To Reverse Ridership Declines, Metro Pins Hopes On Development Around Stations, WAMU, January 19, 2016

Martin DiCaro, WAMU's transportation reporter, wrote an excellent article on Metrorail's hopes that development around its stations will increase ridership, citing Reston's Wiehle Station area as an example.  The "hope" is based on a transportation study done by the University of Maryland showing that jobs and residences near Metro contribute to its ridership base.  We would put two caveats on that result:

• Jobs and new residences must be created.  In the current national political climate of reduced federal spending, it is not at all clear when (or if) the Washington area's growth--well behind national averages--will increase.
• Metro must be safe and reliable.  We hope the new general manager can make that happen, but we don't expect any significant improvements in the near term with rail car deliveries slow and the need to improve the safety of railway's infrastructure.  

Here is how DiCaro's article begins:

Will future real estate development guarantee a return of Metro’s lost riders?

The problems plaguing the second-busiest subway system in America are well-documented: an economic downturn and federal budget sequestration led to fewer rides; the reduction of a pre-tax transit benefit, provided by more than 5,000 employers, from $255 to $130 per month also contributed to the decline; and for the first time last year the transit authority admitted that consistently unreliable service — some could describe it as terrible — has alienated commuters.

Since its peak in 2008, when Metrorail recorded 750,000 trips on the average weekday, ridership is down 5 percent.
But Metro’s leaders believe riders will return, pointing to development either underway or planned within close proximity — defined as a half-mile walking distance — of rail stations across the region. Moreover, while overall ridership is down, more people are using the core stations in downtown D.C., as any regular rider can attest during a typical rush hour of packed platforms and crowded trains.

To help Metro determine how to set fares, researchers at the University of Maryland developed a new ridership model that analyzes how the location of jobs and homes will impact the system’s already strained capacity.

Click here for the rest of this article.  

Use of Metrorail declines despite addition of Silver Line due to reliability, safety.

From Washington CityPaper's CitizenDesk:

Metro: On-Time Rail Performance, Customer Satisfaction Continue to Drop

Posted by Sarah Anne Hughes on November 2, 2015 at 3:58 pm

Metrorail on-time performance, quarter three

People who ride Metro are increasingly dissatisfied as on-time rail performance dropped on all six lines between July and September, according to the agency's latest Vital Signs report.
The drops coincide "with railcar shortages, speed restrictions, and service reductions following a fire to prevent bunching," the report [PDF] states. Rail customer satisfaction fell from 73 percent in quarter two to 67 percent in quarter three, "attributable almost entirely to the reliability of the service."

The bad news continues:

• "The minimum car requirement was only met 10 out of 64 weekdays this quarter. Average weekday service was run with a shortage of about 50 cars."
• "Reliability was below target each month in Q3/2015, and 25 percent worse than the same quarter last year due to an increase in propulsion problems on railcars."
• "By the end of September over 50 cars were indefinitely 'parked' due to a lack of parts, an issue that continued into Q4/2015."

 Clear here to read the rest.

WMATA GM selectee steps back from the job--another WMATA Board fiasco!

Press reports just coming in say that WMATA GM selectee, Neal Cohen, has decided not to accept the General Manager position.  Here is the latest report from the Washington Post's Paul Duggan, Michael Laris, and Lori Aratani:

Metro’s protracted search for a new general manager hit another major snag Monday as the transit agency and its top choice for the job, corporate financial expert Neal Cohen, ended their contract discussions.

Cohen, a highly compensated chief financial officer in the private sector who has no experience in public transportation, emerged as the board’s top pick for Metro chief executive last week. Officials familiar with the search said the executive committee of Metro’s board of directors were in contract discussions with Cohen.

But the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Administration announced late Monday afternoon that board members and Cohen had called off their talks.

It is unclear what role the leaking of Cohen’s name mid-process had on the breakdown in talks, though a source said he was taken aback by the public scrutiny, which will be a constant for whoever ends up taking the job.

Reaction was swift and the disappointment in some quarters was deep. . . .

0WTOP reports Governor McAuliffe's reaction to the latest fiasco:

 “I am outraged by the latest setback in a process that would be comical if the need for new leadership at Metro were not so great,” McAuliffe said in a statement Monday.

“Identifying and hiring a qualified General Manager is the WMATA Board’s chief responsibility and the first step that must be taken in order to oversee the safety and operational changes that are essential to Metro’s long-term sustainability. The leaks and petty political sniping that have come to define the work of this board are harming the Metro system and the economy of the region it serves.”

We agree that hiring a qualified General Manager for WMATA is the Board's chief responsibility and the WMATA Board of Directors has failed miserably in carrying out this responsibility in a timely manner, identifying a highly qualified candidate suited to the severe challenges facing one of the largest public transit agencies in the country, negotiating a responsible contract, and keeping the fact and identity of a possible selection confidential.

We believe that it may be worthwhile for the leaders of all the WMATA jurisdictions to seriously consider replacing their representatives on the Board because the current Board membership is clearly unable to carry out its most important responsibility in a professionally responsible manner serving the interests of a better WMATA and regional transportation.

Metro acknowledges breakdowns might be adding to a ridership decline, Washington Post, October 6, 2015

There is very little we can add to this report by Paul Duggan at the Washington Post.  Somehow Metrorail has disintegrated into an unsafe and unreliable rail transit system with declining ridership while, according to the financial briefing, simultaneously charging the second-highest peak fares in the land (second only to BART).  Here is how this article begins:

Metro, in an unusual acknowledgment, says breakdowns and other service failures appear to be contributing to a steady, years-long decline in ridership that is causing financial stress for the transit agency and could lead to fare increases.

The persistent drop in annual rail ridership since 2010 results not only from economic and lifestyle changes in the Washington region, according to a Metro budget report made public this week. The report cites “preliminary evidence” that “concern by customers over service quality and reliability” also is taking a toll on ridership.

The document — prepared as a revenue briefing to be presented to members of Metro’s governing board Thursday — includes an uncommonly candid recognition by the agency that subway performance woes have become so chronic that more and more commuters are abandoning the system, which has worsened Metro’s money problems. . . .

Here's the link.

The Silver Line isn't even completed through Reston and commuters are dropping Metro. Martin Di Caro, WAMU, October 2, 2015

Why D.C.-Area Commuters Say They Are Dropping Metro

By: Martin Di Caro
October 2, 2015 

Some Orange Line riders have decided to avoid the crush — permanently. 

Call them the Metro quitters.

After months of consistently unreliable rush hour service emblematic of this rough year for the D.C. region’s transit system, an unknown but seemingly growing number of commuters are dumping Metro, giving up their seats — if seats are even available aboard packed railcars — for cars, bikes or walking.

WAMU 88.5 has received scores of emails and tweets from Metrorail riders who are quitting the system after the lousy summer that ended on a regrettably fitting note: on Sept. 21 a transformer fire at Metro’s power substation near Stadium-Armory will cause service disruptions for at least six months on the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines. . . .

Click here for the rest of this extensive article, including a number of comments from former Metro riders.

 

Reston 20/20 Analysis: The Proposed PDC and PRM Zoning Ordinance Amendment: Tripling Urban Density While Minimizing Community Involvement, September 28, 2015

   The Proposed PDC and PRM Zoning Ordinance Amendment:  Tripling Potential Urban Density While Minimizing Com...

Without changes, the WMATA budget may grow increasingly unsustainable, GreaterGreaterWashington, September 8, 2015

Dave Alpert's GGW gives an excellent overview and a link to a briefing by WMATA on the poor state of its financial health and dim prospects for the future.  Here is how the article begins:

Metro's costs are growing faster than revenues, and the agency may find itself in increasingly difficult financial shape unless something changes.

If current trends continue, WMATA's costs will grow 6% a year while revenues only grow 1% a year, creating a larger and larger need for local governments to pay more, according to a presentation the WMATA Board will discuss Thursday.

While transit is a vital service in our region and one that's worth paying for, it's not realistic for local governments to keep paying a larger and larger share of their own budgets into this one service when cost growth exceeds inflation or the level of growth in local GDP. . . .

For the rest of this excellent post, please click here.

The . . . Most . . . Dysfunctional . . . Transit . . . Board . . . EVER!

Yes, that will be the WMATA Board of Directors.

Just as we were all headed out the door for a nice Labor Day weekend away from the lunacies of our daily routines, Dr. Gridlock writes a telling article entitled, "Why Metro wants to kill the Dulles 5A bus route."  This route provides service from Washington's L'Enfant Plaza via Rosslyn and the Herndon-Reston P&R before going on to Dulles airport.  Your alternatives from DC are Silver Line to Wiehle and transfer to an IAD-bound bus (being pushed by some WMATA Board members) or the Washington Flyer. 

• From a Metro perspective, operating a direct bus route is less expensive than a combination subway-bus route for both itself and its riders.
• Being a direct route, the 5A bus is much less of a hassle for employees and travelers than the on/off in Reston.
• The transfer alone at Wiehle makes the trip longer and less certain.

So why would the WMATA Board even consider such an action?

Well, it seems that a Maryland member of the Board, Michael Goldman by name, doesn't think the taxpayers of Maryland should be subsidizing a bus route that serves only DC and Virginia.  I'm just wondering how many Marylanders take a train or bus to L'Enfant Plaza to catch the 5A to IAD.   Does Mr. Goldman know?  Does Metro know?  I doubt it.

Deputy Chairman (and Reston-area member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors) Cathy Hudgins countered:

Stunned by Goldman’s proposal, Fairfax representative Catherine Hudgins said that if Maryland wasn’t paying for the route, why should Fairfax County pay? After all, she said, the Fairfax residents are likely taking Fairfax Connector buses to Dulles.

“This is a regional system and I will put my money on the fact that there are Marylanders that are using it as well,” Hudgins said.

She offered a solution: If it’s serving D.C., let D.C. pay for it. Then the board agreed to put the route back on the docket for public hearing.

She made her point about the regional nature of Metro by out-parochializing Maryland's Goldman!  Good on her!  No doubt her point was to make Goldman and other Board members think about how stupid Goldman's proposal is.  This kind of thinking taken to its illogical conclusion would mean each jurisdiction (maybe even at the county or community level) would pay just enough to cover the stations in its jurisdiction or even just the number of passengers who entered or exited at a station in their jurisdiction.   

Metro is a regional transit system.  It is not--or, more accurately, should not be--a kluged-together set of County or smaller jurisdiction transit agencies.  If its Board can not act like a regional transit agency Board of Directors, all of them should resign or be summarily replaced by those who can.  Otherwise, we will continue to have the same poor decisions--and even lack of decisions--on critical matters affecting the future and operations of Metro.

And while the WMATA Board is dealing with this really stupid proposal, it is not selecting a new General Manager, making Metrorail safer, making it more reliable, less expensive, etc.  It is wasting time, money, and whatever remaining confidence and goodwill the transit-riding public has in its judgment. 

Nonetheless, the WMATA Board will be wasting its time to hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Sept. 17, at the Jackson Graham Building, 600 5th St. NW, in the District.  If you have any interest at all in this matter, you had better trek to DC and testify because we have no confidence that the Board will even come close to making a wise decision. 

The Silver Line has been bringing Metro’s performance numbers down, GreaterGreaterWashington.org, August 26, 2015

While the title is misleading, this is an excellent post by blogger Stephen Repetski on the deteriorating operating performance of Metrorail.  Here is Repetski's key reason for the deterioration:

In order to open the Silver Line last year, Metro has had to run more train cars longer, and the extra mileage put onto them has meant their breakdowns may affect your service more often.

That's probably true, but we believe the fact that three of the four lines with the greatest deterioration (SL, OR, BL) run through Rosslyn station on the two-track tunnel downtown is a, if not "the", key driver in this phenomenon.   As Repetsky notes, extremely cold weather last winter was also a contributor to performance deterioration--just exactly the time when potential users are seeking good rail transit service.

These graphics capture the major deterioration in performance, especially "did not operate" (DNO):

 

 

It is important to highlight that the deterioration in DNO performance and volatility in on-time performance shown above began in late 2013 or early 2014, many months before the Silver Line began operations and before extra rail cars were needed.  That speaks to extremely poor maintenance, not too much demand for cars.

In fact, if it were not for the Silver Line, total usage of the system would have declined over the last year.  And even among the limited number of SL stations open in Reston and Tysons, only Reston has exceeded usage forecasts for the first year.  We do not expect SL usage to increase until service improves and the new Phase 2 stations to Loudoun are added. 

One cannot also help but notice that, in 2011, WMATA lowered the target on-time performance from 95% to 90% (black line, top graph).  Lowering the bar is not the answer to providing reliable Metrorail service.   It is merely a justification for poorer service.

Most importantly, it shows a continuing systemic deterioration in Metrorail performance for more than 18 months.  And we still don't know the true causes and potential solutions for this increasingly dangerous situation.

For the full post, please click here.

Time for a "Metrorail Holiday"

This is an expanded version of a letter to the editor by Terry Maynard published in the Washington Post. 

As the Post reports today about the latest major safety flaw in Metro’s system:  The train that derailed last week was operating on track deemed to be “black code”—to be shut down immediately until repaired—last month.   This is only the latest in a string of major failures in recent years.  The effects have ranged from deadly accidents to near daily delays and station closures, reduced ridership, deteriorating finances, demoralized employees, and more.  Metrorail is in crisis.

It is time for a “Metrorail holiday.”  Just as FDR closed the nation’s banks for a week-long “bank holiday” in 1933 to put laws and programs in place to salvage the nation’s banks and their patrons, we need the same kind of action for our most critical regional transit system.   

We have the benefit of some time, although at some risk.  In that time, the US Department of Transportation should form a number of truly independent groups expert in every facet of rail mass transit activities.  Those groups should review Metro’s performance and prepare questions on the full range of potential issues from WMATA’s Board composition to escalator failures. 

Then comes the holiday.  During a week of normally low Metro usage—possibly after Christmas or next August summer break period at the latest—Metrorail should be shut down.  WMATA and local public transit agencies should anticipate this shutdown by temporarily bulking up bus and other transit options.  There will be disruptions, but everyone should have time to prepare.

During that holiday, every person involved with Metro should be interviewed, every network and piece of equipment from telephones to rail cars should be examined, every policy and process should be reviewed, and every inch of track should be inspected.    

Each expert group should prepare a systematic analysis and submit it with a series of findings and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation.  DOT may need to prepare an overview of the results, set an overarching agenda, and provide other guidance to WMATA.  Future federal and other funding should be tied to WMATA addressing the recommendations satisfactorily.

Yes, it is that bad.  Yes, it will be disruptive.  Yes, a Metrorail holiday is absolutely necessary to make Metro a safe and reliable mass transit system.  Anything less will result in Metrorail’s continuing death spiral and growing danger to the public.

Silver Line at Wiehle to Have Planned WORST Service on Metrorail.

Dr. Gridlock writes about the new WMATA plan to change Metrorail scheduling to reduce congestion on the Blue Line.  He concludes his article with the following paragraph:

Under this (WMATA) proposal, Metro estimates, the number of cars in service on the Orange Line in the peak direction would drop from 78 to 64. The average number of passengers per car would rise from 91 to 111, tying the Orange with the Silver Line for most passengers per car, in the Metro estimate.

Of course, this doesn't consider the almost daily delays on Metrorail, many of them on the Silver Line.  So this is the BEST CASE SCENARIO.  A two-minute delay with this planned schedule would mean nearly 140 passengers on the train at Wiehle.  A five-minute delay would mean 175 passengers. 

For this service, Dulles Toll Road users are paying $3 billion (plus oodles of interest) for the Silver Line's construction and the taxpayers of Fairfax County are paying roughly another one billion dollars.  And that doesn't count other federal, state, and local contributions to the line's construction. 

Metro aims to cut trains on some lines, including the Silver Line to Reston.

Washington Post

Metro aims to cut trains on some lines

Trains would arrive less frequently under a new proposal from Metro. (Courtesy WMATA)

By Dana Hedgpeth June 30 at 10:12 AM

Metro is proposing adding more trains and reducing the wait times for riders on its crowded Blue Line, but at the expense of at least four other rail lines.

The proposed changes are expected to be presented Wednesday night at a meeting of its riders advisory group. They would still need to go through public hearings and approval by the board. If approved, the changes would go into place in December, according to Metro officials.

The changes are meant to ease crowding on the Blue Line.

Riders on the Blue Line would see trains every eight minutes in rush hour, up from the current 12 minutes. There would also be more trains on the Blue Line at peak times — roughly 56, up from the current 36.

That means trains on the Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow lines will see changes as well. There would be fewer trains on most of those lines. Trains would come every eight minutes, instead of every six minutes as they do now. . . .

Click here for the rest of this article.

Oh, why not?

Dulles Toll Road users are only paying half of the $6 biillion cost to build the Silver Line, not to mention the $900 million the County is putting into building it, so if there are fewer trains, maybe more people will crowd on to the DTR--lowering future astronomical toll growth.  The line should last years longer if fewer trains run on it!  (OK, we're just kidding!) 

. . . but it is really hard to make this stuff up!  Who are these people???

WMATA Safety Management Inspection Report, June 15, 2015

   WMATA Safety Management Inspection Report, June 17, 2015 by Terry Maynard

To receive this unsafe Metrorail service, Dulles Toll Road users are paying $2.8 billion plus interest toward the construction of the Silver Line, all Restonian and other Fairfax County residents are expected to pay $161MM in 2016 (per the WMATA draft budget) for the operation and capital investments in WMATA rail & bus service through the County's contribution to WMATA, and a much smaller share of the statewide contribution to WMATA. 

And that was before the costs the FTA's fixes will require.  

Metro's Federal Funding Slashed In Half In House Subcommittee, Martin DiCaro, WAMU

On Capitol Hill, a House panel has made a big funding cut that could affect Metro's ongoing rebuilding program.

Each of the past six years Metro has received $150 million from the federal government, part of a 10-year, $1.5 billion program approved by Congress to help Metro rebuild its rail system after the fatal 2009 Red Line crash. But Tuesday a House appropriations subcommittee slashed next year's funding in half, to $75 million.

The money pays for the ongoing track work that often disrupts service on weekends but is crucial to catching up on years of deferred maintenance. The funds also help pay for new railcars that are more crash-resistant than the rail system's original railcars, which failed to protect passengers in the 2009 disaster at Fort Totten. . . .

Click here for the rest of this brief story.

While a subcommittee's actions do not alone determine the fate of Metro funding, the decision is a strong condemnation of WMATA's management of Metrorail, especially its finances which are in absolute disarray.

If the subcommittee's action stands, it will either (or both) mean higher local taxes to offset the losses or years-longer delays in improving Metrorail's track condition and replacing its more dangerous older passenger cars.  None of this is good.

Wiehle Station Metro users pay the highest fares in the Metrorail system.

This is Reston 2020's 2,000th post in its 5-1/2 year history in the blogosphere looking after the community planning interests of Restonians!  And more posts are on their way.

A really nifty article and graphic called Metrorail Revenue by Station--Visualized!  at Plan-It Metro shows that the people who use our first Reston Metrorail station pay the highest average fares of any users on the Metrorail system no matter the time of day. 

• On an all day average, the 8,137 users of the Wiehle station pay $4.34 per entry, the highest anywhere on the Metrorail system.  The second highest average fare goes to the Vienna station at $4.08 per passenger.  In fact, those are the ONLY two stations--both in Fairfax County--that average more than $4.00 per entry in the entire Metrorail system.

• During the morning peak period, the average 5,079 Wiehle station users pay $5.36 per user, the only users on the Metrorail system who pay more than $5.00 during the AM peak period.

• During mid-day, Wiehle station users again pay the highest fares in the system at an average of $3.38 per user, just two cents ahead of their Vienna station counterparts.

• During the afternoon peak period, Metrorail users entering the Wiehle station again pay the highest fare at a $5.18, the only average fare system-wide that exceeds $5.00.

• And, finally, in the slack evening period, Wiehle station entrants again pay the highest average fares in Metrorail at $3.44, slightly ahead of their Vienna counterparts at $3.33 per person average.

So those who choose not to use the Dulles Toll Road because of the abusive charges to cover the building of the Silver Line also face the highest fares in the Metrorail system, morning, noon, and night.

Why?

Here's the interactive graphic:

"The draft (financial management) report commissioned by the Federal Transit Administration paints a damning picture of Metro officials' management of billions of dollars in federal grant money," Washington Post, March 11, 2015

 UPDATE:  In a March 27 follow-up article in WaPo, reporter Lori Aratani writes that Moody's downgrades Metro's bond ratings.   The article notes that WMATA's rating has been downgraded from Aa3 to A1 in large part because of its need for additional short-term financing and limited reserves discussed below.  The only reason an "A" can be attached to these bonds at all is the backing of localities in all three area jurisdictions--DC, MD, and VA.  In other cases like this, we would be looking WMATA bonds at junk ratings.  And who will pay the extra interest created by this management mess?  Taxpayers in all participating locations.
 
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. . . not to mention billions of dollars of state and local funds as well as the fares paid by Metrorail riders and the tolls paid by Dulles Toll Road users.

This year-old draft audit of WMATA's financial management systems, presented by the Washington Post, paints a picture of a nearly bankrupt, utterly incompetent, and potentially corrupt regional transportation system.  It is one of the bleakest assessments of any government financial management system at any level of government we have ever seen.  “It’s an incredible lack of management for such an important public agency. Yet no one seems to be held accountable for it,” said (DC council member Elissa) Silverman (I-At Large) , a member of the council’s finance and revenue committee."  We think that is an understatement. 

And how has WMATA leadership responded:

• It has blamed the failures on previous managers--again and again and again ad nauseum . . .

• It has hired not one, but TWO, public relations firms to polish its image--we kid you not!  (Ummm, how about hiring a financial expert or two to fix WMATA's pathetic financial management systems and identify those who should be summarily fired instead?  Just a thought....)

And now WaPo (Abigail Hauslohner and Paul Duggan) reports that some of financial consequences are coming home to roost with a half-billion dollars in short-term debt due by October, and more money will be needed before year-end.

Metro officials want permission to borrow $220 million to cover a loan coming due in October, as the transit agency continues struggling under restrictions imposed last year after a federal audit found numerous instances of financial mismanagement. . .

If Metro obtains the $220 million loan, it would still need an additional $208 million to cover loans due later this year. It could tap cash reserves, obtain other financing or persuade some of its lenders to extend credit terms.

In documents prepared ahead of the Metro board’s meeting Thursday, Metro staff said that despite cash-flow improvements, “pressures remain on the amount and availability of cash in the near term.”
Metro’s total short-term debt amounts to $502 million, money that Metro Board Chairman Mortimer Downey said has been used primarily for building projects and improvements. . . .

And WMATA's own audit of finances that ended June 2014 is four months overdue and won't be completed until April according to WMATA's acting GM.  By our calculation, that's at least five months and maybe a half-year overdue--if the forecast is remotely accurate.

As you might expect, the shortfalls in short-term financing are affecting WMATA's ability to borrow long-term for needed capital investments in the Metrorail system.

“Until there is comfort that the financial management systems and processes are in order, the [chief financial officer] cannot recommend long-term borrowing or additional capital requests beyond safety needs for WMATA,” David Umansky, a spokesman for D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey S. DeWitt, said later in an e-mail.

OK, let's say WMATA puts its horribly mis-managed financial house in order.  That doesn't mean it will have more financial reserves.  Even if it has a good financial management system, that will not address the availability of long-term capital to fulfill WMATA's planned Metrorail (NOT bus) capital improvements in its "Momentum:  Strategic Plan for 2013-2025."   Those total about $4.9 billion in 2012 dollars (which is about $5.9 billion in future dollars over the 12-year period).  

How does WMATA expect to gain access to twelve times as much long-term capital as it now has outstanding in short-term debt if it cannot pay off its short-term debt, but needs to roll it over routinely--and add to it--even if financial controls are in place?

The question is especially salient for those who live or work near the new Silver Line, which County officials see as the driver of economic growth at Tysons, Reston, Herndon, and on into Loudoun County for decades to come. 

We've already documented that the 64 scheduled new Kawasaki Series 7000 railcars for Phase 1 of the Silver Line (to Wiehle/Reston) are overdue with little reasonable explanation of why or when they might be put in service.  Maybe they are overdue at least in part because WMATA can't pay for them, and not the incomplete safety tests as reported by WaPo.  What does that forebode for the second delivery of 64 Series 7000 railcars when the Silver Line's Phase 2 to Loudoun County is put into operation in 2018?  And that doesn't consider the 620 other railcars at a total cost of $2 billion that WMATA is plans to have in operation by December 2018. 

Yet WMATA can find money to spend on two public relations firms.  Who makes up these priorities?

We have no idea how WMATA will dig itself out of this huge financial hole.  Indeed, WMATA appears to be digging the hole deeper as its Board decides not to raise fares this year to stop declining usage (because of declining service quality and safety concerns) at a time when it needs to borrow more to cover short-term funding needs.  The fear--and we don't think that is an exaggeration--is that WMATA will turn first once again to state and local governments beyond Washington, DC, to bail it out again. Until WMATA has its financial house in order, there is no legitimacy to ANY government--federal, state, or local--providing it additional funding. 

And, oh yes, here is that awful audit of WMATA's financial management system:

   Draft Report WMATA Management Oversight Review

Greater Greater Washington reviews Silver Line usage--and Wiehle is the most used station!

Based on interactive maps generated on WMATA's PlanItMetro website, GGW offers the following insights on use of the Wiehle-Reston Metrorail station:

Wiehle-Reston East gets the most passengers overall

Wiehle-Reston East currently handles the lion's share of passengers at new Silver Line stations, partly because it's a hub for transit riders whose bus routes take them there or who use the station's large park-and-ride garage. Wiehle-Reston East's ridership base is a lot like other stations at the end of Metro lines: the overwhelming majority of its riders are inbound commuters who enter on weekday mornings and exit on weekday evenings.

Interestingly, Wiehle is also the largest single commuting destination on the Silver Line. On the average weekday during the morning peak, about 1,000 passengers exit at Wiehle, compared to about 5,000 entries. Even though Tysons Corner is a jobs hub, only about 900 people exit at that station during the same period. At the four stations in the Tysons area, there are about 2,100 combined exits during this period.

The Wiehle number is impressive because more people exit at Wiehle Avenue during the morning peak than exit from any other terminal station. Wiehle's 1,046 average exits trumps the next-best terminal, Shady Grove (with 977 average exits).

Also interestingly, Wiehle's ratio of entries to exits is the smallest of all the terminal stations (meaning it's the most tilted toward exits). At Wiehle Avenue, for every exit, there are 4.9 entries. That compares to 6.1 entries for every exit at New Carrollton, 7.3 at Greenbelt, and 7.5 at Largo.

Some of this ridership is likely due to people connecting to buses bound for Reston, Herndon, and Dulles Airport. But there are some office buildings around the station as well.

Ridership at Wiehle will likely change once Phase Two is complete: many passengers who currently arrive on buses, or take them to destinations like Reston Town Center or Dulles, will instead start boarding the Silver Line farther down the line.

While it is reasonable generates more morning boardings than other SL stations because it is at the end of the line, it is pleasantly surprising that it also generates more morning exits than any other endpoint station in the system as well as major job hub Tysons.  Apparently, Reston IS a destination!

The Silver Line: The Continuing Saga of the Metrorail Line without Rail Cars

Almost everyone has been pleased with the launching of the Silver Line last June, and Restonians have been quick to embrace it as another vital means of transportation in a congested corridor.  But the Silver Line is running on old, borrowed railway cars that are less reliable and even less safe than their newer counterparts.  

This is not news to WMATA which has a series of contracts and options in place with Kawasaki to address the increasingly antiquated rail cars throughout the Metrorail system the inadequate number of railway cars on the Silver Line.  In fact, the initial contract for the Series 7000 cars was signed four and one-half years (August 2010).  Overall, the contract calls for the construction of up to 748 of a new Series 7000 Kawasaki cars for Metrorail.  Here are the particulars as presented to the WMATA Customer Service and Operations Committee in an October 2013 update:

As this background section indicates, 64 of the cars were intended for Phase I of the Silver Line and another 64 with the completion of Phase II.  The 64 Series 7000 cars for Phase I were due to be delivered last month.  In fact, the following graphic depicts the delivery schedule as of October 2013--and there have been no updates published since to our knowledge:

 

Last week, the Washington Post wrote a rather discouraging article on progress in meeting these delivery deadlines.  It states in part:

After more than a year of running tests and blowing past expected deadlines, Metro promised Thursday that it was only a few weeks away from announcing the launch date for a new series of advanced railcars.

The stainless steel 7000-series subway cars represent a planned $2 billion modernization of Metrorail’s stock. The transit agency hopes to introduce 748 of the cars over the next three years as part of a plan to run all eight-car trains during rush hour, while also replacing the transit agency’s oldest cars, which date to the 1970s.

Eight of the new cars, the first batch acquired by Metro, have been undergoing tests since early 2014. . . .

Metro officials had earlier predicted that the new cars would start carrying passengers by mid-January. But at a meeting of the transit agency’s board of directors on Thursday, officials said that testing was still ongoing, and some board members expressed frustration with the delays.

Tom Downs, a member of the board’s safety and security committee, and a former Amtrak chief executive, said transit authorities had a “responsibility” to tell the public “when they can expect to see the 7000-series cars on the rails.” . . .

Interim General Manager Jack Requa assured the Metro board on Thursday that the transit agency would announce a release date within a few weeks. “We’re all waiting,” Downs said.

According to Metro’s working timetable, 56 of the new cars are expected to be in service by this summer.

But each batch of four cars, arriving from the Kawasaki Rail Car factory in Nebraska, will have to go through testing on local tracks before the cars can take on passengers.

The Tri-State Oversight Committee, which monitors Metro’s safety, said it had finished its own review of the new railcars, but that Metro still needs to complete the cars’ safety certification — a step that Metro officials say has already happened.

“That is in their mind,” said the committee’s chair, Klara Baryshev. “In our minds, it is not.”

 What???

 . . . the next (WMATA) general manager will come under immediate pressure to secure the extra $1.47 billion that Metro needs for 220 of the new cars.

Metro officials expect to resolve the funding issue by the time the D.C. Council and the Maryland and Virginia legislatures finalize their budgets in spring.

The offer price for the remaining cars will expire in June, and transportation experts fear that the price could spike after that. . . .

And there you have it:  Not a single rail car has been put into service, indeed none have apparently been certified for use, only a few have arrived, and WMATA is looking in other peoples' pockets at a late hour to come up with the $1.5 BILLION to finance the the purchase of 220 more of the new cars.   But delivery of few Series 7000 rail cars is expected to begin "soon," according to WMATA officials.

And the WMATA Board just decided to NOT raise fares this year.  Go figure!

This unfinished story nightmare all just leaves our head shaking at the inability of any of the responsible players in this "initiative" to actually complete their various tasks in a timely, rational way.   In fact, it is hard to be constructively critical because it appears no on has done anything they should have when they should have done it--other than commit WMATA to a multi-billion dollar acquisition using other people's money.  The result is an extensive delay in getting the Silver Line the cars it needs and paying tens, if not hundreds, of millions more for cars arriving for the entire system several years late.