WMATA Releases Preliminary Inauguration Day Service Plan

My experience on Metro wasn't too bad. I took MARC into Union Station from Germantown, and Metro from Germantown to Metro Center both ways. Both times it was merely coincidental that I used Metro Center station since neither time was it my intended station, but always happened to be most convenient.

The headways on the Red Line were a minute or less, and most trains were 8-cars. Coming in on MARC I saw a significant backup on the Glenmont side (Silver Spring-WAS) of the Red Line. As expected it was standing room only on the trains, but the stations weren't as bad as I thought they would be. When I got off at Union Station coming back, all the faregates were open so no one had to pay going in or out of the system. Plus, there was no access to the upper level (Amtrak and MARC) of the station because of Secret Service activity and overcrowding, which led to a horrible 2-hour episode outside on 1st St in a very large crowd of angry Amtrak and MARC passengers, but that's another story...

My experience today was fine and very smooth for the most part. I left my house in Fairfax a little before 7, but I avoided the Vienna station after seeing aerial photos on the morning news showing the lines to get in the parking. As I pulled out of my driveway, WTOP's traffic report said that Huntington was only 50% full, so I headed that way. Not only was I able to park in the lower level of the north garage there, there was no one in sight to collect the $4 fee - I was pleasantly surprised at both. I was able to get right on a train (already had a pass), then I switched to a blue line to head to Arlington Cemetery and then walk across the Memorial Bridge. The only glitch is that the train I was on was offloaded at a crowded Crystal City station due to a door problem. I immediately went to the opposite platform, went back to National Airport, and got on the next inbound blue line train, which was holding on the platform there (I even got a seat on the rear car). It cost me a little bit of time, but not nearly as much as if I had had to fight the crowds trying to board at Crystal City. Adding eight carloads of passengers to an already-full platform was not a good thing. After the swearing-in ceremony, I went back to Arlington Cemetery, then rode to Union Station (which was packed) to meet a friend. I then went the long way around (to Fort Totten, then south on the Green Line, then over to the Yellow Line at Gallery Place) to get back to Huntington. The trains were crowded, but not terribly so. All in all, it was not a bad day for me on Metro and, given the crowds, I think they did a good job (and I'm glad the lady from the Gallery Place incident appears to be okay). All my years of living here have taught me to avoid the most crowded stations (I didn't get on or off at any of the downtown stations, except Union Station) at all costs.

One thing is for sure: those of us who know how to get around Metrorail well enough know about doubling back and alternate routes to get around jams on the direct line....

WMATAGMOAGH wrote:WMATA posted a video of conditions on board Metro today (Inauguration Day) on their website, you can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t98MvwNkD-k.

a few interesting points in the video
Metro quote says "due to crowded conditions on the National Mall there was a significant wait to exit L'Enfant Plaza". If the crowds on the street are so big that you can't exit the station I don't think you can blame the transit system.
One scene too typical of subways, 1 person blocking 1 leaf of the double door while passengers single file alight from the car.
Crowd walking up a broken escalator. I'm in the Philly area where we have very few escalators at all, broken or not.

gardendance wrote:

WMATAGMOAGH wrote:WMATA posted a video of conditions on board Metro today (Inauguration Day) on their website, you can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t98MvwNkD-k.

a few interesting points in the video
Metro quote says "due to crowded conditions on the National Mall there was a significant wait to exit L'Enfant Plaza". If the crowds on the street are so big that you can't exit the station I don't think you can blame the transit system.
One scene too typical of subways, 1 person blocking 1 leaf of the double door while passengers single file alight from the car.
Crowd walking up a broken escalator. I'm in the Philly area where we have very few escalators at all, broken or not.

I thought the same thing on the person blocking half the doorway although it is possible he had nowhere else to go in the car until the train emptied out.

The stopped escalators were most likely not broken but deliberately turned off for crowd control and safety purposes.

If there was nowhere else to go on the car he could have jumped off until at least most of the people had gotten off, then gotten back on. Even if he had to block 2 or 3 people to do so before the doors closed, that's better than blocking ALL the people.
Although turning an escalator off makes it more difficult for the crowd to traverse, I don't see how it controls them, and since escalator steps are taller than those on a regular stairway, and therefor easier to trip on, I sure don't see how it adds to safety.

Its safer because you can stop - an escalator forces you to keep moving.

Imagine a completely packed platform - no room for another person.

Now imagine completely packed escalator - if it's running, it's going to keep forcing people out onto the overcrowded platform. If it's stopped, people can stop, stand there and wait for the area to clear.

At some stations Metro only had a pair of escaltors going in one direction. At Union station I couldn't use the normal way to connect to Metro from MARC and Amtrak since they only had both escalators going up (the elevator was still working but a WMATA employee told us to go around anyway), so I had to go down the escalators past the food court and enter that way, or I could have gone outside and used that entrance. It was similar at Metro Center. Each escalator exit from the Blue/Orange Line level up to the Red Line was one direction only.

HokieNav wrote:Its safer because you can stop - an escalator forces you to keep moving.

Imagine a completely packed platform - no room for another person.

Now imagine completely packed escalator - if it's running, it's going to keep forcing people out onto the overcrowded platform. If it's stopped, people can stop, stand there and wait for the area to clear.

but the video had 2 escalators, one moving from platform to street, the other stopped with passengers walking from platform to street. Are we to assume that the street was too crowded for 2 escalators, but ok for 1?

I didn' see this posted here, but the Washington Post reported the woman who fell off the platform at Gallery Place was not hit by a train or seriously injured. Instead, she was immediately helped under the platform by a Houston transit officer -- apparently he jumped down to the tracks to assist her -- to avoid a train coming into the station. EMS was called to the scene, however, and the Post reported this caused about a 45-minute delay in service.

My question is, did she fall from the Red Line or Green/Yellow Line platform at Gallery Pl/Chinatown?

And how many out-of-town/out-of-state transit officers were brought in to assist Washington police? I would never have expected that but it's pretty cool, I think.

Tommy Meehan wrote:I didn' see this posted here, but the Washington Post reported the woman who fell off the platform at Gallery Place was not hit by a train or seriously injured. Instead, she was immediately helped under the platform by a Houston transit officer -- apparently he jumped down to the tracks to assist her -- to avoid a train coming into the station. EMS was called to the scene, however, and the Post reported this caused about a 45-minute delay in service.

My question is, did she fall from the Red Line or Green/Yellow Line platform at Gallery Pl/Chinatown?

And how many out-of-town/out-of-state transit officers were brought in to assist Washington police? I would never have expected that but it's pretty cool, I think.

It was on the Red Line platform.

From the WMATA:
"More than 8,000 Metro employees worked on Inauguration day including 417 Transit Police officers; 266 volunteer police officers from other police agencies; and 340 people who volunteered to be Metro Ambassadors. "

Thanks realtype. Transit cops from all over the USA. That's a first!

Including my hometown MBTA Police Dept, and I don't know about this, but did anyone see BART Police on Metro as well?

Robert Paniagua wrote:....did anyone see BART Police....?

I'm not gonna touch that one.

But in addition to Boston MBTA cops, I would guess Septa was probably there. Maybe Maryland MTA police? (If there is an agency by that name.) If Houston was there, possibly DART too? Maybe Los Angeles' MTA police? Metra from Pres. Obama's home city/state of Chicago Illinois?

I wonder if NYPD was involved? (The separate NY Transit Police was folded into the city force some years ago.) NYPD had a bad experience in Washington during a law enforcement convention a few years back, so maybe NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly thought it'd be a bad idea?

How about New York's MTA police?

Anyone know??

Tommy Meehan wrote:

Robert Paniagua wrote:....did anyone see BART Police....?

I'm not gonna touch that one.

But in addition to Boston MBTA cops, I would guess Septa was probably there. Maybe Maryland MTA police? (If there is an agency by that name.) If Houston was there, possibly DART too? Maybe Los Angeles' MTA police? Metra from Pres. Obama's home city/state of Chicago Illinois?

I wonder if NYPD was involved? (The separate NY Transit Police was folded into the city force some years ago.) NYPD had a bad experience in Washington during a law enforcement convention a few years back, so maybe NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly thought it'd be a bad idea?

How about New York's MTA police?

Anyone know??

I don't know about the other but I'm pretty sure BART police were there. In fact that's actually the first one I heard about. Yes, the Maryland MTA has their own, pretty large police force, I'm not sure if they were in DC, but they probably were.