Posts from September 2010

Between Washington and New York, the new line would roughly parallel the existing NEC rail alignment. From New Rochelle and Boston, the line would take a new inland alignment, passing through Hartford, but missing Providence.

In the Washington area, Amtrak would need to find a flat, straight alignment connecting Union Station with BWI Airport. Yesterday's report doesn't lay out any specific alignments; those would be set out in engineering and environmental impact reports.

In Baltimore, on the other hand, the new alignment would include an underground station in the heart of downtown. Penn Station is relatively inconvenient to the central business district, and the curving, tunneled alignment into the station is unsuitable to fast trains.

A new six-mile tunnel under the city would include a six four-track station under the Charles Center area. It would allow trains to serve Baltimore (and pass through without stopping) at higher speeds. Trains in the current B&P Tunnels west of Penn Station are limited to 30 mph.

With all of the corridor improvements, Washingtonians could reach midtown Manhattan in slightly over 90 minutes and downtown Boston in 3 hours flat. For service to other major cities in the northeast, other expresses would follow different service patterns and make intermediate stops.

This new corridor—and improved service on the existing NEC due to reduced congestion—could open up new opportunities for transit-oriented development around rail stations, including new ones in city centers.

But, as The Transport Politic points out, there are plenty of reasons not to celebrate just yet.

The Obama Administration has been extremely receptive to rail, but Congress has only allocated $10 billion total to HSR in this country. That's less than 10% 25% of what would be needed to build just this corridor alone, and there are several other HSR corridors in the United States which also deserve funding.

With conservatives gaining steam as the midterm elections approach, the likelihood of a major shift in resources toward HSR looks extremely unlikely.

And while this corridor certainly needs improvement, we already have faster trains than the rest of the country. To some extent, it might be more equitable to build high-speed rail in corridors where trains are much, much slower currently. Could we speed trains in the Northeast for less?

Regardless, this report shows that Amtrak is dedicated to moving America into the 21st century. This proposal is an excellent step to bettering rail service. But it's only one step.

Without dedicated funding for projects like this one, America is destined to have, at best, a piecemeal high-speed rail system.

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Truxton Circle (Ward 5): Oct. 5, 6:30 pm at Community Academy Public Charter School, 1400 First St. NW

Tenleytown (Ward 3): Oct. 7, 6 pm at St. Columba's Episcopal Church, 4201 Albermarle St. NW (and then go to the GGW happy hour)

Fort Dupont (Ward 7): Oct. 12, 6:30 pm at Sousa Middle School, 3650 Ely Place SE

Foggy Bottom (Ward 2): Oct. 14, 6:30 pm at School Without Walls, 2130 G St. NW

Columbia Heights (Ward 1): Oct. 19, 6:30 pm at Columbia Heights Youth Center, 1480 Girard St. NW

Barry Farm (Ward 8): Oct. 21, 7 pm at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church, 2616 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE

16th Street Heights? (Ward 4): Oct. 26, 6:30 pm at Peoples Congregational Church, 4704 13th St. NW

Hill East (Ward 6): Oct. 27, 6:30 pm at Eastern High School, 1700 East Capitol St. NE

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Route C2: The biggest change is the truncation of the C2 route. It currently runs from Wheaton to Greenbelt Center (Old Greenbelt).

Under the proposal, it will be cut back to Greenbelt Metro. This line is Greenbelt's most frequent line, and its loss will mean that residents of Old Greenbelt will lose direct one-seat service to the University of Maryland, Langley Park, and eastern Montgomery County.

Route R12: One positive change is the splitting of the R12 into two routes. Currently, the line runs from Deanwood to Greenbelt Metro and then on to Greenbelt Center and New Carrollton. It's an extremely long route, and it suffers severe bunching and scheduling problems.

Under the proposal, the R12 would only run from Deanwood to Greenbelt Metro. It would not serve Greenbelt Center. Instead, that section would be served by a new route, called the G12.

In Greenbelt West, the R12 would continue to serve Beltway Plaza's main entrance. It would also make a longer deviation into Emperian Village (Springhill Lake). The route will be shortened in College Park with a routing to the College Park Metro station via Paint Branch Parkway and River Road.

New route G12: This route is very similar to the current routing of the R12 between Greenbelt Metro and New Carrollton. In Old Greenbelt, the new G12 will have a few slight route alterations, including new service on Lastner Lane in the Boxwood Village neighborhood and service through the University Square apartments off Westway.

In Greenbelt East, the G12 would serve Roosevelt High, following the current route of the R12. The only deviation between Greenbelt and New Carrollton is at Doctors' Hospital, where the G12 will replace the T16/17 service there.

Route T16/17 (G14/16) Currently, the T16/17 runs between Greenbelt Metro and New Carrollton. The buses never run at the same time; the only difference between the two is a rush hour deviation to Goddard Corporate Park (the T17).

The T16 would be replaced by the G16. The rush hour-only T17 would be replaced by the G14, which would have midday service in addition to peak service.

Between Mandan Road and New Carrollton, the routes are identical to the current service except that the G14/16 would not serve Doctors' Hospital or the portion of Good Luck Road between Cipriano Road and the hospital.

In Greenbelt, the G14/16 would not serve Mandan Road or Hanover Parkway, instead, staying on Greenbelt Road to Southway. The route would loop through Old Greenbelt via Southway, Crescent Road, Gardenway, Ridge Road, Westway, and Lakecrest Drive. It would take Greenbelt Road to Cherrywood Lane on its way to the Metro (with a loop through Beltway Plaza).

One positive of this change is later service on the G16 than is currently provided on the T16. Residents of the Lanham and Seabrook areas along the T16/G16 will have service approximately an hour later on weeknights than they do currently.

Timed transfer: Due to citizen requests for neighborhood-to-neighborhood service, WMATA is creating a "timed transfer" at Greenbelt Center (Crescent Road & Gardenway). This location is marked with a circled "T" on the above graphic.

Buses will be scheduled so that a westbound bus on one route arrives at the same time as a westbound bus on the other route. Buses will have a scheduled wait of about 5 minutes to allow for the vagaries of traffic. Eastbound buses will also meet other eastbound buses, but not westbound buses.

This means that someone in the northern part of Old Greenbelt (the G12) will be able to reach Goddard Corporate Park (G14) by transferring at Greenbelt Center. Similarly, someone at Beltway Plaza (G14/16) can reach Roosevelt High or Doctors' Hospital (G12) the same way.

Eastbound buses won't meet westbound buses or vice versa. That means that someone in the northern part of Old Greenbelt can no longer reach Beltway Plaza with a single-seat ride or with a timed transfer.

However, buses on the G12/14/16 will all be interlined. A G12 will leave New Carrollton and travel to Greenbelt Metro, where it will wait approximately 10 minutes and then become a G14/16 to return to New Carrollton.

Metro planners say that a rider traveling from the northern part of Old Greenbelt on the G12 will be permitted to remain onboard the bus at Greenbelt Metro and then travel to Beltway Plaza (or anywhere else) on the route of the G14/16. Although that may or may not be quicker than transferring at a different location, depending on the time of day and individual circumstance.

Why restructure?

Changes to bus service have been very controversial in the community this year. It was first proposed as part of Metro's systemwide bus and rail cuts proposed last spring during the budget crisis. The Metro Board took all service cuts off the table before approving the budget for this fiscal year.

The alterations to Greenbelt's bus service are coming back up at the request of the City and Prince George's County. The alterations should cost about the same that current bus service costs, but will benefit Metro mainly by reducing delays and bunching.

The City Council supported the changes mainly because they feared that if changes were not made, Greenbelt would be at the top of the list for service reductions during the next budget cycle, which will likely be just as bleak in 2011.

As a Greenbelt resident and daily bus rider, I have mixed feelings about these changes. I'm happy with the splitting of the R12, for instance, because the bus line is currently very unreliable. But I regret that we're losing the C2, which comes as frequently as every 15 minutes during rush.

I'm also disappointed that WMATA is unable to provide later evening service and Sunday service. Currently, the last bus to leave for Greenbelt Center is the R12 leaving Greenbelt Metro at 9:59p on weeknights. That is unacceptably early for those of us who rely on transit, and it's a serious impediment in getting people to try transit. Hopefully Metro's next changes in Greenbelt will be the provision of later and more frequent service.

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AirTran currently has 2 gates in Terminal A with 4 non-stop routes and about a dozen daily departures. Even if Southwest maintained that level of service, it would only be a fraction of the business they do out of BWI. Southwest would likely select a few strategic city-pairs for service out of DCA, so many Washingtonians hoping for an inexpensive one-seat flight home to wherever they're from will probably be out of luck.

More interesting is what might happen up in Maryland. BWI is both a top market for Southwest and a secondary hub for AirTran.

While the two airlines directly compete on only about a half-dozen routes, there's legitimate fear that eliminating that competition could push fares higher. In a rare twist of events, expanded Southwest service could have the opposite effect that it historically has had. Only time will tell if Southwest's revenue management team thinks they can successfully pull off higher fares.

At the end of the day, Southwest's acquisition of AirTran might not have as big an impact on air travel in Washington as many are hoping. And while Southwest's arrival at DCA will be welcome by many travelers, it will hardly be a sizable operation.

Fortunately, this isn't a safety issue; the signaling system knows where the trains are, it's just the PIDs system that's having trouble. Unfortunately, that's not making things very convenient for riders.

Metro had originally hoped to replace the PIDs with new screens, called "The Metro Channel" that would have shown arrival times and other information including advertising. The ads would have paid for the new system. Unfortunately, the ad market collapsed with the economy, and Metro can no longer fund such a system through ad revenues.

Reader Jamie S. writes:

After reading the post about improving the 90s bus line, I visited the Metrobus Studies sites and read the improvements on some of the lines. It got me thinking about the bus fare machines and what happens when those machines aren't working, and the driver simply waves the riders on. Does he communicate with supervisors as soon as the problem is identified? Does Metro take the bus out of service? Is it repaired? It seems that in the wake of fare increases and the potential elimination of negative SmarTrip balances, this should be a problem Metro should address to avoid losing fares.

Doug Karas says:

When the bus operator realizes the farebox is broken, they radio to [control] who gives direction on what to do. Typically, the bus is instructed to continue the route where it is then switched out with another bus with a working farebox.

No repairs are made in the field due to safety issues and customer perception that workers are handling cash. Farebox techs do all repairs at the divisions. ... Our goal is that all fare boxes are repaired within 24 hours. Most are repaired in 8-12 hours.

Finally, Jonathan Z. asks:

I was getting on the College Park metro yesterday (Labor Day) with my bike. After getting yelled at immediately upon entry by the station manager because my wheels weren't on the ground, I was yelled at again (and threatened with a $50 ticket no less) because the station manager thought I was going to use the escalator. I was planning on using the stairs, since waiting for the elevator seemed pointless when there was no one else around, but of course the station manager was having none of that and demanded that I use the elevator.

Besides the arbitrary enforcement of the rules (I do concede they are the rules, but completely unnecessary to enforce them with such rigor in a sparsely inhabited station on Labor Day), it got me thinking: what if there was an elevator outage? Hypothetically, are bikers expected to call for the shuttle service? Are they even equipped with bike racks? I wonder how many more disgruntled Metro employees I would have had to deal with if that were the case.

Doug replied that the station manager could have let the cyclist use the escalator or stairs if the elevator were out and it were safe. The rules are designed for safety. If its wheels are on the ground and the owner is holding it, it's not much of a risk to other riders, whereas if it's on an elevator or escalator, the owner could drop it and it could fall onto others.

Doug added,

If the someone is on a bike, the elevator is out, and the station manager determines they shouldn't use the escalator or stairs, it would make more sense for them to ride their bike to the next station, than to wait for a shuttle. If, in fact, a person couldn't ride to the next station, all of our Metrobuses have bike racks.

It might be nice if Metro gave station managers some more discretion to let people use the escalators if nobody else is on them, for example, though that might also lead to more people trying to argue with the station manager. I've brought my bike on short escalators, like mezzanine to platform ones, at low traffic times and never been hassled, maybe just because the station manager didn't see.

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