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» Customer Service, Reliability and Other Topics (1/28/05) from noon to 1 p.m.

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Welcome to the third chat

Author

Message

Richard White

Hi folks. What a morning. As many of you know, we found two cracked rails this morning, one on the Blue Line at Van Dorn Street a little after 7 a.m. and a second just before 10 a.m. at the Airport station. At Van Dorn we single tracked while we made temporary repairs. We ran two inbound trains to every one outbound to move as many of you as possible into town. The temporary repair was made by 9:20 a.m. We’ll make the permanent repair in time for the afternoon rush. At the Airport station, we made a temporary repair and will go back to fix it tonight. I know these rail problems caused trains to be delayed and crowded, which is why we’re aiming to get Van Dorn fixed so that we can have regular service for you this afternoon.

We’ve been posting updates on our web site throughout the morning and encourage you to visit our news release section.

Track problems such as the two we experienced this morning actually do not happen all that frequently. Problems with railcars and underground cable remain our two biggest problem areas. But when we do have these kinds of cracked rail problems, we know it inconveniences hundreds of our customers and for that, we’re sincerely sorry.

Thanks for coming to our third chat. We took 26 of 92 questions for our first chat; 36 of 60 at our second chat, and I look forward to answering as many as possible today.

This weekend we’ll be testing enhancements to our passenger information display signs on the platforms, so you’ll probably notice the changes this weekend as we do some testing. Our news release details the changes.

I’d be happy to talk to you about the NY subway fire if you have questions about it.

Now let me get to your questions.

MetroAccess

Author	Message
metrorider04	Will WMATA ever re-consider the Eligibility process. For instance, requiring people such as myself who are permantly disabled to go to functional assessments every three years even though their condition is not going to change, in my opinion does not make sense. Thank you for your time.
Richard White	Hi! Yes. There will be a new eligibility process on or about the first of April. Our contractor, Logisticare, currently oversees eligibility, but we’ll be bringing that in house this spring. As part of the new process, we are looking to make the process more efficient and effective, as you suggested. One way is eliminating the requirement for persons who are permantly disabled to go to functional assessments every three years, as you pointed out.

POSSIBILITY TO RECHARGE SMART TRIP ONLINE

Author	Message
myelovich	Every body is using the Smart Trip cards now, for riding the metro, bus and parking. I do it in $40 increments about every week - week and a half. I prefer the Credit card options, which actually not the easiest option out there. Number of Sale Kiosks on every station that accepts the Credit Card payments is usually 2 out of 8-10 available. Every time I'm trying to recharge the card I have to wait in line 5-10 minutes. Here is the daily picture you can see on the Metro station. There are let’s say 10 Kiosks, 2 have lines (5-10 people) the others are not being used at all. The two that are so popular are the Credit Card Processing ones. Which kind of add to my point that the credit card is the preferred method of payment for many of us. I’m not suggesting to increase the number of Kiosks throughout the Metro Network it could be very expensive and time-consuming option. Why not modify or may be extend a web application that already available on the WMATA.com. Consumers can buy a new card on line, but not able to do anything else. WHY NOT GIVE THE CONSUMER A POSSIBILITY TO RECHARGE SMART TRIP ONLINE. How about creating online accounts, may be even linking the credit card to the Smart Trip card.
Richard White	Good question. You're correct. The lines are long at some of our stations. Help is on the way! We're getting more SmarTrip targets at the fare vending machines at our stations where we experience a lot of SmarTrip card sales. You will be able to load value on-line in approximately two more years. Thanks for your question!

Digital Divide

Author	Message
SmartGrowther	Mr. White, these forums are great and I'm very glad you're doing them, but what about people who lack internet access? The demographics of who is on the internet and who isn't are not random; those without internet access are disproportionately low income people and people of color. What plans do you have for more in-person forums or other venues for these Metro passengers to have their voices heard?
Richard White	Hello Techie. We agree that the forums are a good way to communicate with our customers and I’m glad that you’re taking advantage of the opportunity. We have several means for people to communicate with us. There is the customer service call center (where interpreters are available to address customer questions in a host of languages), there is e-mail, there is U.S. mail, and now we’ve added online chats. Our new Board Chairman, Dana Kauffman, has made it clear that he wants to continue to host public open house forums like we had last fall, which we thought was a wonderful opportunity. Again, that offers face-to-face communication with our customers as well. There have been suggestions about setting up an advisory committee comprised of customers, exploring the possibility of reworking the way Board meetings are administered to see if we can accept public comment at the meetings and other methods of receiving input. We are considering these ideas and I expect that we’ll have some new avenues for customer communication soon. Stay tuned!

Online problem reporting form like the Boston T

Author	Message
Orange line guy	The Boston T has on the bottom of its home page a link to an online to report dirty stations - see http://www.mbta.com/contact_us/formcleanners.asp. While Metro fortunately doesn't have a cleanliness problem, does Metro have any plans to offer online forms to report other types of problems that pop up every now and then - a railcar with no heat, in-station led signs that aren't working, etc... It might be a free resource for your engineers to know about problems quickly. Sometimes the station manager is too busy with tourists and the like to be able to take note of a problem.
Richard White	Thanks, orange line guy. (I'm actually an orange line guy myself!) We do have an on-line customer comment card where our customers can report a problem. It can be found on our Web site, www.metroopensdoors.com. Looks for the "contact us" link. It also lists telephone numbers that riders can call. We are always eager to get feedback from our passengers, and we're exploring new and creative ways to create that dialogue.

Launching a career with Metro

Author	Message
SchuminWeb	Mr. White: As a recent college graduate with a degree in Public Administration, and also as a transit enthusiast, I am considering a career with Metro. Are there any pointers you might give on how to best "get a foot in the door" with Metro?
Richard White	Hi. A few tips on getting a job here at WMATA. First, check out our web site where we post job openings. Second, seek out job openings at smaller transit agencies either around here or elsewhere. Many times local jurisdictions also have transit offices, typically as part of their Department of Public Works (but sometimes in other departments), so keep an eye open there too. Those are some good ways to get experience so that when we have an opening, you’ll have some direct transit experience. In general, it is userful for our employment office to know of your interest and it's true that most profesional or management jobs require experiencee, but there are exceptions, so do check our site. Also, at times, Metro hires managmeent interns on a competitive bases, and you may consider that option.

Eliminating train length signs a bad idea

Author	Message
jacasazza	I think Metro's plan to eliminate indications of train length from the electronic signs in stations is a bad idea. My wife is mobility impaired, and cannot run to the last car of the shorter trains when they pull into the station unexpectedly. She rides in the last car for convenience - it is usually stopped right where the elevator or escalator lets het onto the platform. She could hobble further along the platform every time, but that is onerous if she can usually get a six car train. Why not just let us know what is going on - how long the next train will be?
Richard White	You raise a very interesting point. We actually proposed making this change in response to customers' requests. But since we announced the improvements to our passenger information display signs (PIDS), we've had a number of suggestions much like yours. We'll add your suggestions to the list of ideas and suggestions we're accumulating. Thanks very much.
BeyondDC	How about switching to a more detailed display for each train as it's approaching? That is, when a train gets to be 30 seconds away (or whatever the standard is for it to be listed as "approaching"), temporarily switch the PID to a display more like the existing format. That would allow regular riders to benefit from the new displays while giving people like jacasazza a bit of extra time to move down the platform. BeyondDC.com Tracking urbanism, planning and transportation in the DC area.
Richard White	Again, thanks for your suggestion. We'll consider it as we make ongoing improvements in our signs.

Rule breakers and Unsupervised Unruly Kids

Author	Message
Bryce	It is extremely annoying when those of us who follow the rules of Metro see them so blatantly violated with no one around to enforce them. Case in point is the continued eating and drinking within the system. Several weeks ago, I approached a family passing a bottle of water between them while waiting for a train at Metro Center. They were obviously not from the area, and I simply said to the father of the group that Metro Police would ticket them for drinking in the Metro. The mom asked, "even while we're waiting for a train?". It is glaringly obvious to me that your microscopic signage is not sufficient for the relating the rules to the riders of metro. Secondly, it's sad that kids use the metro for their school bus, and conduct themselves like they were on a school bus. Yelling, bumping into people, and generally disturbing everyone's 'peace' for the duration of the trip. I don't know what's more frustrating, all the violations I see DAILY or the lack of enforcement.
Richard White	Hi. Thanks for your note. Pleasae report any unruly behavior that you spot to Metro employees or the Metro Transit Police (202-962-2121)for action. We work regularly with schools in the area. We send officers to orientations and to school assemblies to work with students and paraents regularly. We always are seeking to communicate with parents and their children to identify acceptable behaviors for a transit environment.
dpete47	I've sometimes seen young people listening to music loadly and talking or signing loadly on trains.
Richard White	Hi dpete47. There are no laws regarding singing on a train (free speech issue). However, people who listen to music are to be using headphones. Let a Metro employee or police officer know if someone is not using the headphones.
L.M.	My post was about out of control kids and it is just sickening! I don't understand why these kids behave this way and why this issue wasn't addressed a long time ago. L.M.
Richard White	Hi. Officers are assigned to stations where juveniles congrgate to deal with disorder. As mentioned before, we also reach out to the schools that students attend, which we will look to do again in the neear future for kids who gather at Fort Totten.

food and drink

Author	Message
melatar	Please get someone, anyone, put them in a Metro cap and safety vest for authority, and start enforcing the no eating, no drinking rule. Warnings will usually suffice. But when someone leaves trash, write the ticket. This one effort won't fix everything, but would help with the comfort levels. Melatar
Richard White	Hi. Thanks for your suggestion. Only the police are authorized to take enforcement action. Many trash bins have been removed from our stations, but we are hoping to put more of the bomb containment types of trashcans back inside stations sometime this year.

Next Station Announcement

Author	Message
dpete47	As you are probably aware, you can't always hear or understand the next station announcement that the train operator is saying. So, why not have a computerized voice. On one of the set of VRE trains, not only does the computer display the next station, it announces it in a nice female voice: This stop is ... Our next stop is ... This is a ___ line train.
Richard White	You make a good point, and there are clearly two different points of view on this subject. Metro, unlike VRE, has an automatic train control (ATC) operating system, which essentially means that computers operate the trains, and the train operator monitors and overrides the computer system as needed. In order to keep our train operators focused, we have them make the train announcements. We are working on improving the quality of our train operator announcements, including elocution training. So the good news is, positive changes are on the way.

Addison Road Traffic Jam

Author	Message
Pearl	There are about 4 different vans that transport passengers at Addison Road to various sites. The vans travel back and forth from Addison Road to the various sites throughout rush hour. The problem is that the vans sit in the the kiss and ride, where it is illegal to park/stand, and wait for passengers to arrive at the station. You can imagine the traffic jam this causes when the vans use the drop-off lane as their very own personal parking space. Please note that the vans are not stopping, picking up passengers, and then moving on. They are waiting for passengers to arrive. The vans also sit in front of the handicapped speaces. I once had a run-in with one of the van drivers who refused to move so that I could pull my car out of the handicapped space. This has been going on for years, and police at Addison Road allow the vans to sit in the kiss and ride spots.
Richard White	Thank you for your message! I will pass this information alongto Capt. David Webb, District II Commander, for action. You can contact Capt. Webb directly in the future by calling him at 202-636-7118.
jacasazza	This is actually a problem at many kiss and ride areas, although the van problem seems specific to Addison Road. But people sit in the kiss and ride at Glenmont and Wheaton, too. Nobody to move them on.
Richard White	Thanks for your follow-up. The Kiss & Ride is intended to be the pick-up and discharge area for passengers. Again, we'll be making Capt. Webb aware of this problem.

Green line and common sense

Author	Message
Katya	There were major delays on the Green Line two Tuesdays ago, on the 18th, at about 6:00. I was trying to get up to College Park from Gallery Place, and there were at least three or four Yellow Line trains that passed before we finally got a Green Line train. Any one of these could've been changed to a Green Line train at any point after L'Enfant Plaza without inconveniencing any Yellow Line passengers, since both lines go all the way to the end of the Yellow Line at Mt. Vernon Square - the newly-Green Line train would only have to have continued on after that stop. This could have saved everyone time, made nobody late, and made the trains a heck of a lot less congested. Instead, we had to wait about twenty minutes for a Green Line Train to get past the point of delay, and then it was, of course, painfully and dangerously packed. And to add insult to injury, when we got to Prince George's Plaza we were told that we'd be skipping College Park because we were "late". At that point, there were only two stops left - were the Greenbelt passengers so very much more important than us that it was worth skipping our stop and making us wait out in the cold to save them three or four minutes at most? Couldn't Metro control, who must have KNOWN that train was going to be late (due to vast overcrowding along with the ordinary delay), have skipped a stop earlier along the line if skipping was necessary, so that customers would be waiting INDOORS? (Maybe Mt. Vernon Square, since most everyone who was going there had already grabbed one of the earlier Yellow Line trains?) I know delays are inevitable, as Metro has no money - in fact, it only seems to get broker and broker every time you raise our fares (and what are you DOING with that money, anyway?). But why can't delays be met with a bit of common sense and intelligent thinking, instead of people apparently shrugging and saying, "It's a delay, too bad, I don't care enough to try and mitigate the situation."
Richard White	Thanks for writing in, Katya. I'm very sorry you had such a bad experience on the Green Line. We should have converted at least one of the Yellow Line trains to a Green Line train, and skipped a stop earlier, and we will make that point with our central control room to try to prevent this type of things from happening again. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

train service & customer service

Author	Message
CUSTOMER VA	Why does Metro constantly run 4 car train during morning rush on the Yellow line (and to a lesser extent on the Red Line)? Why is there absolutely no customer service on Metro - for instance when you run 4 car trains, like this morning, the train operators shut the doors before everyone gets on, often after only one or two people get on because it takes so long for a packed four train to empty? Also this morning the drive of the (4 car) Yellow Line train in car number 2052 told me "you better not block my doors" as I was in line moving to get on the train. This is unacceptable - this first thing that should come out of your drivers mouths whenever there is a delay or a 4 car train is "I'm sorry." Then they should wait extra long for people to get on and off the trains. Why isn't this done??
Richard White	Hello CUSTOMER, VA. The Yellow Line is the line with the least amount of customer traffic on it and so we run a combination of four- and six-car trains on that line. We do not have enough rail cars for all of our trains to be six-car trains. Thanks for your input related to the amount of time that train doors stay open (dwell times). If you repeatedly find this to be a problem, and if you find a train operator to be making inappropriate comments, please give us a call and let us know the specifics: the time of incident, the line, the location and the rail car number that you were in. The number to call is 202-637-1328.

Overcrowing on Northern-Area Prince George's Co. Buses

Author	Message
Neno8403	I would like to know what proceedures are followed to determine what type of bus with what type of capacity are needs on each individual bus route. METRO seems to be biased against Prince George's County because you guys seem to put the lousiest and oldest buses in P.G. and reserve the much nicer, cleaner, and higher capacity buses for Montgomery County and The District. Their are several bus routes servicing the Prince George's Plaza Station-area which requires buses with the highest capacity possible. Both the C2 and C4 bus lines which service Wheaton and Twinbrook in Montgomery County to P.G. Plaza and Greenbelt in P.G. County, are usually standing room only, Sunday through Saturday, rush hour or non-rush hour, especially the C4. Why is it that METRO refuses to use those long "accordion-style" buses on these routes especially the C4. I've actually seem a few on the C4 but that's only been like four times in the more than ten years the C4 has been doing this route. Another high-capacity route is the R2 (Calverton/Ft. Totten) and the F4/F6 (Silver Spring/New Carrollton). Theses buses are standing room only too especially on school days because all of these routes serve at least two high schools in the metropolitan area and are flooded with kids after school. So why is it that METRO runs these rediculously stupid and small "Clean Air Buses" on these routes which necessitate higher capacity buses??? Please explain Mr. White. Thank You.
Richard White	Thanks for the question. The C2/C4 bus line is one of the fasting growing routes in the bus system, and we are regularly making service improvements to respond to this ridership growth. We will be adding more service to this line this March to improve the running time. So the current situation should improve very soon.

Opening the doors / Escalator @ Shady Grove

Author	Message
DunkTheGeek	I know it is a minor gripe, but the delay in opening the doors when the train reaches the end of the line in Shady Grove is an annoyance. The doors open much quicker after the train stops in the other stations. I suppose the train operator has to do another step at the end of the line that isn't usually done at the other stations, but couldn't the 'open doors' step be put before this? Just a minor annoyance, the platform there, behind the closed doors, taunting us. If you want a major annoyance, it would be the fact that Shady Grove has only one down/exit escalator at rush hour in the evenings. This is an end of line station, so the entire train empties and everyone pushes to get down. If you haven't seen it yet, stop by some evening. When the 8 car trains start to run, it should be even more exciting! All the other stations have multiple escalators (either end of station) off the platform and most aren't end of line stations, so they don't experience the crowd effect. I know adding another escalator to Shady Grove would be too expensive, but at least tell me that you aren't making this same design mistake at the new stations that are at the end of the line. One option for Shady Grove in the evening would be run both escalators in the down mode for exiting and have the stairway/elevator for up / people entering the system. I know it would make the experience of those going up a bit hairy when a train arrives, but more people could get through in both directions in less time. d
Richard White	Hi. Indeed you are correct about door opening times being slightly different at end of the line statioans versus non-terminal stations. They wait to open 2 to 4 seconds later at terminal stations. The operator, while in automatic train operation mode comes into the station, waits until a computer identifies full brake applications (2 to 4 seconds)and only then will the door release be activated.

Delays in the Morning

Author	Message
mcmanamon	As someone who rides the orange line everyday, I can never understand why it is that we are sometimes forced into delays outside of Rosslyn because of blue lines. There are so many times that we sit at a dead stop because we are waiting for a blue line train to pass in front of us. I guess this is so that you can keep the trains alternating between orange and blue. So, basically since there are delays on the blue line, you then create delays on the orange line when you could keep running orange lines trains and just worry about alternating blue and orange at the end of the line. Could you please explain this. Thanks.
Richard White	I'm an Orange Line rider myself, so I know what you're experiencing. Our Metrorail system is essentially a "go right" system, in order to allow us to continue to move all of our trains through the system. We have 29 Blue and Orange Line that must pass through our Rosslyn station "portal" during our rush hour periods. Therefore, it only takes delays that are measured in seconds that cause trains to back up. The problem at Rosslyn is one of the most difficult that we have, because it has more trains passing through that station than any of the other parts of our rail system.

Out of control juveniles on metro!

Author	Message
L.M.	The morning rush hour is a nightmare because of various reasons; however, I will only touch on one, out of control juveniles on the metro. At rush hour in the morning kids tend to get on the metro at Fort Totten metro station and then all heck breaks out! The kids are screaming and cursing. The loud talking is one thing, but the profanity and derogatory words that are used are just shameful! Can there be a Metro Police Officer on the metro cars circulating to create a presence of consideration for others? I have to say one of the main reasons I do not catch the metro to work anymore is because it is so unpleasant. I don't want to hear the "N word," "F word," and other such words. What is being done about this? I cannot be the only one to have complained about this issue! Thank you.L.M.
Richard White	Thanks for your comments. I will make Capt. Amy Phillips, District I Commander, aware of this for action. MTPD officers are frequently detailed to the juvenile hot-spots that you mention. In the future, you may contact Capt. Phillips directly at 202-962-2696.

8-Car Trains

Author	Message
BrianInVA	I noticed the large number of 8-car trains that Metro ran on the Orange and Red Lines on Inauguartion Day and I think it did a lot to help with overcrowding. With 8-car trains, I knew that I could wait on the far end of the platform and get a seat with no problem and avoid the crowding in the middle cars. I realy hope that daily 8-car trains are in the near future - is there an update on this?
Richard White	Yes, Brian, eight car trains are roughly three years away. We have already ordered the railcars we need to run eight-car train service, and we have begun the necessary power upgrades and railyard/shop expansions. Approximately one-third of the trains on the Orange Line (as well as Red and Green lines) will be eight cars. In addition, you're probably seeing eight-car trains used more frequently for extra special event days. Thanks for your support!

Speed Gate

Author	Message
swood	I am one of the thousands who own a smartcard and run into the problem of following users of farecards entering and exiting fare gates. Many of these users slow down the entry and exit of users for various reasons such as lack of fare, skill on using the cards in gate(especially during tourist season), etc. Would it be possible to devote a single gate to smart cards, thus speeding the entry/exit of those users. I see this as an added benefit for ownership of this card.
Richard White	Hi. Having our gates accept both SmarTrip cards and magnetic striped cards provides us the most flexibility and best utilization of equipment. We have several strategies in palce to migrate as may customers as possible to SmarTrip cards and as more people use them, it'll improve the situation. Years ago we tried what you suggested. We had some faregates that were SmarTrip only. What happened? Those SmarTrip-only "lanes" got backed up because so many people wanted the fast lane, and so it wasn't fast anymore, so we made all of the gates SmarTrip accessible.

16th Street Bus

Author	Message
H5 Rider	Given any day of the week the S1, S2, S4 line backs up and comes at random intervals. Buses are often overcrowded and are forced to skip stops thus requiring waiting passengers to wait 20 minutes longer for another string of 5 buses to come. Many people at my stop in the morning opt to take taxis instead of dealing with this inconvenience. My question is why has this issue not been addressed? It appears to have been happening for several years. I have called to complain about specific times of the day when this problem is the greatest and I am given the same excuse about traffic, the buses are scheduled so close together this is bound to happen, etc. They send out an articulated bus for a week and then the following week we are back to crunch time on a 40 foot. This answer is unacceptable as I see more and more passengers opting for taxis, purchasing bikes, cars or walking to avoid this bus line. This is not what we want to happen. Perhaps skip-stop service or more short-trips, something needs to be done.
Richard White	Yes, H5 rider, as you suggested, the S2 line is constantly subjected to the growing traffic problem. Although we monitor this service on an ongoing basis, we have not made any improvements since last year. However, we will send our supervisors and "checkers" out to investigate, based on this question/comment from you. Thanks.

Number of Orange line trains vs. Blue Line trains

Author	Message
NYgirl	I have been riding the Blue Line from Van Dorn downtown since 1996. There has been a huge increase in the number of people using the blue line in that time, yet metro has made no adjustments. For quite some time now, at the height of rush hour(5:30 pm) there have been two six car orange line trains for every one four car blue line train. Please explain why there aren't more (or longer) blue line trains.
Richard White	Thanks, nygirl. Ridership on all of our lines has increased and we have added railcars to all lines, including the Blue Line. On the Blue Line, 60 percent of our trains are now six-car trains. The Orange Line does have more service but also carries more riders. In the peak hour of our rush hour service, the Orange Line carries more than twice as many riders as the Blue Line! Consequently, we provide additional service to match the demand. By the way, nygirl, I'm a big Boston Red Sox fan, so I'm sorry if you're a New York Yankee fan!

Security

Author	Message
Pearl	I applaud Metro's efforts at keeping passengers safe. However, I noted that when police officers are patroling by themselves, they are alert and watching what is going on around them. Whenever two or more officers are patrolling the same area, they stop watching and start chatting with each other (personal, not business chats). What's up with that?
Richard White	Pearl: Thank you for your observations and perceptions. Sometimes when two officers are together it is because of our field training of new officers. Yet, I will be sure that your observations are shared with our officers during their roll call.

security security security

Author	Message
brightwoodboy	I mentioned this a couple months ago, and recent news indicates scary conditions on buses especially. In short, Metro seems a lawless area within an already lawless city. Police are extremely rarely seen and young violent thugs seem to have free reign, especially on buses and especially in and around schools. Can you work with MPD to get some of them on buses since your security budget is minimal and not slated to grow enough? Its really only a matter of time until innocent people are killed. Frankly, its absurd and extremely scary for riders sometimes. These kids have guns, and we're not allowed to carry guns ourselves!
Richard White	Hi brightwoodboy. The MTPD and MPDC do collaborate on this issue. A number of security technologies (cameras and better radio systems) have been added to the Metrobus fleet to enhance the safety of the drivers and customers. Bus operators are receiving conflict mitigation training to further that effort. Our Transit Police Metrobus Enforcement Division focuses efforts on enforcement and investigation of crime that occurs on buses.

Parking

Author	Message
baw94001	I park at the Branch Ave Metro station and I usually get back to station late in the evening. There are several lampposts that are out and it is abit scary walking in that huge parking lot late at night. Another issue that I've notice is since the snow, many of the parking spaces were plowed in and this is a very high demand lot and it is a shame that there are alot of spaces that weren't cleared properly for riders to park.
Richard White	Thanks for your question. The appropriate department will be notified to replace the burned out lights at Branch Avenue. Our snow plowing objective is to clear the lots as fast as possible. Sometimes we have only a few hours to clear thousands of surface parking spaces. We will check out Branch Avenue to be sure that any snow piles are removed as soon as possible. And we're hoping we don't get much more snow this weekend!

New Stations

Author	Message
MetroRider77	Are there any plans to build any new stations within the District? There are many areas that are not accessible by metro, which I am sure creates bigger traffic congestion problems. Also, is there any way to provide express trains that make less frequent stops but provide quicker access between the ends of each line with stops only at major stations? It seems like this would help rush hour crowding, especially downtown.
Richard White	Thanks, Metrorider77. There are no current plans to open any new stations at this time. As for express trains, that is an idea we are currently investigating. Stay tuned for more details in future chats!

SEATS IN TRAINS

Author	Message
mcmanamon	I have read that Metro is considering removing up to 50 seats from new rail cars that will be added in the future. Is this true, and why are you doing this? I understand that you may be trying to create more room to ease overcrowding. The problem is that you are going to have a lot of unhappy people who have to stand on the train. If you do this, are you planning on installing better overhead rails for people to hold onto. There are plenty of areas on the current trains where you are left to hold on to the people around you if you are standing because you have no other option.
Richard White	Hi mcmanamon. We are looking at several options for our rail cars to help strike a balance of fitting more people on trains while maintaining comfort. We are taking public input throughout this process. Certainly, if we remove seats, we will have more handrails for people to hold onto.

SHADY GROVE STATION ISSUES

Author	Message
George	Mr White - Sounds like your morning was much worse than mine...:-) I attempted to add a topic to the forum for discussion this week, maybe you've have had a chace to read it (I sent it in Tues/Wed of this week).... Basically I am concerned about egress safety and customer convenience at Metro's Shady Grove Station. If you've ever been on the trains and had to exit at Shady Grove weekdays from 5 to 7 PM, it is absolutely INSANE to see how people have to crowd the escalators and stairs and push their way through people trying to come UP onto the platform in order to make it to their cars and busses in a timely manner. IT IS ALSO DANGEROUS, BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE MOVING QUICKLY AND DELIBERATELY ON A CROWDED PLATFORM, OFETN NEAR IT'S EDGE. I really like the rail system, although I'm only on it for about 7 minutes each AM, so I'm not necessarily knocking it. But....given that Metro is probably NOT going to expand out anytime soon into upcounty Montgomery County and Frederick County, and the Montgomery County/Frederick County executives have only minimal plans to curb the rampant overbuilding in these areas, that leaves the Shady Grove Station as the main serving station for the area, and one set of stairs/elevators is TOTALLY unrealistic in terms of it's current/projected passenger loads. When can we expect to see additional sets of stairs and escalators installed...Metro was a part of building these huge garages and I-370 to encourage Metro'ing from Shady Grove, but failed to expand peak load platform egress capacity to match passenger traffic.
Richard White	Thanks, George. I see this situation at my "home" station, Vienna, from time-to-time, so I understand what you mean. Stations and station egress are designed to handle the crowds, and we work very hard to be sure the escalators are working. Sometimes minor delays on the line will make the crowding even worse. While this situation is not unsafe, we will have our supervisors check it out. Thanks!

Yellow line to Ft. Totten?

Author	Message
thm	I realize that the Mt. Vernon Square--Fort Totten link of the Green line has only been around for a few years, and I realize that at rush hour you're already running all the trains you can, but are there any plans to extend Yellow Line service up to Fort Totten (or beyond)? The area between Mt. Vernon Square and Fort Totten is seeing remarkable growth and I imagine demand along this corridor is increasing as well. This could probably be done during off-peak hours, when fewer trains are in service--I'm sure customers in these areas would appreciate more frequent service.
Richard White	Interesting idea, thm. No, we do not have plans to extend the Yellow Line to Ft. Totten at this time. Thanks for your idea.

NTSB

Author	Message
JoeinSilverSprin...	Can you tell us when you expect to hear anything new from the NTSB on the Red Line collision at Woodley Park? Is there any publicly available WMATA reports on the collision?Joe in Silver Spring
Richard White	Hello JoeinSilverSpring. We have been told that the NTSB will probably finalize its report by next November. There are no reports available on the collision investigation.