Posts about Station Names

These names are short, can be used in the names of developments or buildings in the area, and will create a memorable name for the area around the station.

What did you pick?

With few exceptions, the survey's choices pit effective wayfinding against more colorful, albeit sometimes less useful, station names. For most stations, it presents a fairly descriptive choice, such as "27th and Crystal" and a more creative option like "Potomac Yard Gateway." The survey also asks whether to name the key transfer station at the Crystal City Metro station "Metro Gateway" or "Crystal City Metro."

As for Alexandria's portion, the City received an $8.5 million design/build grant for the CCPY Transitway. It is anticipated that a design/build firm will be selected and under contract later this month.

The project will begin this fall with construction to be completed in Winter 2013. It is anticipated that a the bulk of Alexandria's portion will run along a dedicated center lane on Highway 1.

The survey is short and simple. If you think you might be likely to use the CCPY Transitway, you should make sure your voice is heard. Please share your preferences (or any suggestions for alternatives) in the comments.

• King St-Old Town
  
• Navy Yard-Ballpark
  
• NoMa-Gallaudet UNew York Ave
  
• Waterfront (deleting the now-closed "SEU" from the name)

The NoMa-Gallaudet U station will retain New York Ave as a subtitle for one year. This will help to avoid the confusion that could be caused by completely removing what has been the primary name of the station since it opened in 2004.

For now, several stations are keeping their current names:

• Forest Glen (no Holy Cross Hospital, but with an H logo denoting a hospital)
  
• Franconia-Springfield (exempt from character limit)
  
• Georgia Ave-Petworth (exempt from character limit)
  
• Grosvenor-Strathmore (exempt from character limit)
  
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (no change)
  
• Smithsonian (no National Mall)

The other stations that exceed Metro's 19-character limit will be getting subtitles for parts of their names.

Many members of the Gallaudet community spoke at the public comment session in favor of keeping their university in the primary name. Several others spoke for Holy Cross and the Mall.

David Alpert testified in favor of shorter names and using subtitles for all universities and other points of interest. He also noted that while Holy Cross offficials and neighbors said putting the hospital's name on the station would encourage more patients to take transit, the hospital's own directions webpage doesn't mention Metro.

Additional changes include adding the universal "H" logo to the system map to show hospitals near Foggy Bottom, Forest Glen, and Medical Center.

What riders want is shorter names. Assistant General Manager for Communications Barbara Richardson said, "Our customers want one name. They want one, common name. They want these to be short."

Few people refer to "West Falls Church Vee Tea You Vee Eh" or "Van Ness You Dee See." Instead, they say they're going to West Falls Church or Van Ness. With a few exceptions like "Franconia-Springfield" and "Stadium-Armory," which really are truly compound names, other station names have a main portion, like "U Street" or "Grosvenor," and then sometimes additional points of interest.

Metro staff got that from their focus groups, and our surveys backed it up. People told Metro that long station names was their biggest complaint about the map. It's annoying and confusing for riders.

Richardson presented the staff recommendations after playing an amusing song, "The Metro Song." It parodies Johnny Cash's "I've been everywhere" to name 46 of the stations in the Metro system:

The staff suggest:

• Navy Yard Ballpark
  
• New York Ave Florida Ave-Gallaudet U
  
• Smithsonian (no National Mall)
  
• Waterfront (no Arena Stage)
  
• Forest Glen (no Holy Cross Hospital, but with an H logo denoting a hospital)
  
• King Street Old Town

Montgomery County alternate member Kathy Porter defended the county's request to add Holy Cross Hospital, or at least "Holy Cross" along with an H symbol, to Forest Glen.

Porter lamented that the county hadn't pushed for the change earlier, since it would have qualified under the previous policy, and suggested the board let Montgomery "grandfather" in the name. However, Fairfax's Jeff McKay pointed out that the reason they're changing the policy is because there have been problems with overly long station names in the past.

Porter noted that the hospital runs a shuttle to the station and there is Ride On service to the station. But in WMATA's focus groups, many members expressed a feeling that anything attached to a station name ought to be within a short walk, not a bus or car ride away.

DC Councilmember Muriel Bowser also wanted to grandfather a non-subtitle, Georgia Ave-Petworth. On this one, there's some good argument either way. I've heard many people call this "Georgia Ave Petworth" or "Georgia Petworth." Several commenters recommended actually making it Petworth, since Georgia Avenue is very long and Forest Glen, Wheaton, and Glenmont are also on Georgia Avenue.

Or, perhaps it could follow the pattern WMATA recommends for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and make the station Georgia Ave Petworth?

Bowser also took the position held by Gallaudet management and students for keeping that university in the primary name instead of a subtitle, endorsing NoMa-Gallaudet U New York Avenue. She pointed out that no other DC university is slated to become part of a subtitle. We've advocated instead for actually putting all universities and other points of interest in subtitles, and 83% of you agreed.

There seemed to be some interest on the board for this option. Mary Hynes of Arlington noted that they have many universities around their Metro stations, and that perhaps it's not feasible to expect to put all universities in primary names or even station names in general. McKay recommended holding off on any change concerning Gallaudet until this broader question is resolved.

Artis Hampshire-Cowen, though, seemed to be wearing her hat as an executive for Howard University rather than necessarily representing riders of Prince George's County. She argued against moving universities into subtitles, using Howard as a specific example.

Bowser also asked for the ballpark to be part of a main station name, Navy Yard-Ballpark, instead of the staff-recommended Navy Yard Ballpark.

The curly W seems completely dead, though that may be a very recent change. Last week, I'd heard that the Nationals only wanted to pay if the station could be named Navy Yard-, not just for "Ballpark." Today, however, DDOT told WMATA that DC would pay for any change, and Bowser told the board that DC expects the Nationals would cover those costs.

Under WMATA's policy, the jurisdiction has to pay for the station name itself. Another entity can reimburse the jurisdiction, but it has to guarantee the funding to WMATA. WMATA won't enter into a side agreement with a separate organization to collect the funds directly.

McKay asked what would happen if the ballpark gets a corporate name at some point. Would they want to, and would Metro feel any pressure to, rename the station? Members agreed that the staff should further flesh out the no corporate naming policy.

Alexandria mayor Bill Euille pushed for King Street-Old Town, their original request, instead of King Street Old Town, the staff recommendation (and one you overwhelmingly supported).

Marcel Acosta stood up for holding to the policy that the board had just adopted. He noted that the shorter names make things easier for customers, and "we need to temper" the impulse to accommodate local organization requests.

Alvin Nichols, alternate for Prince George's, asked about a request by Mount Rainier to add their name to West Hyattsville. However, Maryland has not officially requested this change, so it's not on the table at this time.

The board adjourned their discussion until next Thursday, November 3, where they will hold a public comment session followed immediately by a full board meeting to vote on changes. It's clear that some members are not paying much heed to rider concerns, or at least the comments of those who participated in the focus groups or filled out our survey (while others very much are).

Maybe if riders come to the public comment session, it will help those members start thinking about the interests of the riders instead of the interests of their universities, hospitals and sports teams.

Subtitles

Subtitles had strong support across the board. WMATA staff are recommending subtitles for 12 long station names; 93% of respondents agreed. They left out Grosvenor, partly at the request of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, but 80% of respondents thought that name should also get a subtitle.

8 stations have shorter names including universities. Staff are not yet recommending subtitles for those, but 83% of respondents felt those stations should also use subtitles.

Station renaming proposals

Respondents overwhelmingly agreed with the WMATA staff recommendations on King Street, to add a subtitle, and Forest Glen, to leave the name alone.

King Street	116	16%
King Street Old Town	451	62%
King Street-Old Town	155	21%

Forest Glen	500	69%
Forest Glen Holy Cross Hospital	179	25%
Forest Glen-Holy Cross Hospital	41	6%

There was also strong, but less unequivocal, support for the staff recommendations of leaving Waterfront with no subtitle and adding Ballpark as a subtitle on Navy Yard.

Navy Yard	84	12%
Navy Yard Ballpark	358	50%
Navy Yard-Ballpark	152	21%
Navy Yard-	129	18%

Waterfront	396	55%
Waterfront Arena Stage	261	36%
Waterfront-Arena Stage	66	9%

Respondents split almost exactly 50-50 on whether to add "The National Mall" as a subtitle on Smithsonian, or to leave the name as is. Staff recommended leaving the name; among other reasons, the Mall is near several stations, and Metro often tries to persuade riders to use those other stations during special events.

What about New York Avenue or NoMa? There was not a clear winner, but some useful statistics:

New York Ave Florida Ave-Gallaudet U	313	43%
New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U	30	4%
New York Ave-NoMa Gallaudet U	122	17%
NoMa Gallaudet U	200	28%
NoMa/Gallaudet U	61	8%

Total with NY Ave	465	64%
Total with NoMa	383	53%
Total with Gallaudet in subtitle	635	87%

It might have been better to run this one as an instant runoff vote. The people who picked New York Ave-NoMa [Gallaudet U] clearly liked the New York Ave and NoMa names. But would they rather have just New York Ave and drop NoMa, or keep just NoMa? Is that a reasonable compromise (which is what DDOT thought) or not popular enough (which is what WMATA staff concluded)?

New York Ave seems somewhat more popular than NoMa, though not overwhelmingly so. For many respondents, apparently, the unfamiliarity of or unease with NoMa as a name edged out the fact that the station is really quite misnamed, being actually not so near New York Avenue.

The WMATA Board will discuss the issue today. It appears they would generally do well to accept the staff recommendations, except in one area: they should go farther in using subtitles, not just for the 12 names staff suggest but for all points of interest, like universities and performing arts centers.

It's also fairer this way. Gallaudet students are understandably unhappy their school is one of only 3 to get moved to a subtitle. Riders clearly prefer the subtitles over the alternative, but the board could at least treat all universities equally by moving them all to subtitles.

Weiner noted that the WMATA Board would be discussing station name changes on Thursday. The public will not be able to speak, but a public hearing will follow on October 27th.

In the meantime, the school will be setting up a petition online advocating for the name "NoMa/Gallaudet U." Weiner noted that "members of the DC Council," which likely means at least Ward 5 council member Harry Thomas, Jr., favor this name over DDOT's proposal, "New York Ave-NoMa" with a subtitle of "Gallaudet U."

The Gallaudet University community believes that theirs should not be the only university in the region to have its name used as merely a subtitle for a station, rather than a part of the primary heading. Actually, 2 other stations with universities on their names, West Falls Church-VT/UVA and Vienna/Fairfax-GMU, also are slated to receive subtitles. However, 8 other stations with universities will not.

David suggested using subtitles for all stations with points of interest, including universities. Interestingly, Weiner mentioned that the university was promised from the beginning that their name would always be part of the station name. While making it part of a subtitle would technically keep that promise, I believe it would not be in the spirit of such an agreement to relegate the school's name to a secondary role.

What do you think?

Update: The Program Development office at Gallaudet University sent this comment:

When the station was in the planning stages, I. King Jordan, president of Gallaudet at the time, was on the advisory board that supported establishing the station. He participated in the groundbreaking and was in attendance at the opening. Some of the WMATA meetings regarding the station were held at Gallaudet. At one such meeting, the chair of the board, Gladys Mack, committed that Gallaudet would be in the name of the station. Furthermore, advertisers have used the station to target the deaf community, knowing that it is heavily trafficked by Gallaudet students, staff and faculty.

For the map, based on survey results, WMATA staff and designer Lance Wyman decided to color the Dulles line Silver, use dashed yellow and orange lines at the ends to denote rush hour-only service, and add hours of operation to the map. Different symbols for short turn stations confused riders and are gone from this version.

The recommendation would add Old Town as a subtitle to King Street, and Ballpark to Navy Yard once DC commits funding. Further, they recommend changing Waterfront-SEU to just Waterfront, not adding Arena Stage as requested. Suggested changes to Smithsonian, New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U, and Forest Glen are also on the table, but staff are not endorsing those changes.

Instead of adding Holy Cross Hospital to Forest Glen, as Montgomery County requested, staff and Wyman devised a clever solution. Just as all stations with parking will have a P in a square next to their names, stations with hospitals will get an H in a square. That includes Forest Glen as well as Foggy Bottom, Shaw, and Medical Center.

The Board will also review the recommendation to use subtitles for 12 long station names. Staff dropped Grosvenor-Strathmore from their recommended list at the request of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett; the board could still use a subtitle for this or even all stations with points of interest like universities.

What do you think? Below are more details about all the proposed changes. As you read, you can click the radio buttons to indicate which suggestions you agree with. At the end, you can submit your recommendations to the WMATA Board.

Station renaming proposals

Metro stations can be renamed if a local jurisdiction requests a change, agrees to pay for the cost of changing signs, and the WMATA Board approves the change.

The station naming policy, adopted earlier this year, says that station names should:

• Convey a sense of place
• Use up to 19 characters, or 13 for transfer stations
• Potentially contain subtitles, but count the subtitle against the station name length
• Only mention landmarks within a short walk, if any
• Not be sold to commercial entities

Navy Yard

• The ANC endorsed: Navy Yard-
  
• DC requested: Navy Yard-Ballpark, which the ANC also endorsed as its 2nd choice option.
  
• WMATA staff note that this meets the character limit. DC has not committed to pay for the change, but the Washington Nationals are willing to fund it. The focus group felt favorably about this potential change.
  
• They recommend accepting this change, but making it a subtitle: Navy YardBallpark
  
• This would happen if and when DC is willing to make a commitment to pay for the change. That's because the policy requires the individual jurisdiction to pay directly; WMATA won't enter into an agreement directly with a third party. DC would have to commit its own money and form its own agreement with the Nationals to reimburse taxpayers.
  
• The board also has the option of keeping the current name: Navy Yard

New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet U

• The ANC endorsed: NoMa/Gallaudet U
  
• DC requested: New York Ave-NoMaGallaudet U
  
• WMATA staff note that DDOT's recommendation exceeds the character limit, at 28 characters, but is shorter than the current name (the ANC recommendation meets the limit). DC has not promised funds to change the name, but the NoMa BID is willing to pay for it. Focus group participants didn't love the NoMa name; as we saw in our comment discussion last time, feelings about this name for the neighborhood are very divided.
  
• They recommend keeping the name, but converting most of it to a subtitle: New York AveFlorida Ave-Gallaudet U
  
• The board could also choose the ANC's suggested name but make the second part into a subtitle: NoMaGallaudet U
  
• Or, they could leave the name as is: New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U

Smithsonian

• DC requested: SmithsonianThe National Mall
  
• WMATA staff note that this exceeds the character limit, at 28 characters. DC has not committed to pay for the change, but the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall are willing to fund it. The focus group felt favorably about this potential change.
  
• They recommend keeping the current name: Smithsonian

Waterfront-SEU

• This station name has to change because Southeastern University has closed.
  
• DC requested: Waterfront-Arena Stage
  
• WMATA staff note that this exceeds the character limit, at 22 characters. DC has not committed to pay for the change, but Arena Stage is willing to fund it. The focus group had mixed opinions about this potential change.
  
• They recommend keeping the current name, but without SEU: Waterfront
  
• The board also has the option to accept DC's request but use a subtitle instead: WaterfrontArena Stage

Forest Glen

• Montgomery County requested: Forest Glen-Holy Cross Hospital
  
• WMATA staff note that this exceeds the character limit, at 31 characters. Montgomery County has not committed to pay for the change, but the hospital is willing to fund it. The focus group had mixed views about this potential change.
  
• They recommend keeping the current name: Forest Glen. In addition, on the latest version of the map, they suggest using an H symbol for stations that are near hospitals, including Forest Glen as well as Shaw, Foggy Bottom and Medical Center.
  
• The board also has the option to accept Montgomery's request but use a subtitle instead: Forest GlenHoly Cross Hospital

King Street

• The City of Alexandria requested: King St-Old Town
  
• WMATA staff note that this request meets the character limits, and Alexandria has committed the funds as well as consulted the community. It got mixed reviews from the focus group.
  
• They recommend accepting this change, but making it a subtitle: King StreetOld Town
  
• The board also has the option to keep the current name: King Street

Other subtitles

In addition, WMATA staff recommend that the board agree to start using subtitles for 12 long station names:

Proposed with subtitles	Current names
Addison RoadSeat Pleasant	Addison Road-Seat Pleasant
ArchivesNavy Mem'l-Penn Quarter	Archives-Navy Mem'l-Penn Quarter
Dunn LoringMerrifield	Dunn Loring-Merrifield
Gallery PlaceChinatown	Gallery Pl-Chinatown
Georgia AvePetworth	Georgia Ave-Petworth
Mt. Vernon Sq7th Street-Convention Center	Mt. Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center
Ronald Reagan WashingtonNational Airport	Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
U StreetAfrican-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo	U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo
ViennaFairfax-GMU	Vienna/Fairfax-GMU
West Falls ChurchVT/UVA	West Falls Church-VT/UVA
Woodley ParkZoo/Adams Morgan	Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan

One subtitle has been dropped from the original proposal, at the request of Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett. This station's name has 20 characters, one more than the limit under the policy:

Potential with subtitle	Current name
GrosvenorStrathmore	Grosvenor-Strathmore

8 stations meet the name length rules, but have points of interest such as universities as part of their names. WMATA staff are not currently recommending moving those points of interest into subtitles, but the WMATA Board could consider doing so. That would make all points of interest consistently part of subtitles as opposed to only doing that for the long station names.

Potential with subtitles	Current names
BallstonMU	Ballston-MU
BrooklandCUA	Brookland-CUA
College ParkU of Md	College Park-U of Md
Foggy BottomGWU	Foggy Bottom-GWU
ShawHoward U	Shaw-Howard U
TenleytownAU	Tenleytown-AU
Van NessUDC	Van Ness-UDC
Virginia SqGMU	Virginia Sq-GMU

What do you think? Choose one or more of the options above. Then, enter your name and email address to send your opinions to the WMATA Board. (Your email address will not be shared with anyone else except WMATA.)

Name:
Email:
City & state:
Other comments:
	Also post my vote and comments (but not my email address) as a comment on this post.

Update: WMATA sent over a slightly revised version this morning that moves the 2 Farragut stations closer together, adds the parking icon to Forest Glen, and moves the U Street label. I've passed on the comments people made about other errors, such as "No Litering," "Ronald Regan," missing railroad icons and the dots on the Largo branch which should go between Orange and Blue.

Under the process laid out by WMATA for station name changes, the jurisdiction containing that station needs to first request a name change and identify someone willing itself be willing to pay for the cost of changing signs, pylons and more. The WMATA Board then approves or disapproves each proposal.

Various organizations including Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and nonprofits have asked DDOT for station renames. The NoMA BID wanted its name on the station in its area, for example. The National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall requested the name change for Smithsonian.

The Golden Triangle BID also asked to add its name to one of the Farragut stations, and Capitol Riverfront wanted to be on Navy Yard, though DDOT didn't advance those requests. ANC Commissioner Kent Boese has been pushing to change Georgia Ave-Petworth to Georgia Ave-Petworth/Park View or Petworth-Park View.

Of the proposals DDOT accepted, only "Navy Yard-Ballpark" conforms to WMATA's naming policy, which calls for a maximum of 19 characters including subtitles. As Matt Johnson wrote, subtitles should not be an excuse to add more to names.

DDOT has withdrawn adding Kennedy Center to the Foggy Bottom stop since there was no organization willing to front the $100,000 or greater cost of changing a name. That must mean the Kennedy Center couldn't or didn't want to pay for the change. If that's not getting added, is it appropriate to add Arena Stage? Was it appropriate to add Strathmore, currently the only private non-educational organization on a station name?

The important principle is not to let station names become "the Yellow Pages," as one WMATA Board member put it, advertising nearby organizations and attractions. The purpose of a station is to help people find their way around the system, not to promote things to do.

But if Kennedy Center is not going on and Arena Stage might be inappropriate, is it right to add Ballpark? To me, it does seem appropriate somehow, but should we be promoting organized sports (owned by a for-profit entity that's acted fairly rapaciously toward the District) and not a nonprofit and donor-funded arts organization that's contributed a great deal to its neighborhood?

(Disclosure: I am a member of the board of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, which isn't part of a station name, and may in some ways compete with other theaters or with other entertainment such as baseball.)

Concerning the station near Gallaudet, I find it baffling that anyone wants to keep New York Avenue on the name. The station is not on New York Avenue. No entrance to the station is on New York Avenue. The platform stretches from Florida Avenue, well south of New York Avenue, to M Street NE, even farther south.

New York Avenue also runs very close to McPherson Square and Metro Center, and tourists in downtown hotels do get confused and take Metro to this station by mistake. "NoMA-Gallaudet U" would be short and appropriate.

As for Smithsonian, does anyone not know how to get to the Mall? This proposal seems unnecessary. Additionally, several stations, not just the Smithsonian stop, serve the Mall. Naming one stop ignores the usability of other nearby stations, like L'Enfant Plaza.

Already, many tourists use Smithsonian to get to Smithsonian museums when other stations would work better, such as L'Enfant for Air and Space. When major events come to the Mall, Smithsonian can face severe overcrowding, and Metro tries to encourage visitors to use other nearby stations. Adding National Mall could exacerbate these problems, leading visitors to use Smithsonian to get to rallies at the Capitol end of the Mall when they really should be getting off at Federal Center SW or Judiciary Square.

Finally, each name is something of a hodgepodge that contains 2 elements both in the primary name, or has a subtitle. I continue to believe WMATA missed a big opportunity by not moving into the subtitles all pieces of names after dashes or slashes. Why should "West Falls Church-VT/UVA" become "West Falls Church" with a subtitle, but "Brookland-CUA" not become "Brookland" with a subtitle of "CUA"?

If the new policy is to use subtitles, then all stations with multiple pieces in their names should use the subtitles for all but the first piece. In this case, Navy Yard-Ballpark could be an acceptable name, but Navy Yard with a subtitle of Ballpark is even more appropriate; if Arena Stage is indeed added to the nearby station, it should likewise be in the subtitle to avoid making the name on pylons and signs, and spoken by conductors, even longer and more confusing to riders.

If you want to convey opinions to the WMATA Board about these changes, you can email boardofdirectors@wmata.com.

Metro's out-of-scale map means that riders are especially susceptible to sloppily-named stations. People don't realize, for example, how close Dupont Circle is to Farragut West, or how close Metro Center is to Gallery Place, so they often wind up making unnecessary transfers. How many tourists have transferred to a Blue or Orange Line train so that they could use the "Smithsonian" station, when numerous other stations would have gotten them to the National Mall?

Kurt Raschke notes that in New York City, there are five subway stations called "23rd Street" rather than the neighborhoods that contain them. There's a good reason for this. These stations are very close together, so if you're traveling anywhere in the vicinity of 23rd Street, you might as well take whatever subway line you're closest to, exit at the respective 23rd Street station, and walk to your final destination.

If, on the other hand, each of those five stations were named after a unique neighborhood, someone traveling to Chelsea might think they need to make an unnecessary transfer so they can eventually arrive at the "Chelsea" station, even though the "Flatiron District" station and the "Gramercy Park" stations might get them there with less hassle.

My own house is about a quarter mile from the U Street station, and a little more than half a mile from the Dupont Circle station. Depending on where I'm going, it might make more sense to walk a greater distance, and get on a Red line train, rather than the shorter distance to Green or Yellow.

Anyone who's familiar with the Metro system knows these little tricks, but someone who's not might naively take a less convenient route. It might be because the out-of-scale map makes it difficult for them to conceptualize where they are, or, in light of station naming, because they don't realize there is more than a single station that will get them where they need to go. And isn't it those people who these new station names are supposed to help?

Cross-posted at Extraordinary Observations.

A strange symbol in a station name would cause untold confusion. How will people talk about the station in text messages? There isn't a key for "Curly W logo" on any smartphones. Many apps contain lists of stations. What would they do? Does the GTFS data feed specification include a mode for a name to contain an image? Should it be vector graphics or raster?

In reality, what would really happen is that the station will be called "Navy Yard-W" in many places. And inevitably, some will assume that it was named for our 43rd President. This comes just 10 years after this region fought against Congressional meddling that forced the name of a locally unpopular President on a station.

A lot of organizations and jurisdictions are jumping on this opportunity to ask for name changes. Alexandria just voted to recommend changing King Street to King Street-Old Town. Holy Cross Hospital has officially asked Montgomery County to support adding it to the Forest Glen station.

The Golden Triangle BID wants one or both of the Farragut stations to bear the name Golden Triangle. The Capitol Riverfront BID also wanted some recognition, but it's pretty clear its name is way too long to be a part of a station, even if such a change were desirable.

ANC 6D also unanimously supported changing Waterfront to "Waterfront-Arena Stage," or alternatively "SW Waterfront." A proposal to add "Banneker Park" to L'Enfant Plaza didn't even come to a vote, though.

Most riders have consistently argued that shorter names are better. As Kurt Raschke pointed out, in most cities the station names don't name the neighborhoods but rather the station locations. That's why New York has five 23rd Street stations and doesn't call them Chelsea, Murray Hill, and so on. They do, however, have their major stadiums in station names, and a few major centers like Times Square.

In the Washington region, though, station names have generally come to reflect neighborhoods. In fact, some areas like North Cleveland Park have actually taken on the names of surrounding Metro stations to identify the area in common parlance. Therefore, as long as names stay short, adding a commonly-used neighborhood name to a station might have some merit.

"Navy Yard" doesn't represent the way people talk about the neighborhood today. They do call it the ballpark area, so "Navy Yard-Ballpark" seems acceptable, as does "King Street-Old Town." "SW Waterfront" would only add 2 characters (and the "SEU" has to come off anyway), though I wonder if that's necessary. Have people been confused about whether Waterfront station was the one in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood?

The one change that makes the most sense is changing New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet U to NoMA-Gallaudet U. That's the only one which will shorten a name, and one of the more unwieldy at that. Plus, the station actually has no entrance on New York Avenue.

This change actually polled poorly with the WMATA focus group, perhaps because NoMA is also something of a contrived name, but there really isn't an alternative. The neighborhood has no other commonly-used name. It's just not going to be "Swampoodle-Gallaudet U."

I understand the BIDs' desires, but just having a BID isn't a good enough reason to add to or change the name. Heck, the Downtown BID doesn't even have its name on any of the 6 Metro stations in its area, and that name is unequivocally the name of the neighborhood. People don't really call the areas north west of the White House "Golden Triangle" in everyday conversation. Changing the station name would likely lead to them starting to do that, but why is this a public policy goal? If it's so important, why not just rename the BID to the "Farragut North BID"? Then—presto—it has a station named for it.

Jurisdictions should avoid adding the names of adjacent arts and hospital venues. They shouldn't have done it for Strathmore, either. We don't have Archives-Navy Mem'l-Penn Quarter-Woolly Mammoth, or Foggy Bottom-Kennedy Center. Previous WMATA boards made a mistake in allowing so many things to be tacked on to station names years ago, and with subtitles we've finally found a way to move in the opposite direction.

Local jurisdictions and the WMATA Board will need to stand up against bad ideas. They should reject the repetitive and confusing Silver Line names where 8 stations all start with only 3 words. They should reject adding hospitals, theaters, and BID names to stations. And certainly they should speedily reject any logos.