What are your ideas to make Metro greater?
Metro is your transit system. How could it be greater? Now’s your chance to make suggestions for small changes that can improve your experience on rail, bus, or paratransit.
WMATA is hard at work on the big safety fixes we need to have a rail system that works safely and reliable. But while that’s underway, there are many smaller things Metro can do to improve the rider experience during SafeTrack and beyond.
To achieve that, we are launching MetroGreater, a crowdsourcing idea site for you to submit your ideas and comment on others. A jury will review the ideas and the public will get to vote among the finalists to pick a winner.
WMATA has committed to implementing the winning idea (as long as it meets the criteria below). And who knows — they might decide to implement more than one! The winner will also get recognition and some Metro memorabilia.
If you could make one small, quick improvement to Metro, what would it be?
Maybe your idea would help a lot of riders like the stickers that show where the train will stop or green “8”s denoting eight-car trains. Maybe you really want Metro to increase bicycle storage at your station like they did at NoMa a few years ago.
Maybe you know of some bus stops that could use some “appropriate technology” to alleviate the burden of remaining upright (a.k.a. plastic chairs to sit on). Or have ideas to improve the complaint-ridden MetroAccess paratransit service for a better rider experience.
Ideas must:
- Improve the transit experience for all or some group of riders;
- Be achievable by Metro on its own in 6 months or less (ideally 3);
- Cost no more than $100,000;
- Not cost much to continue into the future;
- Not impair safety;
- Not negatively impact service or interfere with other agency responsibilities; and
- Comply with all laws and regulations.
While slides instead of escalators in your station might be fun, it’s not really practical or safe in the long term. Sorry. Image from Volkswagen.
So you have a great idea, what’s next?
Submit your idea at metrogreater.org by Friday, July 15. You know how awesome your idea is, but make sure others do too. Upload photos or sketches to help others get it.
How does the rest of the contest work?
Submissions will be accepted through July 15, 2016. Then, a jury of regional experts and advocates will select 5-10 submissions that meet all necessary criteria as finalists. The public will then vote for a winner in August, and WMATA will get to work after that.
- Submission period: Tuesday, June 21 - Friday, July 15, 2016 (at 11:59 pm)
- Finalist selection by jury: by Friday, August 5, 2016
- Public voting on finalists: Monday, August 8 - Friday, August 19, 2016
- Winning idea announced: by Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Read more and submit your idea at metrogreater.org. What can you come up with?