights and "cutting back" late night service on weekends. Also on the table is reducing the frequency of trains during rush hour. I don't know about other lines, but for Orange Line riders, this must sound like exactly the right way to go!

For a system that has to fight three public relations wars at once, in the District, Maryland and Virginia, these moves would add to the perception that the system is fundamentally mismanaged or flawed and just unworthy of funding. That perception may or may not be correct--we think it is, but think the solution is more funding and better service--but these days sadly, perception is what counts, and money is scarce. That said, there do seem to be a lot of empty, late night trains during the week, as this photo demonstrates. What was the per rider cost on this guy?

Metro realizes the bind it's in, according to the article.

"All of the possibilities are unpleasant," says Metro Board member Chris Zimmerman, who represents Arlington. "We have more people riding than ever before, and we are providing a higher quality (of service) than ever before, but we may have to tell people that service is being cut. It is a heck of a thing to do."

We might have gone with something stronger than "heck," but you get the idea.

It should be noted that transit systems in Chicago and New York City are facing even larger budget gaps than Metro and are considering fare hikes.

Examiner story
Washington Post story
Greater Greater Washington
Does WMATA need a bailout?

Do you think these proposed service cuts are a step in the right direction?

Photo: John Morris

A Collection of Thoughts

Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post has collected several readers' opinions about Metro here. The gist is that Metro is crazy to be cutting back services at a time when ridership is up. Several suggest trying to increase ad revenue, but when you look at a typical Metro car and station, where would much more advertising go? One reader suggests cutting back escalator services. Seems to us that many of them are de facto cut. What are your thoughts?

Beyonddc.com's view

Photo: John Morris

$103 million in cuts

WMATA staff have posted their latest proposal for budget cuts. They'll present this to the Board of Directors' "Special Budget Committee" at 9am.

Source: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=1632