This will only work if they are traveling in bus only lanes with signal priority. It'll probably be a disaster as a whole train of people can't get on 1 bus and that bus is going to get stuck in traffic anyway.

by James on Jun 10, 2011 10:44 am • link • report

Metro's new plan ignores the very premise for which they were created, to move people and serve the public by transporting them. Shuttering stations to do maintenance which they negligently failed to perform in the first place is reason enough to dissolve the board and governance structure and start afresh.

by Redline SOS on Jun 10, 2011 10:50 am • link • report

Do we have any data about the track closure on blue/orange the other weekend?

I'd be interested to see how many people rode shuttle buses vs. a normal weekend of metro service. Usually we hear that shuttle bus service is terrible but I heard a bunch of positive comments about the service that weekend.

by MLD on Jun 10, 2011 10:52 am • link • report

This would be a hell of a lot easier if there were crossovers between every station, rather than long stretches without. If that were the case, you could keep the closures to one or two stations in any particular segment, and the relative proximity would make a bus bridge much more effective. Alas, it appears we're making the same mistake with the Silver Line...

by Dizzy on Jun 10, 2011 10:53 am • link • report

aren't there switches outside of every station?

by JessMan on Jun 10, 2011 10:56 am • link • report

Well, it sounds like there are two major issues: (1) work can be completed faster if they shut down a line, and (2) single-tracking has ramifications up and down the entire line, even the seemingly unaffected sections.

For point #2, rather than bus service, why not split the line into two sections (as they would do with a bus-bridge service), but then run a single-track shuttle in the middle? If a patron needs to travel across the afflicted section, he can get off the first train and walk across the platform to the shuttle train and transfer.

It's a hassle for a rider, but it's way easier than switching to a bus on the surface. And it keeps the trains on the other sections operating more like normal.

by Joey on Jun 10, 2011 10:57 am • link • report

@JessMan:
Switches are located so that a train crosses one approximately every 4-5 minutes. That would allow 10 minute headway during single-tracking.

by Matt Johnson on Jun 10, 2011 10:58 am • link • report

Personally I like the closures. Closing stations in the burbs lets me just go ahead and drive and park at the next one closer up. I'd rather drive to east falls church and get on there than get on at vienna and just sit on the train. Downtown the density is such that its not such a big deal to modify my trip to go to a different station. Or like when they closed 4 stations on the blue/orange that could've also been a great oppurtunity for bike share to cover that gap.

by canaan on Jun 10, 2011 11:04 am • link • report

I should clarify. I don't like closures but overall I prefer them than single tracking. I seem to save time.

by Canaan on Jun 10, 2011 11:07 am • link • report

@JessMan

You can see all of the switches in the system in Sand Box John's track schematic: http://mysite.verizon.net/cambronj/wmata/sys_schematic_ars.gif

by Dizzy on Jun 10, 2011 11:12 am • link • report

Closing segments instead of single tracking, which means the agony of a shuttle bus between stations? Just forget it, Metro, I'll find another way there.

by Matt on Jun 10, 2011 11:12 am • link • report

The key is to ensure that this actually does get the work done faster.

Chicago shut down the southern portion of the Green Line through the South Side for more than two years for a full rehab in the 90s. It took a long time after the resumption of service for ridership to recover to previous levels.

by Alex B. on Jun 10, 2011 11:16 am • link • report

I think this is great. Like Kurt pointed out, London does this all the time.

Let's say they do construction at Braddock Road and run the blue line from Largo to National and from King St to Springfield (and similarly with the yellow line). Who in their right mind would prefer to sit on a train doing 5 mph through most of the system because of the single tracking versus going full speed on the two segments with the minor inconvenience of a shuttle?

Last year, they did weekend construction at Arlington Cemetery and Pentagon that closed portions of the blue and yellow lines. There was a shuttle from Rosslyn to Pentagon City or L'Enfant to Pentagon City. I took a shuttle from Rosslyn and it was fine. I waited MAYBE 3 minutes for the bus and got there with no problem in just a little longer than it would have taken on the train. No horror stories like you read online. That minor inconvenience is less time than you'd sit outside a station waiting for the oncoming train to pass through the single track section.

I know we like to complain about WMATA a lot, but they got this one right. Good job.

by Sam on Jun 10, 2011 11:17 am • link • report

@ Joey:rather than bus service, why not split the line into two sections (as they would do with a bus-bridge service), but then run a single-track shuttle in the middle?

+1

by Jasper on Jun 10, 2011 11:18 am • link • report

Building on what canaan wrote, can one choose to use CaBi to jump the gap and then reenter without paying for a second fare? That would be a great way to accommodate more people with fewer buses.

by David C on Jun 10, 2011 11:26 am • link • report

@MLD--as for the closure of all the blue/orange line stations on the Hill during Memorial Day weekend:

The free shuttle service was amazingly reliable. The shuttles were coming every couple of minutes. In fact, my friends and I joked that they should keep the shuttle service and screw the metro! There were metro employees at every shuttle stop to answer questions, which was probably very helpful for all the lost tourists.

I'm a major metro critic, but if they can offer this reliable kind of shuttle service every time there's a closure I believe closing entire sections of the system is better than single-tracking.

by MJ on Jun 10, 2011 11:31 am • link • report

@David C:
If you exit at one of the endpoints of the closure and reenter at the other endpoint, you don't tap your SmarTrip at either end, and therefore are not charged the base fare again.

If you plan to reenter somewhere else, you have to tap out, or your card won't work properly.

So, for instance, let's say the Orange Line was closed from Foggy Bottom to McPherson Square. Let's pretend you want to go from Court House to Capitol South.

You could ride the train from Court House to Foggy Bottom and then exit without tapping. You can then take the shuttle or bikeshare or walk to get to McPherson Square, where you would then reboard and travel to Capitol South.

If, on the other hand, you were going to Silver Spring, and you decided to bridge the gap by walking or biking from Foggy Bottom to Farragut North, you'd have to tap out at Foggy Bottom and tap in at Farragut North.

by Matt Johnson on Jun 10, 2011 11:32 am • link • report

I like Joey's idea. IT seems like a much better idea than running shuttle buses.

And with the Waterloo & City line example, for those of you unfamiliar with the London Underground, it's a line that has two (yes two) stations. And those two stations are served by other lines, so essentially it's just an express service. So I don't think it's a good example for WMATA to use.

by Steven Yates on Jun 10, 2011 11:32 am • link • report

WMATA really seemed to have the shuttle bus service well organized for the blue/orange shut down on memorial day weekend. If they direct enough resources to the trains, this can be preferable to single tracking as constant shuttle buses can be much quicker than single tracking.

by Nicoli on Jun 10, 2011 11:34 am • link • report

+1 to joey as well. A single track shuttle may work depending on where crossovers are located.

by Adam L on Jun 10, 2011 11:40 am • link • report

Closing segments instead of single tracking, which means the agony of a shuttle bus between stations? Just forget it, Metro, I'll find another way there.

The odds of you encountering a closed station on a given weekend are likely going to be quite low.

On single-tracking days, the odds of encountering delays resulting from the maintenance are nearly 100%. If weekend headways do improve, this change will definitely have me using Metro more often on weekends.

The "shuttle train" is an interesting idea, although switch replacements do require the entire segment to be closed, given that they (by definition) require work on both tracks. This change will cut an entire year off of the project, which I think is significant enough to warrant some minor inconvenience.

Dan Stessel told me that they are *not* planning to use this strategy downtown, except for switch replacements, when it's required. So, no Union Station to Dupont shuttles.

I've been advocating for this change for a while, and I'm glad to see it put into place. The Red Line has been unusable on weekends recently. The old schedule sucked, with 30 minute waits, followed by one packed train and two empty trains all in very quick succession.

(An alternate idea is to keep single-tracking, and run short-turn trains between the single-tracking zones. Metro tried this a few months ago with Van Ness to NY Ave trains. Ironically, downtown Red Line riders enjoyed some of the best weekend service that's ever been offered on the line on those days, with consistent 5-6 minute headways all day.)

by andrew on Jun 10, 2011 11:45 am • link • report

I mean, I realized a long time ago that metrorail was unreliable. For those of us who live car-free, weekend trips are haphazard at the best of times, and a nightmare when you hit crapola like shuttle replacements. With an unsustainable funding stream, WMATA are incapable of maintaining adequate service on their existing network. The thing that does surprise me, is that people want to build a huge extension out to Loudon. How are they going to maintain a Silver Line when they can't even keep the existing network open?

P.S. London Underground is a bad comparison, that network is much more redundant.

by renegade09 on Jun 10, 2011 11:48 am • link • report

@On the single track shuttle, part of the issue is that the train operating on the A track affects the kind and extent of work that can happen, even on the B track. I looked into this a while back and concluded that regular single tracking was better than shuttle train combined with normal operation on the ends. Although it was a couple of years ago so I don't remember the logic precisely.

by Michael Perkins on Jun 10, 2011 11:49 am • link • report

"15-min intervals during the low-demand early morning hours"

And what is the headway on the Orange Line during weekends? Or late night?

Just shut the entire line down for the weekend. Save some salaries. I wonder how long it would take to actually re-do "track work" -- which I suspect is mostly ATC repair -- if they shut down all of WMTA rail. A month? Two? Six?

by charlie on Jun 10, 2011 11:55 am • link • report

Do people who don't own cars really matter?

Is DC Metro really a subway system, rather than a suburban commuter rail?

So, aren't we all supposed to have cars as options on the weekend and evenings?

by ed on Jun 10, 2011 1:09 pm • link • report

P.S. London Underground is a bad comparison, that network is much more redundant.

If you mean that there are more stations downtown, then yeah. It's a not-great comparison. As has been mentioned many times before, Metro is a "hybrid" system that is fundamentally different from a pure urban rail network such as the Underground or NYC Subway. DC's also a much smaller city.

On the other hand, if you're talking about operational flexibility with regards to single-tracking and ability to re-route service, London might actually be worse. Like DC, their network does not contain many (any?) express tracks, and very little of it is configured to allow trains to run in the "wrong" direction for singletracking. If a train gets stuck, they're screwed.

To contrast, 100% of Metro's network is bidirectionally signaled. If we decided that we wanted to start driving all of our trains on the left tomorrow, we could do that with fairly minimal fuss. 100% of our rolling stock is also compatible on any track, and can be coupled to any other WMATA railcar. (On the downside, Metro has very few connections between lines. This was stupid, and a mistake that we probably won't make again when expanding the system.)

It's not at all uncommon for London to close entire lines, or significant portions of lines on weekends for years on end. The East London Line closed entirely for 2 1/2 years to be extended and rebuilt as a Commuter Rail line.

by andrew on Jun 10, 2011 1:52 pm • link • report

"Do people who don't own cars really matter?
Is DC Metro really a subway system, rather than a suburban commuter rail?

So, aren't we all supposed to have cars as options on the weekend and evenings?"

What do you do when a road is closed along your route? Surely you don't throw a fit about it... you probably find an alternate route or mode of transportation. Take a bus. Ride a bike. Walk. Take the shuttle that would operate between closed stations. Rent a car. Borrow a car. Ask a friend for a ride.

by Sam on Jun 10, 2011 2:50 pm • link • report

Re Shuttles: As has been mentioned, single tracking is usually what's happening- with no shuttles.

Cannot afford that car-- only then will I really have options.

Renting cars is really expensive, and would have to travel all the way to my friends' places in order to borrow their cars -- you know, on those weekends-- the times when the friends are probably using those cars anyways....

And let's not talk about buses - buses are depressingly slow and infrequent, esp on weekends and evenings. I would prefer to stay indoors or walk locally. I would rather slit my wrist than take buses anymore.

So, Yeah, Sam. I'm buying a bike. Won't join the Lycra Brigade, but...

by ed on Jun 10, 2011 4:30 pm • link • report

@ Sam -- actually its my experience that people who primarily drive do tend to throw loud fits when roads are closed for extended periods of time. Not sure that's a way to claim the moral high ground.

by Kate W on Jun 10, 2011 4:35 pm • link • report

And let's not talk about buses - buses are depressingly slow and infrequent, esp on weekends and evenings. I would prefer to stay indoors or walk locally. I would rather slit my wrist than take buses anymore.

What is wrong with people? Rather slit your wrist than take the bus? I take the bus every day of the week and it's more enjoyable than being crammed on the metro during rush hour.

Learn to use NextBus and the bus becomes far more convenient.

by MLD on Jun 10, 2011 4:52 pm • link • report

@ MLD

What about non-rush hour times? On weekends and evenings too?

Those are the depressing/ frustrating times I am talking about ---- on this thread about weekend closures...

by ed on Jun 10, 2011 5:47 pm • link • report

I love how systems that dont run 24 hours always say:

"We cant run 24 hours because necessary maintenance must be done!"

And yet here we are, and apparently, no necessary maintenance has been going on between 12 and 5am every day.

by JJJJJ on Jun 11, 2011 12:02 am • link • report

I don't like this idea.

by Doug on Jun 11, 2011 9:03 pm • link • report