Let's shovel bus stops Sunday

Transit

by Dennis Jaffe • February 13, 2010 2:41 pm

Give a hand. Save a hip. Bus stops all over the region are not safely accessible because of snow mountains, slush and ice. Taxpayer-funded Metro can't shovel out 12,000 bus stops. Let's make George Washington proud and go shovel.

Photo by WMATA.

On Wednesday, Neil's post recruited folks to shovel out inaccessible sidewalks in Tenleytown. Let's expand the program to other neighborhoods.

People are doing all sorts of ballerina and gymnastic moves while approaching buses. It's dangerous for them, and heck it slows down traffic, too.

We'll meet up tomorrow, outside Metrorail stations or at other set locations, at 3 pm sharp, armed with shovels. From there, we'll find bus stops in need and make them accessible.

Will you join in to melt our problems away?

If you're willing to commit to coming to a station, put the location in a comment. You can also pick another spot with high bus traffic that's not a Metrorail station. We'll send out a followup with the locations that got picked, to encourage more readers to join you.

After you pick a spot, send out an email to your neighborhood listserv to reach more of your neighbors.

I'm volunteering for Columbia Heights. I'll be at the entrance on the west side of 14th at 3. David will be at the Dupont Circle north entrance on Q Street. Who's in for those? And which locations will you organize?

Update: We have four locations so far. See the update post for details.

25 comments — Share	— tags: buses, shoveling, snow, WMATA

Join the shovel teams at 3 (Feb 14, 2010)
Shoveling hall of shame: Dick Durbin and NPS (Feb 13, 2010)
Tenleytowners digging each other out (Feb 10, 2010)
Relocate bus stops to save time (Jan 21, 2010)
Aboveground transit ending at 1 (Dec 19, 2009)

Comments

Dennis, I'm in. My shovel and I will see you at the Columbia Heights west entrance tomorrow at 3:00.

by Stephen Miller on Feb 13, 2010 3:39 pm

I'll go shovel the X2 stop near me, the westbound stop at 16th St NE. I'll only be taking one shovel and don't plan on being there that long, but maybe someone will surprise me and help out.

by Lance Brown on Feb 13, 2010 4:57 pm

"Taxpayer-funded Metro can't shovel out 12,000 bus stops."

Why on earth not? New York's MTA does.

This is the city's job, or the bus company's job, or the adjacent property owner's job. It's not blog readers' job.

by Mike on Feb 13, 2010 5:03 pm

Mike, *we* are the city. The city is us. I'm in for Columbia Heights if someone has a spare shovel.

by Matt W on Feb 13, 2010 5:08 pm

Will shovels be provided? I'm an apartment dweller in Dupont - willing to help, but shovel-less..

by Rob on Feb 13, 2010 5:09 pm

Dennis is trying to find out if we can get some shovels.

by David Alpert on Feb 13, 2010 5:10 pm

I'm in for the Dupont location if Dennis (or me through my apartment building) can secure a shovel.

by Rob on Feb 13, 2010 5:15 pm

Anyone up for shoveling the bridge between Foggy Bottom and Georgetown where Pennsylvania turns into M Street? I'd love to shovel, but I don't have a shovel...

by mogwit on Feb 13, 2010 5:46 pm

Mike - and other doubters - whether or not Metro failed to shovel their bus stops, complaining and blaming them isn't going to help anyone. The only way those bus stops, street corners, and fire hydrants are going to get free of snow is if the residents who benefit from the buses do it.

It's actually kind of appropriate to go out and clear up the city on a holiday that commemorates noble service to the public.

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 13, 2010 6:13 pm

mogwit: I can help with that, but the only shovels I have are "community" shovels owned by my condo group. If nobody else is using them, I'll let you know by 1:30 or so. Does that work?

by rallycap on Feb 13, 2010 6:18 pm

We have a shoveling event set up at the New York Avenue Metro on Monday February 15th from 10 AM to 1 PM. We'll be starting at the M Street entrance of the Metro, and moving east to serve the Near Northeast neighborhood.

Our focus will be on the corners and bus stops. The NoMA BID has graciously offered to help out as well to help keep our neighborhood safe. They've been doing a great job this past week with clearing sidewalks within their boundaries adjacent to our neighborhood.

by Tony Goodman on Feb 13, 2010 7:00 pm

WMATA's arrangement with the separate jurisdictions is that the separate jurisdictions are responsible for bus stops. It's why DC sold the bus shelter contract to Adshel. WMATA rec'd none of that money. Only bus shelters on WMATA property, i.e., at Brookland, are WMATA responsibility.

by Richard Layman on Feb 13, 2010 7:37 pm

I'm interested, especially if someone is doing this in Alexandria, but I'm also shovelless...

by Froggie on Feb 13, 2010 7:41 pm

rallycap: that sounds great. Are you a part of any neighborhood lists to which you can advertise this?

by mogwit on Feb 13, 2010 7:47 pm

@Richard Layman: Does that mean that technically Clear Channel is responsible for shoveling the bus shelters?

by jeanne on Feb 13, 2010 7:59 pm

It's actually kind of appropriate to go out and clear up the city on a holiday that commemorates noble service to the public.

Uh, just to be clear, I'm talking about Presidents' Day here, but I guess that's actually on Monday.

by Neil Flanagan on Feb 13, 2010 9:20 pm

It's definitely not WMATA's job to shovel, but it may not be the city's either. Here in Boston, JCDecaux (Wall Corp), the bus shelter provider, has the clear them out as part of their advertising contract.

by J on Feb 14, 2010 1:45 am

I did a post at Borderstan. I'm interested to see if readers react or say they will shovel out a bus stop. I am out of town for several days or would do a stop on 14th NW. However, I am mixed feelings about whether we should be doing this all the time. I would, though, be happy to shovel out a bus stop this time. The past two snowstorms have been completely overwhelming, no matter how well prepared our local governments were or were not. The job needs to be done. http://borderstan.com/2010/02/14/sunday-shovel-out-a-bus-stop-today/

by mattyillini on Feb 14, 2010 6:28 am

Great ideas. Another way to help organize snow shoveling volunteer work is found online here:

http://dc.thecityfix.com/seeclickfix-on-thecityfix-dc-become-a-snow-helper/

Miles

by Miles on Feb 14, 2010 8:22 am

@Matt W -- I have a shovel for you. Can you confirm your plans? Thanks!

by Dennis Jaffe on Feb 14, 2010 11:33 am

Well, I am not privy to the contract that DC signed with Clear Channel. In the public meetings about the contract in early 2006, the city constantly mentioned that the requirements would be that each shelter is cleaned something like twice/week. I did not think to ask about this in terms of snow removal.

The person to ask probably is alice.kelly@dc.gov. She deals with "public space policy" in the transportation planning division of DDOT.

WRT the contract, the contractee only does what it has to do. E.g., the contract called for ten stations in a bikesharing system, and so that's what Clear Channel provided. They don't intend to build anymore. And I guess DC and Clear Channel couldn't come to an agreement about how to build more and how to pay for it, which is why the city is moving to a different system, and terming the current SmartBikeDC system a pilot, for proof of concept.

by Richard Layman on Feb 14, 2010 12:32 pm

mogwit: Doesn't look like anybody is using the shovels. I'll see you at 3 at the bridge?

I posted it to the FB Alert list but haven't seen any responses.

by rallycap on Feb 14, 2010 1:33 pm

rallycap: sounds good. I'll be wearing a green coat.

by mogwit on Feb 14, 2010 1:39 pm

Thanks for suggesting this--it inspired me to shovel out the bus stop closest to my home. Now if we could just do something about the neighbor on the corner who can't be bothered to shovel the sidewalk right in front of his house...

- RP

by Rob Pegoraro on Feb 14, 2010 3:06 pm

That's why there should be fines for not shoveling the sidewalk within a given timeframe.

by Froggie on Feb 15, 2010 6:40 am