Weekend links: WMATA on the move

by Steven Yates • March 10, 2012 1:24 pm

Photo by @mjb on Flickr.

Real-time signs real soon: WMATA has requested proposals for real-time bus arrival signs at certain bus stops. WMATA wants the first 30 signs to be in place before June 30 of this year. (TBD)

Suicide during suicide debate: While the WMATA Board was discussing the agency's suicide prevention program, a man killed himself by jumping in front of a train at Foggy Bottom. (Examiner)

High income disparity in DC: DC has one of the highest rates of income disparity in the nation. A tough job market, particularly for unskilled workers, as well as high housing costs make it even tougher on low income citizens. (WAMU)

Georgetown drives less: Fewer Georgetown residents are driving to work while they take transit, walk, and work from home more. If trends hold, in as soon as two years, a plurality of residents will be taking transit. (Georgetown Metropolitan)

Lack of funding causes delays, uncertainty: The lack of a transportation funding bill could be holding up large projects like the Purple Line because of uncertainty of when and how much federal funding will be available. (WAMU)

Really express bus: A team of European scientists is developing a bus that can go 155 mph. The "Superbus," which they hope to implement by 2015, will also use intelligent routing instead of standard bus stops. (Atlantic Cities)

And...: Richard Sales gives you a tour of the new 7000 series railcar along with epic music. (DCist) ... Adams Morgan Hardware is likely closing thanks to much higher rent. (City Paper) ... Logan Circle residents give thumbs up to new parking program. (DCist) ... A credit card parking meter pilot program comes to Montgomery County. (Post)

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11 comments

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Steven Yates grew up in Indiana before moving to DC in 2002 to attend college at American University. He currently lives in Southwest DC.

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Are the bus signs going to be based on Nextbus? If so, it seems like wmata would be better off improving the accuracy of nextbus than building signs that will display "ghost buses" and widely inaccurate times. In falls church, it's often more accurate to rely on the published schedule than nextbus at offpeak times.

by Falls Church on Mar 10, 2012 4:48 pm • link • report

I believe a certain PG County council person has demonstrated her credentials for driving a 155 mp bus.

by Crikey7 on Mar 10, 2012 7:06 pm • link • report

All three of the 7k series video clips:

24 second tease, "Are you as curious as we are?"

7000 Series Railcar Toured By GM Richard Sarles

7000 Series Railcar Tour B Roll (No sound)

A thank you goes out to Benjamin R. Freed for providing the link the still pictures WMATA has posted at their flicker photostream.

by Sand Box John on Mar 11, 2012 10:50 am • link • report

And when they put the Express Bus in service, suicidal people will just jump in front of that instead of the Metro. Easy!

by VA Commuter on Mar 11, 2012 12:17 pm • link • report

I agree with Falls Church, above. If the bus shelter display boards are just based off Nextbus data then why bother. Improve Nextbus first - make it reliable then work on displaying that data publicly at bus shelters.

by ontarioroader on Mar 11, 2012 1:18 pm • link • report

Anyone else notice that the video tour of the 7000 series car includes a digital display listing destinations including "Farrabut North" and "Woodlley Park"?

by Lucre on Mar 11, 2012 6:58 pm • link • report

Why not use a variant of San Francisco's "wave" shelters? Solar-powered with built-in real-time arrival displays, the wave shelters are expensive but pay for themselves.

by OctaviusIII on Mar 12, 2012 2:18 am • link • report

"And with the city's competitive job market, Lazere says, it can be tough for those without advanced degrees to find work: 'The city is prospering but it's prospering in a way where a lot of people are being left behind.'"

Ok, at the risk of sounding insensitive here, when you have a group of very poor people living--many of them poor for generations--in a city, and then you add tens of thousands of wealthier middle-class people to that city, the people who have been living in poverty for generations have not been "left behind". They are, in fact, much better off than they were beforehand.

I can't imagine anyone is surprised that DC has one of the greatest income disparities in the country. But I hate the way the problem is framed. It's kind of fatuous to type up the 1 millionth story observing that there are a ton of very poor people in DC, that there are a lot of very rich people in DC, then include a photo of a sad guy with an empty wallet, a quote by the ubiquitous Ed Lazere to the effect that "It's bad there are wealthy people living in DC because there are poor people living in DC", then call it a day...

As though the lawyers, doctors, and knowledge-workers who are moving into newly built housing in DC are somehow crowding the poor and chronically unemployed out of entry-level service jobs in the city. One can make a case that there's some long-term displacement that affects renters as middle-class residents pour into DC, but the effects at the low-end of the labor market are unambiguously good.

The two main problems that drive unemployment among poor folks who live in the city, and are looking for work in the city are a) there are few such jobs compared with the suburbs; and b) many job-seekers lack soft skills because they grew up without any neighbors to model such skills.

If you want to create entry-level jobs in the city for poor people who live in the city, you need to erect as much middle-class housing as you can, as fast as you can.

The answer is not, as Lazere seems to imply, to put a moratorium on the number of non-poor people allowed to move into the city, and build as many public housing projects as possible.

by oboe on Mar 12, 2012 1:20 pm • link • report

@ Lucre
Yes. The dcist.com blog post linked to in the quick links is titled: Take a Poorly Spelled Tour of Metro's New 7000-Series Rail Cars

by Sand Box John on Mar 12, 2012 2:20 pm • link • report

We really need to get some of those futurama style suicide booths in this city.

by Doug on Mar 13, 2012 5:33 am • link • report

@ oboe

Another reason for the poor possibly not having a job is transportation, there are many places in the suburbs that could be hiring but they can not reach them.

by kk on Mar 13, 2012 10:10 pm • link • report