Posts by Stephen Repetski — Editorial Board Alum
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Metro Reasons: How are the Blue & Yellow Line shuttles handling shutdown crowds?
Metro’s shuttle buses are handling crowds well during the Yellow and Blue Line shutdown, upbeat Metro staff said when they briefed the agency’s Riders’ Advisory Council (RAC) last Wednesday. After an initial ridership surge, staff say the shuttles have ‘settled down’ to carrying 125,000 trips per week. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Don’t go chasing waterfalls (at the Virginia Square stop)
Drivers had to be rescued from cars, streets flooded, and the Virginia Square Metro station developed a waterfall on Monday. The record-breaking rain showed how powerful large amounts of water can be and what it can do to infrastructure that isn’t built to handle it. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Yellow & Blue Line construction is bothering residents late into the night
Loud, disruptive construction noise late at night from Metro’s summer Yellow and Blue Line shutdown has come to be a headache for some nearby residents. Some have called it “cruel,” “terrible,” and say “you couldn’t have a conversation on the sidewalk” near one of the closed stations while it’s happening. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Riders and WMATA adapt during week 2 of the Blue and Yellow Line shutdown
The first week of the Yellow and Blue Line shutdown ended Friday without too many significant incidents after Metro, its contractors, and riders began to settle into the interim travel patterns. With more than 90 days still left in the shutdown, there is plenty of time for more things to go wrong, but also room for improvements like smoother trips and real-time bus tracking. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Metro pulls its 3000-series railcars after a door malfunction
Metro has temporarily removed all 3000-series railcars from service after receiving “a report of a door malfunction for which we need to identify the cause.” A video posted by a rider on Facebook, which may have triggered this, showed a door on a 3000-series car stayed open while the train was moving on Sunday. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: The Yellow and Blue Line shutdown dry-run wasn’t perfect, but offers chances to learn
The six Yellow and Blue Line stations south of National Airport were closed last weekend from May 4 to 5, as Metro, Alexandria’s DASH, and Metro’s contractors geared up for the 107-day-long shutdown set to begin May 25. Bus operations ran fairly smoothly, but the dry-run may allow Metro to fine-tune tools to help riders through the ordeal. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Metro extends its longest-ever shutdown by six days
The long summer shutdown which will close Yellow and Blue Line stations south of National Airport and affect about 17,000 riders just got six days longer. WMATA announced Thursday, April 18 that the shutdown will now run from May 25 through Sunday, September 8 instead of reopening on September 3 as previously expected. Keep reading…
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Not quite Hyper: The Boring Company’s DC-Baltimore “Loop” would move just 2,000 people per day
The Boring Company’s “Loop” tunnel system, which would whisk riders along at speeds up to 150mph, would be built with capacity to move just 1,000 people per direction per day between DC and Baltimore, according to a new environmental assessment document released on the project’s website. Keep reading…
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Northern Virginia looks to fund more transit projects along I-66 with toll revenue
Another $20 million of transit improvement projects will be heading our way in the fall, paid for by money generated by tolling on I-66 between Fairfax County and DC. Local jurisdictions submitted $32.8 million worth of projects, but only the top few are able to get funded. The public comment period is now open, so you can voice your opinion now. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: WMATA passed a new budget. Here’s what’s in it for you.
In a unanimous decision on Thursday, March 28 the Metro Board of Directors approved a $3.5 billion budget for Metrorail, Metrobus, and MetroAccess for the next fiscal year starting July 1, 2019. The budget includes some perks for riders like re-extending the Yellow Line all the way to Greenbelt, but it doesn’t go as far as DC officials hoped in restoring late-night service hours. Keep reading…