Comments on: Metrorail Madness at Just 66% Capacity

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:57:57 +0000

Would it be cost effective if Metro ran more trains off-peak, but only 2 or 3 car trains? They would have to hire more train operators, but they might increase ridership if people know they won’t ever have to wait 20 minutes for the first train and then 20 minutes for the transfer (which I had to do when I took a class that always ended so I just missed the previous train). Or Metro could hold trains at transfer stations so that passengers from each could make the transfer — like in Chicago.

By: Will H.

Will H. — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:41:50 +0000

Did anyone check the Blue/Orange lines yesterday. They had a switch track outage caused by a computer. It kind of sucks to be waiting all of that time, but at least they, for the most part are reliable. They just need to improve a little.

By: Chris S

Chris S — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:48:47 +0000

Doesn’t that 323 million riders figure assume all 8 car trains all the time? I thought that figure was the designed capacity of the tracks and stations, not that we should be able to move that many given the current number of trains.

By: Tom Bridge

Tom Bridge — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:56:05 +0000

Indeed, mere capacity information doesn’t tell us when the capacity is stretched and when it’s not.

By: ss

ss — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:05:29 +0000

…or to put it more simply, it may be more accurate to say that Metro is running at closer to capacity during rush hours but running with plenty of extra capacity during off-peak hours. So yes, more ridership during peak hours would be madness; but during off-peak hours, Metro could handle it if it adjusted its schedules accordingly.

By: ss

ss — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:59:05 +0000

I’d like to see if how the source for the 323 million calculated that figure. Yes, Metrorail is pretty packed right now during rush hour. From my own experience, the red line is packed in the downtown core during rush hour, and that clearly is getting close to reaching capacity.

However, there’s usually some room as one rides out farther out of DC. There’re also far fewer riders during off-peak hours. Metro could probably handle more riders in off-peak hours, if there were the demand for it.

Now, getting through the downtown core, is another matter. I don’t know if the 323 million number assumed that there would be much more ridership within the downtown core (and that ridership is not spread out evenly throughout the whole system).