Would you support more Toll Roads to help pay for Metro? (DMV Area)

[Major Harris]

If Major is coming from WV, perhaps he can bring some shine?

Got some in the freezer now

[tshile]

how much do you think the whole roads network in the greater DC area costs....?

 

and... how much would it suck ass to be on those roads if suddenly 712,843 more people were on them?  

Isn't it ~350k people?

I thought it was ~700k trips; ie: you go to and from work thats 1 traveler, 2 trips

 

?

 

(not that it changes your argument, the system is overloaded and adding 350k isn't any good either)

[grhqofb5]

how much do you think the whole roads network in the greater DC area costs....?

 

and... how much would it suck ass to be on those roads if suddenly 712,843 more people were on them?  

 

Roads are different.  The vast majority of people use roads.  Even people that use Metro.  Most major cities get by without a subway system.

 

Are you suggesting that DC's entire population (713K) would appear on the roads?  Or are you confusing the trips figure?  For metrorail the average was 204K origin to destination trips per day in 2014.

I don't think 700,000+ people per day is such a small portion of the workforce.  That is a very significant portion of the workforce.

 

Not everyone who rides the metro is using it for work.  And its not 700,000 per day.

[pjfootballer]

Who/Why would anyone "joyride" on 495. Lol. It's not a joy. It's drudgery.

[The Evil Genius]

Transportation in and of itself is usually considered a derived demand. We rarely travel to and from places solely for the joy of it. We travel to get somewhere or to leave somewhere.

Also worth noting is that a lot of travel demand models show we take about 3 to 4 unique trips a day in our car. Eliminating 1/2 or more of those trips or greatly reducing miles traveled in a day with things like Metro (acknowledging the fact that you might drive to Metro), does wonders for capacity/level of service and air quality in your area.

Of course that's goes largely unknown by the average commuter.

[PleaseBlitz]

Roads are different.  The vast majority of people use roads.  Even people that use Metro.  Most major cities get by without a subway system.

 

Are you suggesting that DC's entire population (713K) would appear on the roads?  Or are you confusing the trips figure?  For metrorail the average was 204K origin to destination trips per day in 2014.

 

Not everyone who rides the metro is using it for work.  And its not 700,000 per day.

 

#1, what does it matter if the rides are for work or otherwise?  It still takes cars off of the road either way.

 

#2, Its 700,000 trips in 2015.  Here are the official stats:  http://www.wmata.com/pdfs/planning/2015_historical_rail_ridership.pdf.  It shows 712,843 average weekday trips.

 

And of course im not "suggesting that DC's entire population (713K) would appear on the roads?"  Here is a picture of the Metro system.  Note that it covers more than just DC, in case you were not aware.

 

 

I'm really beginning to think you are being obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse.  

[DogofWar1]

It's worth pointing out that DC's roads are also barely functional too.

 

18th street is what I imagine the boss room at the end of Mario 3 looks like after a fight with Bowser.  The DC Mayor be butt-stompin' all over the street trying to kill an Italian dude.

[Mufumonk]

It's worth pointing out that DC's roads are also barely functional too.

18th street is what I imagine the boss room at the end of Mario 3 looks like after a fight with Bowser. The DC Mayor be butt-stompin' all over the street trying to kill an Italian dude.

Sounds like the inner loop between Conn Ave and Georgia Ave. All the hot patches in the world aren't enough to fix that mess.

[China]

Most light rail doesn't do this that I am aware of.

 

 

 

D.C.’s Metro Catches Fire More Than Four Times A Week

 

The Washington, D.C., subway system is a mess — chronic delays, malfunctioning air conditioning and, earlier this year, it was shut down for a whole day because it was not safe to ride. The secretary of transportation has considered shutting down the whole system because of safety lapses, and the Metro system’s proposed solution involves shutting down five stretches of track entirely for at least a week (and single-tracking others for up to 42 days). Ride-sharing services are licking their chops.

 

But the most damning indictment of the subway system may be the existence of IsMetroOnFire.com, which lets commuters check which lines are currently on fire. I studied IsMetroOnFire’s associated Twitter account to see how bad things have been this year, and it hasn’t been pretty:

 

 

The good news: Metro’s one-day emergency shutdown may have helped! During the day of repairs and inspections on March 16, workers found 27 power issues, including frayed cables in three different sections of track that were so badly damaged that trains shouldn’t have been running over them at all. Since, for once, these problems were caught before they caused a conflagration, there appears to have been a lull in fires for a little while after the shutdown. But the respite was short lived. Since April 23, there have been 3.5 fires a week.

 

Overall, IsMetroOnFire logged 85 fires by May 16, or a little over four per week.¹ And IsMetroOnFire is more likely to be undercounting fires than overcounting.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PleaseBlitz]

This is probably long overdue.  Again, glad to see the new GM not ****ing around.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/05/20/metro-fires-20-managers/?hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar

 

Metro fires 20 managers, many from subway operation

 

 

Twenty Metro managers were fired Friday in what the agency’s chief executive and general manager, Paul J. Wiedefeld, called “a restructuring” of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, after months of subway safety problems, service disruptions and financial woes.

“As part of this restructuring, 20 managers are being released from WMATA, including seven senior managers,” Wiedefeld said in an in-house email announcing the firings. He said more than a third of the departing managers “are from the rail side of the house,” meaning subway operations.

The reorganization is meant to “improve effectiveness and accountability” in Metro’s management ranks, Wiedefeld said. Asked if the firings were based on individual job performances, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said in an interview: “No. These are at-will employees being released as part of a restructuring.”

But he added: “That said, recently the GM did approve a handful of terminations for cause. And in addition to that, there are a number of employees here who are on ‘performance plans,’ which are our last-chance mechanisms. And, frankly, some of those employees will likely be separated from the organization, as well, if they show that they can’t perform.”

[Corcaigh]

Sounds like the inner loop between Conn Ave and Georgia Ave. All the hot patches in the world aren't enough to fix that mess.

 

A few weeks ago driving on the outer loop in the rain at night with poor visibility I wondered at one point if I'd actually left the road at one point the surface was so bad.

[LeesburgSkinFan]

This will be hell for sporting events and concerts downtown:

 

 http://wtop.com/tracking-metro-24-7/2016/07/metro-plans-permanent-early-closing-times-service-cut/

[BornaSkinsFan83]

I got to think they would extend the hours for events

[skinswillwin06]

Pathetic transit system

[China]

I guess drunk people will have to use Uber rather than Metro on the weekends.

[LeesburgSkinFan]

Pathetic transit system

I know DC fancies itself as a major city, but could you imagine a city like NYC, Chicago, etc. stopping service at midnight on a permanent basis?