Posts tagged Metro Reasons
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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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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…
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Metro Reasons: Are shorter hours really helping Metro maintenance? Here’s what the data show.
Should Metro return to late night hours or keep them to make more time for badly-needed maintenence? As the debate continues in the region, there's been a dearth of data showing how useful the shorter service hours have actually been. But now we have data to help answer that question. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Restoring late-night service would bust legal budget caps, staff say
It may not be possible to restore the late-night rail service hours which were cut back in 2016, according to a new Metro staff report presented to the Metro Board of Directors today. The late-night hours were reduced to allow the agency to perform more trackwork overnight, and they're set to expire in June unless the Board allows them to continue. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Metro removes some fire extinguishers to fight vandalism
Fire extinguishers will soon no longer be available for riders to use on Metro's fleet of rail cars. Some riders keep spraying them in the cars, so the agency says they’re being removed in order to reduce abuse. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: 17,000 Yellow and Blue Line riders will need to find a different way to get around during next summer’s shutdown
Metro is planning to shut down the six Yellow and Blue Line stations south of National Airport for 100 days next summer, which certainly won’t be easy. The agency estimates the shutdown will impact 17,000 riders. WMATA is planning on running four shuttle bus routes between the affected stations, and is working with local partners to beef up existing routes. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Amid trackwork, Metro says service has improved—but for fewer riders
After a brief recovery in July, Metrorail ridership dropped to new four-year lows in August and September 2018, according to a new quarterly report Metro published on Friday, November 9. There's some good news too: the report also indicates that the system is becoming more reliable. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: WMATA’s draft 2020 budget could be good news for riders
A Metro press release issued early Monday morning offers something that Metrorail riders haven’t had very much of recently: potential good news. The agency’s General Manager is proposing to extend rush hour service and reduce weekend fares, among several other rider-friendly proposals. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: Computer-driven trains are coming back — that’s good news for riders
Finally, some good news for riders: Metro is planning to restore computer-driven trains in June of 2019, just under a decade after the system was turned off following a fatal collision of two Red Line trains outside of Fort Totten. The return of “auto doors,” the process where doors automatically open once a train properly berths at a station, should also be returning. Keep reading…
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Metro Reasons: An unreported fire closed a station a year before a 2016 explosion. What did WMATA know about the risk?
An insulator caught fire and filled the Benning Road Metro station with heavy, thick smoke in a previously-unreported incident from August 2015. This came nine months prior to the insulator explosion in the Federal Center Southwest station in 2016, and raises new questions about what WMATA knew of the risks from its power system. Keep reading…