Metrorail

When the D.C. streetcars start carrying passengers, don't look for them to be an immediate hit as people-movers. At first, they will operate more like a Disneyland ride than a transit system. And that's okay, as long as this initial service lays the foundation for the system. A letter responding to my report on plans for the H Street/Benning Road line raises some related issues about the upcoming service. Dear Dr. Gridlock: You quoted 156 passengers per car, which is probably...

When the D.C. streetcars start carrying passengers, don't look for them to be an immediate hit as people-movers. At first, they will operate more like a Disneyland ride than a transit system. And that's okay, as long as this initial service lays the foundation for the system. A letter responding to my report on plans for the H Street/Benning Road line raises some related issues about the upcoming service. Dear Dr. Gridlock: You quoted 156 passengers per car, which is probably...

Rolling Thunder Today is the big day for the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally's annual tribute to veterans in D.C. Participants plan to gather at the North Pentagon Parking Lot from 7 a.m. to noon. Then they leave for the District. The I-95/395 HOV lanes will be closed to regular traffic from 7:30 to 11 a.m. during the gathering. Washington Boulevard will be closed between I-395 and the Arlington Memorial Bridge from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The riders cross Memorial Bridge to 23rd Street NW, go north...

THE region Nike half marathon set for Sunday The Nike Women Half Marathon is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Sunday. The 13.1-mile course begins on Pennsylvania Avenue at 11th Street NW, heads through the Mall, continues past the Washington Monument, crosses the Arlington Memorial Bridge, in both directions, and swings south to Hains Point before returning to Pennsylvania Avenue and 11th Street. Metrorail will open at 5 a.m. because of the race. The closest stops to the starting point...

As a Metrorail commuter, I choked on the May 8 Metro article "Food Kiosks at Stations? Metro Just Might Bite. " If Metro managers think riders won't eat and drink more in the system with food kiosks in stations, they've got it wrong. Stations and rail cars are already trashed daily. I often see mice on the tracks, and the other day I saw a rat at the Fort Totten Station. Metro should ask its station custodians what they think of this idea. Those workers will be pulling lots of overtime to keep up with all the trash, defeating the purpose of...

Saturday was game day for both the Washington Nationals and the Washington Capitals. It should be obvious that there should be more trains running to accommodate fans going to the games. However, the powers that run Metrorail decided that Saturday was a day to cut service, leaving many fans (and others) stuck on train platforms because the Red Line trains going downtown were so crowded that many would-be passengers couldn't even attempt to get on. Is it too much to ask that Metrorail officials consult a calendar of events when...

The impact of the proposed Metro fare increases would vary greatly, depending on the type of trip. Metro General Manager Richard Sarles has proposed ending the peak-of-the-peak surcharge , while increasing the Metrorail boarding charge, the per-mile charge, the maximum SmarTrip fare and daily parking rates. But those costs affect riders in different ways, depending on whether they commute long distance at the height of rush hour, make a shorter trip at a less crowded time or head for one of the D.C. region's...

After several years of study, the transit authority has decided how it wants to rearrange the Metrorail trains . Now Metro's task is to explain this new rush-hour service so people can take advantage of it, or at least avoid getting lost. What's changing? Starting in June, the peak period service will include more Orange Line trains coming from the line's western end in Northern Virginia into downtown Washington. Fewer Blue Line trains will serve the downtown's west side.

The April 22 editorial " Is Dulles rail running aground ?" was the best explanation I've seen for why Metrorail should not be extended into Loudoun County. The editorial said that extending Metro could bring up to 40,000 jobs to Loudoun that would otherwise go to Reston or elsewhere in Fairfax County and that Loudoun's growth would be lessened by 10 percent or more. And of course, it will cost us millions. I don't want 40,000 new jobs in Loudoun, and slowing growth by 10 percent or more would be a...

Metrobus passengers in Maryland and Northern Virginia will keep all their routes, but Metrorail riders could wait longer for trains on weekends as part of the agency's efforts to close a $72 million gap in its next operating budget. However, Metro's board of directors said Thursday they are still considering cutting some bus routes in the District to save money. The board also agreed it would not try to generate income by selling naming rights to Metrorail stations. In a meeting, board members also said...

With the Washington region's population boom, more people have had to figure out how to commute in an area where the roads are infamously congested and the Metrorail system has a limited reach. For an increasing number of commuters, the answer has been the buses crisscrossing the region's suburbs, where city- and county-run bus systems have seen a steady rise in ridership in recent years. But relying on buses means depending on lines that in some cases have to traverse big areas and are at the mercy of the region's traffic.

Bryant Foulger found himself in an unusual spot — on the outside, looking in. He sat in the audience in the Montgomery County Council chambers one afternoon last month, waiting with the rest of the public to hear the results of an engineering report about the Silver Spring Transit Center . The report would cite shoddy work by his family-owned real estate and construction firm, Foulger-Pratt , as a factor contributing to the cracked and...

The controversial Columbia Pike streetcar project, more than a decade in the making, will not get federal funding, Arlington and Fairfax county officials learned Friday, but they don't know why. The Federal Transit Administration did not list the $250 million streetcar project on its 2014 Small Starts funding list, which was released Friday without explanation. Arlington had hoped for as much as $75 million for the project. "We are disappointed, no question about it, but we will not give up in searching...

The iconic design of Metro's rail stations, intended to echo the monuments that make up the capital landscape, is going to be given a very modern makeover, officials said Thursday. Stainless steel, bright lights and clear glass would supplant the soft lighting and dark colors that were defining elements of the subway system when it was designed and built in the 1960s and 1970s. The proposed changes, which would be most noticeable in some of the system's underground stations, mark a striking departure for Metro.

My March 31 report on the problems travelers face on Interstate 66 , now the subject of a study by Virginia and federal officials, drew this response. Dear Dr. Gridlock: My heart sank when I read your article — not because I was surprised by the results of the study, but because I bet someone was paid to complete this when almost any one of the drivers on I-66 could have told you the problem just as precisely, except that we don't know about 2040. We know...

Extensive repair work on the Silver Spring Transit Center will not begin until late summer at the earliest, and an estimated date for opening the long-delayed bus-and-train hub remains unclear, Montgomery County officials said Monday. A county spokesman also said that no taxpayer money will be spent on the fixes, which will include ripping out two flawed sections of the center's second floor. The cost — yet to be determined — will be borne by the project's design and...

Arlington is a highly desirable place to live, and I am proud to have represented it for decades as an elected official. I am also proud that my county is moving forward with a new streetcar system . I started my public service in Arlington on the school board in 1976. At that time, Arlington faced a storm of controversy about a major new transit project: Metrorail. A small but vocal faction of our community claimed that the proposed Orange, Blue and Yellow lines were too expensive and risky and...

Looking at our transit system's uncertain future, it helps to discuss how we got this far. Dear Dr. Gridlock: One contributor [Dr. Gridlock, July 6] noted correctly that Metro has cultivated the notion that it is different from other subway systems, more like a commuter railroad than a subway. This notion, mass transportation without the masses, was always doomed to fail. Either the special ambiance would persist and the system would serve so few people it would gain little...

Arlington is a highly desirable place to live, and I am proud to have represented it for decades as an elected official. I am also proud that my county is moving forward with a new streetcar system . I started my public service in Arlington on the school board in 1976. At that time, Arlington faced a storm of controversy about a major new transit project: Metrorail. A small but vocal faction of our community claimed that the proposed Orange, Blue and Yellow lines were too expensive and risky and...

Dear Dr. Gridlock: After reading your column " Metrorail's goal of an easy-to-use, self-service system is far from reality ," I couldn't help but think of a recent trip I took to another city, far away. My wife is from Taiwan, so in October we spent 10 days there, mostly in the capital city of Taipei. We are not regular users of Metrorail but use it enough to be reminded of its annoying aspects, most of which are mentioned in your column. The Taipei subway system is as...