Between June 22 and July 15, people across the region and beyond shared nearly 1,400 ideas for small, quick fixes to make riding Metro better. Below is a summary of the most popular ideas and a rundown of where they came from. We’ll announce the finalists on August 8!

Photo by Beau Finley on Flickr.

Most ideas focused on Metrorail

Ideas for Metrorail topped the list with 1,042 suggestions. These ranged from small ideas like more “train ends here” stickers on platforms to huge investments in infrastructure like building a new “beltway” rail line that loops around the perimeter of the city.

Next, were 176 ideas related to multiple modes of transportation, such as improvements to transfers between bus and rail or integration with non-Metro modes like Capital Bikeshare.

More than 80 ideas focused on bus service, ranging from specific route recommendations to suggestions for making ingress and egress smoother to speed up service.

There was only one entry that specifically addressed MetroAccess. The idea: use technology similar to uberPOOL so MetroAccess can provide more efficient service by picking up people traveling in the same direction. However, there were several ideas that proposed small changes to Metrorail to make it more accessible to riders with disabilities.

Lastly, there was one idea for enhancing the streetcar: Megan recommended removing parking and replacing it with a bike lane along the streetcar route on H Street. Got that, DDOT?

Top 10 categories

There were A LOT of similar ideas for improving Metro. More than half of all ideas submitted fell into these ten categories.

Where did the ideas come from?

1,061 people proposed small changes to make Metrorail, Metrobus, MetroAccess and the WMATA organization better through MetroGreater.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of people who submitted ideas (97%) live in the region. Regional participation was quite evenly distributed across DC, Maryland, and Virginia, with roughly one third of all submitted ideas coming from each.

Check out the heat map below to see which places across the region generated the most ideas. This map was created using the zip codes people entered when submitting their idea.

There were also 42 ideas from people outside the region from places like California, New York, and North and South Carolina. One idea, from Rachel, came all the way from Tokyo. Tyrion Lannister also snuck in an idea in from Meereen on the continent of Essos. Well played, sir.

What’s next?

This week, WMATA will review de-duplicated ideas and eliminate those that can’t be implemented in under six months for less than $100,000. We hope they’ll be able to give us insights into why some ideas, which seem simple and easy to carry out, actually fall outside the scope of these criteria. We’ll share these in subsequent posts.

Once we have a list of feasible ideas, a jury of transportation leaders from across the region will meet to identify up to 10 finalist ideas. Starting on August 9, each finalist idea will be featured on the blog and you will be able to vote on your favorite.

The finalist idea with the most votes when voting ends on August 19th is the winner. The winner will not only have their idea implemented by WMATA, they will walk away with some great prizes.

Although the submission period has ended, you can still comment on ideas at metrogreater.org.