Transit
Metro isn't always the best option for transit expansion
When local leaders start thinking about adding new rapid transit to the region, usually the conversation centers around Metrorail. Metro has been so transformative for the Washington region that it's hard to think in other terms. Unfortunately, that can lead to inefficient spending.
Consider the example of the Silver Line.
Photo by VaDOT on Flickr.
Phase One of the line, to Tysons Corner, is without a doubt one of the most promising infrastructure investments in America. Tysons Corner has more office space than downtown Baltimore and Richmond combined, but lacks the infrastructure necessary to support itself.
It's a dysfunctional behemoth that really does need a top-quality Metro line in order to be transformed into a manageable, functional urban place. Accomplishing that transformation will be well worth the $2.76 billion price-tag.
Phase Two of the Silver Line will do no such thing. For $3.83 billion, more than a billion dollars more than Phase One, Phase Two will extend the line 11.5 miles into Loudoun County, with five stations that will be used primarily as park-and-rides plus a sixth at Dulles Airport.
For $333 million per mile we get a shuttle to the airport and some park-and-rides. There are some plans for Transit Oriented Development, but nothing like Bethesda or Ballston. Certainly not to the scale of Tysons Corner.
Park-and-rides and transit access to the airport are great things, but consider what other transit investments Northern Virginia might make with that same $4 billion.
Arlington's proposed streetcar on Columbia Pike will cost an average of $27 million per mile. That suggests that for the same cost as Phase Two alone, Northern Virginia could build 140 miles of streetcar lines.
Granted, streetcars aren't as good as Metro, but isn't the opportunity to blanket every major corridor in Northern Virginia with rail transit at least worth considering? Imagine bonafide trains running up and down Route 7, Route 50, Little River Turnpike, Chain Bridge Road Of course, providing transit to Dulles Airport is important, but we can do better for less money. The big problem with the Silver Line is that with all its stops between Dulles and downtown Washington, the trip is going to take a long time. If all you want to do is get to Dulles, then a new bus rapid transit line could get you there faster than Metrorail, and it could be built for less than the cost of a single mile of new Silver Line.
With streetcars and BRT we could have had a comprehensive network of high-quality transit covering all of Northern Virginia, for the same cost as this one Metro extension. Unfortunately, nobody thought to consider that alternative. Instead of using our money efficiently to serve the most people, we defaulted to thinking of Metrorail as a one-size-fits-all solution.
It's probably too late to change anything about the Silver Line. The funding streams are already set up to channel money to that project, and opening it up for debate in these times of slim budgets and potentially hostile politicians would be extremely risky.
But years from now when local leaders start thinking about extending Metro farther into the suburbs of some other corridor, let's take pause to remember the example of the Silver Line, and the transit network we could have had if we'd been open to other ideas.
The next time this happens, let's not assume that Metro is the only answer. Let's think outside the box and build something that will revolutionize the entire region.
Dan Malouff is a professional transportation planner for the Arlington County Department of Transportation. He has a degree in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado, and lives a car-free lifestyle in Northwest Washington. His posts are his own opinions and do not represent the views of his employer in any way. He runs the blog BeyondDC and also contributes to the Washington Post Local Opinions blog. 
Comments
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For example, DDOT's expansion of services through the Circulator and the new streetcar line are serving areas in new (and often better) ways than WMATA has done. Once the Silver Line is complete, I'd love to see WMATA focus on expanding service in the District so that it's easier to get around the city, instead of adding more spokes for bringing in more suburban commuters. Either way, though, we need a comprehensive approach to transit, to make a more efficient system while maximizing the limited funds that are available from government sources.
by Bryant on Sep 21, 2010 12:06 pm • link • report
And as I've said before, with the increase in Silver Line trains going into Rosslyn, and a decrease in Blue Lines trains, rail access to DCA will be more difficult for residents of Arlington and parts of NW DC.
Actually for the price of that extension, we can have free personal cab service from WFC to the airport. Or at least free Washington Flyer buses.
And you haven't addressed the ongoing maintenance costs.
On this point I am confused -- how far in Loudoun County? do they get to join the WMATA board?
by charlie on Sep 21, 2010 12:06 pm • link • report
I've always said that MWAA should have thought about commuter rail in the access road median. For a distance like that, it's probably more appropriate. I don't know how it would get into downtown DC (perhaps via the W&OD ROW, maybe I-66). But it might have been worth considering.
by Tim on Sep 21, 2010 12:15 pm • link • report
by jimble on Sep 21, 2010 12:18 pm • link • report
Neighborhood transit would also be great, but I think we should have a long term goal of comprehensive service that can connect the region. Look at Boston. You can go almost anywhere by train, and commuter lines feed the central T system at many points so you don't have to stop at every single station in the interior of the city to get downtown.
Instead of trying to put a subway station in every suburban village like the silver line, an impossible goal that results in a useless system because there's no express route, we need to build trains that stop less often and go more places.
by Jamie on Sep 21, 2010 12:18 pm • link • report
by Gavin on Sep 21, 2010 12:21 pm • link • report
by Jenny on Sep 21, 2010 12:34 pm • link • report
Separated Blue Line FTW!
by Dizzy on Sep 21, 2010 12:34 pm • link • report
Commuter rail in the US is largely passenger rail service that operates on existing freight/heavy rail tracks (i.e. not subway tracks). Those tracks don't exist anywhere near Dulles - the W&OD right of way still exists in part, but that hasn't had tracks on it since the construction of Dulles, and the right-of-way disappears and has been built on in Arlington - both at the south end near the old Potomac Yard, as well as the northern branch that was taken over by I-66.
Want commuter rail to Dulles? Where is it going to go? You can't just put it in the median of the toll road - what other commuter rail tracks would it connect to in order to get to Union Station?
by Alex B. on Sep 21, 2010 12:37 pm • link • report
by richard on Sep 21, 2010 12:39 pm • link • report
* I don't think metro to Loudoun is being built to serve primarily Loudoun-to-downtown commuters. It's for Loudoun-to-Tysons and Loudon-to-Arlington commuters present and future.
* A park and ride station near the far west of the Silver Line could be repurposed in 30-50 years to a more urban form when demand is there.
* I'd be less enthusiastic about the Silver Line to Loudoun if the right-of-way had to be seized through eminent domain. But it's right in the median of the Toll-Road and MWAA is kicking in a lot of money.
by Paul S on Sep 21, 2010 12:39 pm • link • report
Look how Boston's commuter rail network feeds the central system. You can go directly from most commuter lines to most of the core lines.
We can probably get a lot more people to work by Metro without increasing core capacity. 30,000 people a day use the Metro Center station, compared to 10,000 people a day at Federal Triangle three blocks away. I don't think the problem is that we can't get any more people through the gates - it's that there's not enough room on the trains. If there were more options for routes into the city, if the core was fed from more points, there would be fewer people on average riding the trains through downtown because you could enter the line that takes you to your final destination more efficiently.
by Jamie on Sep 21, 2010 12:46 pm • link • report
I think Washington Flyer could do a better job advertising themselves. And I'd like to see it cheaper.
Lose the bus fear.
And I'd argue a huge part of the problem for the Flyer is not the bus, but that a majority of flyers at Dulles are NOT coming from DC. And the SIlver Line isn't going to solve that.
@Paul; very true on the Loudoun to Tysons commuters.
by charlie on Sep 21, 2010 12:50 pm • link • report
by Erik Wemple on Sep 21, 2010 12:55 pm • link • report
Also, the only reason we're getting service to Tyson's is because MWAA wanted a train to Dulles. If we'd been forced to wait on WMATA it never would have happened.
by jcm on Sep 21, 2010 12:58 pm • link • report
by Ben on Sep 21, 2010 12:59 pm • link • report
by Froggie on Sep 21, 2010 1:02 pm • link • report
I know one of the arguments in favor of using Metro rather than any kind of bus to Dulles was that fewer people would be willing to use a bus, but I wonder how true that really is. If it were a good, convenient system and were promoted by Dulles and hotels, convention centers, etc. I think it would eventually build up a substantial ridership.
by Liz on Sep 21, 2010 1:06 pm • link • report
"Unfortunately, nobody thought to consider that alternative." How can you write that with a straight face. The USDOT thought BRT to Dulles was a better idea. I thought it was a better idea. There was a gigantic push for the silver line funded by real estate developers, misguided environmentalist and rail buffs. Finally, in the last few months of the Bush administration and in the attempt to find shovel ready stimulus projects, the Silver line was approved.
I attended the meetings and would express my preference for a modified BRT system and was always dismissed as a crackpot. Politicians, when engaged, would have none of it. BRT could not compete with the metro expansion lobby. I was told that the express bus service between Herndon and Reston and WFC was put in place to demonstrate a demand for a rail line.
BRT was on the table it just didn't have a strong enough lobby supporting it. BTW, there was virtually no opposition to the Silver line on this blog when transit to Dulles was being considered.
by Tom on Sep 21, 2010 1:06 pm • link • report
Agreed. In fact I think that's the whole point of the Silver Line. People going to Tyson's will likely be reverse commuting, utilizing existing capacity on the Orange Line, while in turn increasing capacity for much of the Fairfax Blvd corridor, even if it does come at the expense of the blue line (sorry). The Phase 2 project is expected to serve people commuting into Tysons from those Loudon park-and-ride stations. As for the airport, while rail to Dulles from D.C. isn't exactly practical, it's very practical for people coming in and staying in the Tyson's area.
In addition, we're only looking at construction costs here. If the project was built only with Phase 1, it would only attract those people who are commuting to Tyson's from points east or those weekend shoppers getting to the mall. In that case, I don't think the rider volume would not be high enough to justify the cost of operating the line. The Phase 2 project will provide that additional revenue from daily commuters to guarantee that the line is sustainable.
Charlie: "On this point I am confused -- how far in Loudoun County? do they get to join the WMATA board?"
Virginia gets two seats on the Board, which are currently represented by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, of which Loudon County is a part. However, I do expect that Loudon will have to be added into the Metrorail funding formula.
by Adam L on Sep 21, 2010 1:13 pm • link • report
by Adam L on Sep 21, 2010 1:15 pm • link • report
Streetcars are great, but buses are a much better substitute for them than BRT is for rail service to an airport (consider the luggage; consider how many areas have to feed to/from an airport; consider the difficulty of using bus service as a visitor to a city), particularly if we're not adding boarding locations.
It's a bit nuts that we don't have a properly expandable international airport hooked up to our rail system. It's going to be expensive to get one, but taking pressure off DCA will have enormous benefits down the line. It's hard for me to imagine that streetcars could possibly be a better use of this money.
by Tom on Sep 21, 2010 1:17 pm • link • report
by the first Tom on Sep 21, 2010 1:24 pm • link • report
by Foggy Dew on Sep 21, 2010 1:36 pm • link • report
I take the bus from AM to the Hill every day and took the Silver Line bus rapid transit line in Boston to Logan Airport all the time when I lived there, so I don't have bus fear. This is anecdotal obviously and it's been about 3 years, but the Silver Line was always far less crowded than the Blue Line, a regular rail T line, even though the Silver goes all the way to the airport and you have to take a shuttle from the Blue. Getting people to take buses is just more of a leap than getting them to take rail.
by Jenny on Sep 21, 2010 1:55 pm • link • report
by charlie on Sep 21, 2010 2:04 pm • link • report
This project may be too far along to turn back now, but maybe we can avoid making the same mistake with BWI - every now and then I hear people suggest that they extend the Green Line up to BWI, which just seems nuts. If they are going to go that far, why not all the way to Baltimore? Or Wilmington? Or New York City, so Metro could tie in with the subway system there? Subways service like Metro is not the solution for all transportation; there is a place for commuter railroads, buses, and Amtrack, too.
And yes, commentators are absolutely right that if they are going to add more lines and out in the suburbs, they have to increase capacity in the core - a separation of the blue and orange lines, and someday probably a separation of the green and yellow as well. The current system is stuffed to capacity at rush hour, and they can't just start running through silver line trains through the blue/orange tunnel and expect the system to just absorb all the additional riders.
by Mike on Sep 21, 2010 2:18 pm • link • report
>Speaking of one size fits all. Your analysis paints the decision to build the silver line with a pretty broad brush. How can you write that with a straight face.
The Bush administration's idea was to build the least and cheapest thing possible. They wanted to ignore Tysons and build only the Dulles BRT.
That is NOT what I am talking about here. I am not talking about spending less. I'm talking about spending the same amount, but on different things. You can't take the BRT portion of my argument out of the context of the regional light rail portion. They go together.
There were proposals to find cheaper and less effective options for the Silver Line, but there were no proposals for a regional network.
>While this is a wonderful idea, there is a cheaper and easier alternative: it's called a bus.
Buses and streetcars are not the same. They don't do the same things and aren't ridden by the same people.
Here is a partial list of why streetcars are better than buses.
>we HAVE bus service to Dulles. How many people use it to get from downtown to Dulles? What would make a new bus line different?
More dedicated running way, more convenient route, stations with comfortable waiting areas rather than bus stops (including in-line stations along the highway where necessary so the bus doesn't have to exit), higher capacity buses, unique branding, pre-pay, convenient transfer from Metro and park-and-rides, and most importantly: much much more frequent service, with extended hours.
Or, more simply, all the same things that make BRT different from regular buses.
by BeyondDC on Sep 21, 2010 2:28 pm • link • report
The Draft EIS puts travel time for the full buildout of the line from Rosslyn to Dulles at 43 minutes (Page 12 of the PDF):
http://www.dullesmetro.com/pdfs/FEIS_I/FTA_FEIS_Chapter_6.pdf
by Alex B. on Sep 21, 2010 2:34 pm • link • report
Who wants buses when you can have streetcars? Streetcars can carry more people, are quieter, have a smoother ride, don't use fossil fuels at point of operation, last longer, and are more permanent. The only "flexible" thing about buses is their political flexibility--anti-transit pols find them easy to cut out of budgets.
People who get hit by streetcars would probably get hit by buses.
by Larsen on Sep 21, 2010 2:48 pm • link • report
That's not exactly true with the Silver Line. The design of this line is to make it so that people in northwest Fairfax and Loudoun counties can commute to and from the large employment center at Tyson's. The idea would be for people who live in Clarendon, for example, to take Metro to their jobs in Tyson's. This is possible thanks to excess capacity on the orange line westbound during the morning rush, and eastbound during the evening rush. Commuters from the Reston and beyond are also not expected to take the Metro all the way into DC, but rather (by the time phase 2 is complete) the much larger employment center at Tyson's. I believe I saw information in the planning documents about commuter patterns that showed just this type of commuter pattern.
The real problem here is the train frequency. Some riders who take the blue line to/from DC or western Arlington will have a longer wait between trains, as will orange line passengers going past East Falls Church. In return, however, the heavily congested Wilson Blvd-Fairfax Drive corridor will see more trains and the region will gain a connection to Tyson's. That's certainly a trade-off, but the Silver Line addition is designed and expected to make use of existing capacity and not contribute greatly to passenger congestion at the core stations in DC.
by Adam L on Sep 21, 2010 2:50 pm • link • report
Vienna, the end of the orange line, is the most heavily used orange line station in Virginia except Rosslyn, at over 13,000 people a day. Sounds like there are a hell of a lot of people willing to drive for some distance and then take the metro a good ways after that as it is.
Given this fact, why would people assume that by adding more stations, more people won't try to ride into the city? Has this ever not been true?
by Jamie on Sep 21, 2010 2:58 pm • link • report
by hohandy on Sep 21, 2010 2:58 pm • link • report
I'm sure you all remember the old joke about what Jimmy Carter and Metro both have in common...
by hohandy on Sep 21, 2010 3:01 pm • link • report
What we need in the future aren't streetcars or "BRT". What we need is automated transport - monorail, VAL, whatever - that can provide the frequencies we need to have 24-hour, dense communities with vibrant nightlife. This is more important to me than the real-estate development. And while I think mobility is more important, this doesn't even detract from the real-estate development goals that are the actual impetus behind streetcars; Vancouver is a far denser city than Portland for this reason.
by J.D. Hammond on Sep 21, 2010 3:57 pm • link • report
My only fear is that streetcars running through Bailey's Crossroads and Seven Corners would eliminate the possibility of future Metro expansion there, where the density seems high enough to justify heavy rail capacity.
by Anonymous on Sep 21, 2010 4:02 pm • link • report
As for metrorail no more extensions of the current lines + the silver line; after those we need completely new lines separate from the current ones not adding more and more stations to the current ones. If people had there way the blue line would go to Quantico and the orange to Crofton.
What we need is transit that extends in each direction from DC and something connecting them all besides Gallery Place, Metro Center or L'Enfant Plaza.
by kk on Sep 21, 2010 4:36 pm • link • report
Consider the example of the Silver Line."
Well said, good sir. Well said.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that the Silver Line is a profligate boondoggle.
by C. R. on Sep 21, 2010 4:41 pm • link • report
Of course a rapid rail line is better than a streetcar line in any given specific corridor. That isn't the question. The question is whether one rapid rail line is better than a whole network of streetcars. Yes, you are correct, 10 miles of Metro is better than 10 miles of streetcar. But is 10 miles of Metro better than 140 miles of streetcar? The fact that Metro is faster really has nothing to do with that question.
And sorry, but I don't know what a Condonite is.
by BeyondDC on Sep 21, 2010 4:46 pm • link • report
Agreed. I don't mean to suggest that we replace "Metro is always the answer" with "streetcars are always the answer".
by BeyondDC on Sep 21, 2010 4:47 pm • link • report
There was a whole network of buses that ran from the airport to different parts of the city. They acted as express buses until they got to their designated area and then at that point maybe stopped every half mile or so. I don't recall exactly but it seemed to be more than 20 different lines served Seoul proper and numerous other served the suburbs. A system like that in DC would be great.
Another thing, and probably much more difficult (if not impossible) at this point, is there anyway along existing silver line tracks to strategically add a third track to allow for express service to Falls Church (or Rosslyn if you can make schedules work)
by nathaniel on Sep 21, 2010 4:56 pm • link • report
"But is 10 miles of Metro better than 140 miles of streetcar?"
I bet that would change each time asked if you presented routes.
Lets say DC for an example and list 140 miles worth of streetcar routes vs a rail line circling inside of DC stopping in all wards and neither would result in cuts to bus service.
by kk on Sep 21, 2010 5:09 pm • link • report
by louis helling in columbia heights on Sep 21, 2010 5:29 pm • link • report
by Andy Peters on Sep 21, 2010 5:36 pm • link • report
Now, I didn't always think this way. Before I began taking the 5A, I would never have even dreamed of taking a bus. I drove to work every day and I tolerated the commute. Now I love my bus.
by Alison on Sep 21, 2010 6:54 pm • link • report
Why on Earth not? That's exactly how most transportation projects get funded. People decide what they want and then they make up justifications. I see it every day here in the SF bay area with the criminally stupid Bay Bridge replacement, and the almost as stupid SFO BART extension. It's an inherent consequence of a political process that evolves around spending Other People's Money. No one ever tells the truth or makes logical decisions based on actual facts.
by David desJardins on Sep 21, 2010 7:17 pm • link • report
"Tysons Corner has more office space than downtown Baltimore and Richmond combined, but lacks the infrastructure necessary to support itself."
It's hard to imagine effectively servicing a maturing suburban/urban core the size of downtown (Richmond + Baltimore) with BRT, let alone one commuter line.
Perspective from someone who plans to use the Silver Line extensively:
The Silver Line will make a morning DC trip into Tysons Corner more viable, particularly from inner and eastern DC. As someone who recently started to work in Tysons the only roadblock stopping me from moving into an affordable, walkable community in the city is the prospect of battling across DC in my car every day. And as someone who currently lives in Herndon and has taken the 574 bus to Tysons from Reston Town Center (close to an hour for a 10 mile trip), I am crossing my fingers that the Silver Line will serve as a much needed backbone to a restructured and more efficient Fairfax Connector bus system. If it was as simple as solving those commutes BRT makes sense, but solving transport issues for what may become a mini-second city to Washington takes more capacity.
Does anyone know what the Fairfax bus system us planning once the line opens?
by M Gamble on Sep 21, 2010 9:18 pm • link • report
by Sand Box John on Sep 21, 2010 11:23 pm • link • report
Given that I could walk across town at the speed that any vehicle in that whole network of streetcars would travel, I would say yes, in almost any circumstance.
Incidentally, Patrick Condon is a professor in Vancouver who has spent his career lying about TransLink (Vancouver's automated rapid-rail system) in order to promote "slow growth" and a network of streetcars. His arguments about transit are entirely culturally determined; rather than about the improvement of mobility, they're about orienting cities towards individual neighborhoods-as-fiefdoms using historical context as an argument - when in reality, neighborhoods have been interdependent in cities throughout history.
Alon Levy and Jarrett Walker have had a fairly extensive debate about Condon's ideas and practices; frankly, I think he's about as much of a stick-in-the-mud as James Howard Kunstler, except he has a much greater likelihood of turning his class-conscious eschatologies into policy.
by J.D. Hammond on Sep 21, 2010 11:36 pm • link • report
Actually, when I was living in DC and working in Tysons, the reverse-commute wasn't particularly bad. It was longer on the Metro than it was driving, but the shuttle bus was fairly direct and the only persistent bottleneck on the road was the Fairfax Drive merge onto 66.
by J.D. Hammond on Sep 21, 2010 11:39 pm • link • report
by ksu499 on Sep 22, 2010 8:24 am • link • report
The heavy rail extension past Tysons has to do more with prestige than transportation solutions, in my opinion. Is this prestige of "metro to Dulles Airport" worth 3.8 billion to local taxpayers? No. And the irony is, a DEDICATED BUSWAY already exists, it is just the service and busway stations that do not.
It's not too late to rethink how we as a region spend this mass transit money. For the cost of this Dulles extension, we could build dedicated busways and dedicated streetcar lanes throughout NOVA (particularly, southern mass transit access into Tysons).
by stevek_fairfax on Sep 22, 2010 9:25 am • link • report
Vienna
Fairfax City
Centreville
Chantilly
McLean
Burke
Springfield
Falls Church
Merrifield
west Alexandria
...basically a bulk of commuters into Tysons will never use this line - it doesn't serve anywhere near them. I worry that we are putting all of our eggs (limited mass transit dollars) into one basket. Probably too late to rethink it though.
by stevek_fairfax on Sep 22, 2010 9:35 am • link • report
by stevek_fairfax on Sep 22, 2010 9:36 am • link • report
Exactly why we need a network. The Metro line will be great for people living in Reston, but won't do a darn thing for people in central Fairfax. We could serve them all, if we didn't insist on thinking of heavy rail Metro as the only solution.
by BeyondDC on Sep 22, 2010 9:51 am • link • report
In fact, if you did this, then only ran the Silver Line to Rosslyn, then you avoid the added congestion in the downtown core (and in the Rosslyn tunnel). Or, route it south to National and run it across the bridge to terminate at L'enfant Plaza or Metro Center; that way, every single line is one transfer away from the Silver Line.
But really, I think a Metro link between Tysons and Bethesda is a vital idea that I would be surprised if it hasn't come up.
by Andrew on Sep 22, 2010 11:20 am • link • report
Just not true. I've never seen anyone say that here.
by David desJardins on Sep 22, 2010 1:07 pm • link • report
by Andrew on Sep 22, 2010 4:37 pm • link • report
by Bossi on Sep 22, 2010 4:54 pm • link • report
by Steve Strauss on Sep 23, 2010 10:08 am • link • report
The Route 28 station also has plans to become a TOD, and several office and residential buildings have been built in anticipation for this.
The rest of the Silver Line will have a transformative impact on what is the sprawl of the Dulles Corridor.
by Joshua Davis on Sep 23, 2010 11:38 am • link • report
The idea of running the Purple Line through Tasons Corner did in fact come up. Here is the map from the Capital Beltway Corridor Transportation Study that evolved into Purple Line.
Virginia started a similar study that went no farther then then basic proposals.
by Sand Box John on Sep 25, 2010 6:44 pm • link • report
Heavy rail continues to act as the backbone for all the other transit systems since it acts to concentrate development.
The other alternatives aren't attractive outside of commuting. Rail extension is also about connecting cities 24/7 which is necessary if these locations are to be more than just empty concrete canyons at night.
by Les on Oct 11, 2010 1:57 pm • link • report
by Fischy (Ed F.) on Dec 14, 2011 8:35 pm • link • report
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