Breakfast links: Keeping it moving
Metro’s misfortunes
Escalator woes aren’t going away anytime soon (Dr. Gridlock) … Those outages made at least one person climb the side of the escalator at Bethesda (DCist) … A train derailed in the New Carrollton railyard (Examiner) … Some ways to improve the vital signs scorecard (Dr. Gridlock) … At least the doors are fixed. (Examiner)
Blue Bus becomes Circulator 9/1
Posters have started appearing in the Georgetown Metro Connection (“Blue Bus”) informing riders that the routes will become Circulators starting September 1. (brownpau via Georgetown Metropolitan)
Bus stop consolidation very tough politically
The Maryland MTA won’t eliminate any bus stops after a rider advocacy group complained. It’s important to have a good process and make sure people get heard, but it’s also necessary to take some heat and remove some bus stops if they’re truly too close together. (Baltimore Sun)
BRAC imminent
Nearly everyone agrees BRAC is going to be a traffic disaster next year, with 18,000 jobs moving from transit-oriented Crystal City and the Pentagon to the Mark Center and Fort Belvoir. Congressmen think so, AAA, VDOT, and I are all quoted saying so. A real estate agent in exurban southern Fairfax is excited, though. (Examiner)
Security sprawl
Besides BRAC, one factor contributing to defense sprawl is the desire of every agency to have a really big SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, regardless of need. (Post)
Washington Monument competition too modern?
Erik Bootsma worries about the lack of classical architects on the judging panel for the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds, and also suggests just implementing the original McMillan plans for the area. (Beatus Est)
Repeat after me
How many times do we have to debunk the claim that driving is a result of a free market? It’s not! Libertarian think tanks could push many really innovative market-based transportation solutions, but instead Cato just turns over transportation policy to transit hater Randal O’Toole. (Matthew Yglesias)