Posts about Farragut Tunnel
Transit
SmarTrip improvements on tap for summer 2011
By this July, Metro rail and bus riders should be able to load money onto their SmarTrip cards online and set up a credit card to automatically reload when the balance gets low.
Photo by voteprime on Flickr.
However, rail passes on SmarTrip are going to take a little longer. WMATA doesn't have as firm a timeline for that upgrade, but anticipates finishing this by the end of the year. They've prioritized bus passes because they are more popular and are a more efficient improvement than rail passes.
WMATA provided this information in response to DC Council oversight questions. According to the responses, SmarTrip is at the limit of complexity it can handle. They will study the flexible passes proposal once SmarTrip is replaced by an open payments system, where the fare is calculated on the server end and the card is more of an identification token rather than a stored value card.
In the near term, their focus will be smaller improvements like developing the "virtual tunnel" (planned for September), adding value online, and autoload.
The new electronic SmarTrip bus passes are currently about half as popular as their paper equivalents. Metro reported that they are selling about 14,000 electronic bus passes per week, compared to 32,000 per week for the paper passes back in December before they were eliminated.
SmarTrip card usage has increased recently due to cash surcharges, free bus transfers and the availability of passes. On rail, 82% of trips are taken with SmarTrip, and on bus it has risen to 78%.
WMATA was expecting rail SmarTrip usage to grow to 92% after the cash surchage was added, but notes that paper farecards are still used by tourists and occasional riders.
In the questions, Tommy Wells and his staff asked about adding SmarTrip readers to the back door of buses to decrease the amount of time buses spend stopped waiting for passengers to board. WMATA stated that the challenge of installing additional readers and then policing their use meant that a rear SmarTrip machine may not the best solution.
But, the agency pointed out other ways the boarding process could be faster, such as encouraging passengers to have their cards ready when boarding, to encourage loading fare value at a retail store or rail station, and creating bus stop waiting areas that allow customers to pay to enter the waiting area, and then board without paying on the actual vehicle.
These improvements to SmarTrip are being eagerly awaited by many riders, after being repeatedly delayed when other issues pushed them down the priority list. An informal survey on Twitter showed that customers are particularly excited about being able to add value online.
Transit
WMATA readying software for Farragut "virtual tunnel"
WMATA is moving ahead with the out-of-system transfer between Farragut North and West and is scheduled to begin internal testing by the end of January, they said in an email.
In June, WMATA expressed interest implementing the Farragut "virtual tunnel" rail-to-rail transfer. At that time, Mike Russo of WMATA responded to an email inquiry by saying, "We look forward to re-examining the Farragut transfer concept later this year."
Since it's almost the end of the year, I followed up to see what was happening. Raj Srinath, WMATA Treasurer, replied:
Preliminary analysis of the concept and technical discussion regarding the business rules of this transfer proposal have begun. Based on the preliminary analysis, certain programming and software changes have been identified as necessary to implement the "Farragut-to-Farragut virtual tunnel concept."I am pleased with their responsiveness and that they are moving forward with this project. If all goes well, perhaps the "tunnel" will open in the spring.Programming and software changes will be completed to test the concept and identify any other potential issues by the end of January 2011. Upon the completion of these changes, staff will be able to determine an implementation plan and timeframe for the virtual tunnel, assuming no major issues have been uncovered.
Transit
Metro will look at the "invisible tunnel" "later this year"
The idea of a virtual tunnel between the two Farragut stations on Metrorail was the subject of several posts on CommuterPage and here about two years ago. The idea is to allow passengers to exit one Farragut station and enter the other within a set period of time, counting the whole thing as a single trip rather than two trips.
Given that Metro is currently making significant changes to its fares, I suggested to Interim General Manager Sarles that now would be a good time to also incorporate this long overdue idea for several reasons:
- Metro staff is already working on making many changes, so it would be more efficient to implement now than come back and make more changes later.
- Many customers are understandably unhappy about fare increases. Implementing the invisible tunnel would provide a positive change in operations that would add convenience for some of your riders to help offset some of the negative PR that comes with fare increases.
- It's a no-brainer: It decreases congestion at Metro Center, provides a speedier ride for some customers and has absolutely no downside whatsoever.
Mike Russo, Metro's Assistant Chief Engineer for Automatic Fare Collection Systems, told me that they support the idea, but it "will not be an easy programming effort" because of memory limitations in the faregates, but that they hope to "re-examin[e] the Farragut transfer concept later this year" after the current fare changes are done.
Here is the complete text of his letter:
Dear Mr. Offutt:Thank you for your June 20, 2010 email message to Richard Sarles, General Manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro), regarding proposals to allow seamless transfers between Farragut North and Farragut West Metrorail stations. I have been asked to reply.
Metro is continuously seeking opportunities to improve the travel experience for customers. The proposal for transfers between the two Farragut Square stations is worthwhile and may well be implemented in the future, with appropriate upgrades to the existing system.
As you may be aware, Metro has hired an outside contractor to implement the fare changes recently approved by the Board of Directors. Part of that contract is a requirement to deliver a fare system that can allow rail-to-rail transfers, a capability that should include the "seamless" transfer you envision between the Farragut Square stations, allowing customers to continue on their journey while being charged as if they never left the Metrorail system.
Unfortunately, we have not had the opportunity to test that specific functionality, and preliminary indications are that it will not be an easy programming effort. Among the many concerns we must address are the memory limitations of the faregates, since the fare tables that go with this transfer structure are quite large.
This is not at all to suggest that the Farragut-to-Farragut transfer cannot be implemented in the future. The inclusion of that requirement in the contract is evidence that Metro intends to make the change because it would benefit both customers and the system. However, at the moment we are focusing all available resources on major, Board-mandated changes to the fare structure: adding "peak-of-the-peak" charges, implementing passes on Smartrip®, and meeting the IRS requirement on SmartBenefits® (separate benefits for parking and transit). Any one of these goals would be challenging, but we must complete all three, plus minor adjustments, before a rapidly approaching deadline.
We look forward to re-examining the Farragut transfer concept later this year, after we have had sufficient time to observe the latest fare changes in full operation and make any needed adjustments.
We appreciate your inquiry and your patience as we work to implement a fare structure that is reliable and applied fairly for all customers.
Sincerely,
Michael Russo
Assistant Chief Engineer
Automatic Fare Collection Systems
Transit
SmarTrip upgrades delayed... again
New features won't be coming to SmarTrip this year after all, except for the new "bins" for SmartBenefits. In a press release announcing the SmartBenefits change, Metro added this item:
Photo by neverminddtheend.
Due to the importance of complying with the federal IRS mandate, Metro has had to delay additional upgrades to make bus and rail passes available on the SmarTrip® card and to allow customers to add value to their SmarTrip® cards online. These features will be implemented by fall 2010. They originally were expected to be in place by the end of 2009.In addition to these features, the SmarTrip upgrade was going to give Metro the flexibility to add new fare tiers, like "peak of the peak" pricing, if they chose, or to give SmarTrip users a discount on Metrorail as they have on bus. With this delay, Metro won't be able to even consider these and other potential fare adjustments. They can't consider "all you can eat" pricing like New York's. They can't build the "invisible tunnel" to allow free transfers between Farragut North and West.
Some RAC members tried to get Metro to give a presentation on the SmarTrip delays, but it never happened. I'm going to start pushing on this some more. Why do upgrades for SmartBenefits preclude other upgrades? Typically, with computer systems, you can include multiple new features in one. What's different here? What happened to the contract already awarded for the delayed upgrades? And why have these SmarTrip upgrades been delayed so many years already?
Transit
Testing the "Invisible Tunnel"
Steve Offutt has joined the GGW contributing team. He lives in Arlington and has also been contributing to Arlington's county-run CommuterPageBlog. Welcome Steve!The technology exists to allow Metro riders to transfer between the two Farragut stations and treat them as though they were transferring within the system. Metro should implement this idea immediately, since there is no downside, many riders will save time, and congestion at Metro Center will be reduced.
For background, see my previous posts (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) on CommuterPageBlog.
Recently I had a meeting at American University, which provided me the perfect opportunity to try out the transfer for myself. I was traveling from Arlington, so I got off at Farragut West, walked up 17th Street to Farragut North and then took the red line to Tenleytown. I made the same trip in reverse on the return.
I took a stopwatch with me to see how long it would take. For the initial trip I reached the top of the escalator at exactly the wrong time to cross I St. and had to wait the full light cycle. I waited about 25 seconds to cross K St. I was standing on the platform at Farragut North 5' 13"; after the doors opened on my train at Farragut West. On the return trip I arrived on the street during the walk signal at K St. but had to wait about 20 seconds at I St. I was on the platform 4' 10"; from the time the train doors opened at Farragut North. I did not run. I walked at a normal able-bodied speed. Someone in a hurry could make this transfer faster; if one stands on the escalators, it will take longer.
So what does this mean? In both cases I then had to wait a little bit for the train, so I likely ended up on the same one as I would have had I made the usual transfer at Metro Center. However Based on this one experience, I would guess that a person making this transfer during rush hour will catch the earlier train at least a couple of times a week and possibly as much as half the time if they hustle. During periods with longer periods between trains, one will catch the earlier train less frequently, but it will save a lot more time when it happens.
The bottom line is that the transfer works and many riders will learn how to take advantage of it if it's made available to them. If you work at Metro or know who to contact to help push this forward, please do so. If you're a rider who would avail themselves of the transfer, please contact Metro and request it. I know that Chris Zimmerman has made at least one inquiry about it; perhaps he can continue to pursue this along a faster timeframe than sometime in 2010, if ever. A woman named Cyndi Zieman was recently put in charge of SmarTrip cards. Perhaps she can take a leadership position and make this happen. It's a no brainer; let's build the invisible tunnel!
Transit
Breakfast links: Baby steps from car dependence edition
Next stop, Westpark? BeyondDC follows my analysis of the Tysons plan with some of his own. Among the good ideas: better names for the stations than "Tysons Central 7" that create real community identity.
MoCoPlaBo protecting our parks from bicycles: WashCycle runs through the sordid saga of the ICC trail. The Montgomery County Planning Board's next meeting on the topic, with no public comment, is tomorrow; the staff report recommends moving forward with the trail rerouted on a lengthy and dangerous surface street route because, after blasting a ten-lane highway through a park, a little trail is just too much of a burden on our fragile ecosystem.
Metro should move on Farragut transfer now: Steve Offutt's been hammering away at his "invisible tunnel" idea for an out-of-system free transfer between Farraguts North and West. WMATA is upgrading software, but they should be lining up the rest of their ducks now, like regulatory approval and analysis of the financial impact. (CommuterPageBlog)
Infill here: Imagine, DC compiled a top ten list of potential infill sites for new, transit-oriented mixed-use development in DC, from the Benning Road power plant to Lamond-Riggs and Fort Totten.
Transit
Breakfast links: Simple solutions edition
Photo by BruceTurner on Flickr.
Steal bait bike, get the switch: DC police have set out some unsecured "bait bikes" on Capitol Hill, ripe for a thief to steal and be immediately arrested. Examiner via WashCycle.
Only four towns in MoCo: Track Twenty-Nine finds it odd that almost everyone in eastern Montgomery County lives in "Silver Spring", which spans ten ZIP codes, and almost all of the west side inside the Beltway is "Bethesda." I remember growing up wondering why everyone I met from Maryland (at camp, etc.) was from Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Rockville, or Silver Spring.
Everyone else is bicycling: From London to Berlin, Taiwan to Tokyo, bicycling is more popular and safer than in the U.S. What are they doing that we're not, asks the Post? Tip: Patrick.
Transit
What WMATA is really suggesting
Metrorail is nearing its capacity, with heavy load in many key points throughout the system. At last week's WMATA board meeting, staff presented recommendations for capital improvements to increase capacity at the bottlenecks.
Press outlets covered the topic, but often with confusion on details. WTOP covered the Georgetown/M Street proposal but wrote that the new line would run "through the top of the District," adding, "It's not known if the new line would be a tunnel or an aerial structure." The ridiculousness of an elevated trackway up Wisconsin Avenue led to this incredulous story on DCist, generating more meta-discussion.
What is WMATA really proposing? Based on this presentation, here's a handy map of what Metro could look like in 2030 if WMATA gets its way:
Below, a detailed list of the improvements in the WMATA presentation and this map.
Silver and Purple Lines built as proposed by Virginia and Maryland.
Separate Blue Line. This new line through downtown, originally proposed in 2001, would split off from the Orange Line at Rosslyn, cross the Potomac in a new tunnel to Georgetown, then run east along M Street to Mount Vernon Square and then Union Station.
The WMATA presentation's map shows the line heading down Massachusetts Ave from Thomas Circle to Union Station, but my map shows it continuing along M Street to facilitate a better transfer at Mount Vernon Square (since the station is actually on M rather than at the square itself).
Reports are vague on what the line would do east of Union Station; the old Post map showed it going to Stadium-Armory, but it would make more sense for it to run straight down H Street and cross the river with the Orange Line, letting riders connect between the two at a new infill station between River Terrace and the soon-to-be-closed Pepco plant.
Update: I've modified the map to show the Blue Line running to a separate Rosslyn station one block west of the current one, connected by an underground walkway, to better match WMATA's best thinking on the physical reality. The previous map is here.
The "Blue Line split". Not to be confused with the M Street subway, this is a short-term proposal by WMATA to send some trains from Franconia-Springfield up the Yellow Line and then to Greenbelt. WMATA's map is horribly confusing; as I've argued before, it makes much more sense to simply call those trains Yellow Line trains.
Pedestrian walkways. Farragut North and Farragut West were originally supposed to be one station with a transfer, according to The Great Society Subway, but the National Park Service blocked that plan. A walkway would allow transfers from Red to Orange without riding an extra three stops down to Metro Center and back.
Likewise, Metro Center and Gallery Place are actually very close together, but many people ride the Red Line one stop when going to or from one of those stations. And people transferring from Yellow/Green to Orange/Blue have to use the Red Line or ride five extra stops down to L'Enfant Plaza and back.
Track connections. The presentation recommends adding connectors between lines so WMATA can route trains around problems or add extra service in high-traffic spots. They're proposing connectors between Court House and the Blue Line toward Arlington Cemetery; between the Blue Line on the other side of Arlington Cemetery and the Yellow Line bridge over the Potomac; between the Red Line north of Farragut and the Orange Line at McPherson; and between the potential M Street line around Thomas Circle and the Yellow/Green at Gallery Place.
The one useful connection missing from the WMATA presentation is one between the Yellow Line bridge and Waterfront. Being able to run trains from Virginia directly to the new ballpark would give Virginians an easy Metro route to baseball games and relieve a lot of congestion at L'Enfant Plaza. Coupled with the Orange-Blue and Blue-Yellow connectors also proposed, they could even run Orange or Silver Line trains from Fairfax or Leesburg/Dulles/Tysons all the way around to the ballpark without having to pass through downtown DC.
Infill stations. Alexandria has proposed new infill stations at Potomac Yards and Eisenhower Valley. An Oklahoma Avenue station between Stadium-Armory and the Anacostia River has also been kicking around for years (in fact, it was planned for the original Metro system and then canceled). This stations aren't mentioned in the WMATA presentation.
@ggwash
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