This week, WMATA faced off against one tough customer — a deer.
The Green Line experienced delays Monday evening due to a deer that wandered onto the tracks, apparently near Prince Georges Plaza. Deer are especially near and dear to all our hearts lately thanks to Bob Barker's plea for deer safety. I'd never imagined Bambi on the Metro tracks before, but the notion certainly made sense once I considered it. I called Metro to see if the transit agency had more details.
"It does happen occasionally," WMATA's information specialist Cathy Asato told me. Deer live in the wooded areas near the surface-level Metro tracks, and every now and then, they grow curious about what those WMATA trains really are. Sometimes they investigate too closely. Asato remembers one time at what she believes was Addison Road Metro station when a deer actually got as far as the platform and escalators before darting back into the trees. It was during a snowy winter season, so people wryly joked that a reindeer was on the loose.
WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel expanded on the question of deer and confirmed that a deer had walked onto the Green Line tracks this week. But the deer wasn't struck by a train on Monday, he said. The animal was just curious.
"It happens from time to time — on the Green Line, especially," Stessel said.
Metro's keeping both ears open. (Photo: John Hendel)
WMATA has spent 2011 trying not only to revamp the busted elements of its system through Metro Forward but also to let people know the transit agency cares. Don't believe 'em? They're saying it in big letters on posters! Just today, Greater Greater Washington referred to the need for transit agencies to have "active engagement" and cited WMATA's recent turnaround. I saw a big sign when walking through the Metro recently that seemed to reflect just that spirit.
"You're on," a poster reads in the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station, "and we're listening.'
The poster instructs people to check out WMATA's public hearings page to "attend a combined open house/town hall meeting/public hearing starting at 5:30 p.m. for an opportunity to discuss proposed changes to some Metrobus routes, the Anacostia station bus fare, and changes to the frequency of Metrorail trains on the weekend." No dates are mentioned.
I took a photo of this sign, featured below, perhaps a week and a half ago. Good thinking, Metro, I first thought. Yes. Let people know if you're doing stuff and have that signage out in the open. And sure enough, I followed the poster's instructions and went to the site...
...only to discover the advertised hearing happened in mid-May! Oh, WMATA. You've gotta take this outdated sign down. The spirit in which it was put up — nearly a full season ago — was a positive one, at least. But how did workers forget to remove this poster for what must have been around three months?
Biking reached a new musical apex in 1955 — the Huffy RadioBike was born.
The invention provided all the natural wonder of a bicycle while also delivering the joy of music. As the cartoon man says in the advertisement above: "Wow! A bike with a radio." Who could have conjured up such amazement? You can thank the Huffman Manufacturing Company of Dayton, Ohio.
The invention was recommended for children ages 8 and up and commended by Parents magazine, according to one of the initial advertisements for the Radiobike in a November 1955 issue of LIFE magazine featured below. "Just like those wonderful world-of-the-future gadgets you read about!" the ad declares. "The radio is rain-proof, shock-proof, tamper-proof." Another November 1955 ad in Boys' Life magazine shows the bike's design, with the radio installed in the front tank with volume controls easily accessible. Batteries you added at the back of the bicycle, not far from the non-directional antenna that helped power your jams. "Tune in programs while you ride," the Huffman folks encourage (is that really wise?). One baby boomer reflected in a 2004 memoir that the RadioBike was "as sporty as could be" and described crowds of children gathering in front of store windows to observe the Huffy marvel.
A 2001 book called Boyhood in Americaattempted to place the Huffy RadioBike in context and suggested it reflected a post-World War II "growing American obsession with the automobile," as more and more bicycles added what were typically automotive features. Who would have imagined such a device — "not a toy," the ads assure us — more than half a century ago? Sadly, the innovative vehicle was gone before the 1960s.
See the 1955 LIFE and Boys' Life magazine advertisements for the musical bicycling landmark here:
A Zipcar-branded Ford, coming to a campus near you. (Photo: Courtesy of Zipcar)
It's back-to-school season, everyone, in case you haven't noticed on your daily commute yet. My colleagues at TBD have focused on many different aspects of this experience, with photo galleries, a look at school menus, and more. But school also naturally affects transit. Suddenly our morning sidewalks, Metro trains, and roads are filled with students, equipped with their backpacks, messenger bags, and bright-eyed innocence.
Zipcar recognizes the new school year, too, and the car-sharing company has just announced a new two-year partnership with Ford Motor Company that will be targeting more than 250 universities to encourage students to join and use Zipcar. Locally, American University, GW, and George Mason will be participating. It makes sense that Ford would want to be involved given how Zipcar has branded itself as fuel-efficient and environmentally conscious as it has. Zipcar and Ford emphasize how much this initiative will reduce congestion and emissions as college-age drivers embrace Zipcar. Executive chairman Bill Ford has given a TED talk on the problems of congestion and how to reduce it over the coming decades, and this partnership fits perfectly with his sensibilities.
Update, 5 p.m.: Hours after the delays have cleared, Metro told the Post that the rail-jumper was an 18-year-old woman. Sad to imagine. Multiple people on Twitter gave the phone number for a suicide hotline earlier (1-800-SUICIDE), and their message was right. Several people also expressed sympathy for the Metrorail operator who must have witnessed the young woman's death. Can you imagine how emotionally difficult that would be? Stessel indicated that counseling would be made available to the worker.
The single-tracking on the Red Line stopped shortly after 1 p.m., according to Metro.
Update, 10:25 a.m.: WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel says that this appears to be a suicide.
Original post: As of the last half hour, Metro is reporting that a person has been struck on the Red Line at the Takoma Metro station. It currently remains open and police and emergency medical personnel are on the scene. There's single-tracking between Takoma and the Silver Spring Metro stations and delays are inevitable in both directions. The person seems to have been struck around 9:30 a.m. Some Red Line trains at the Brookland station are turning back "to mitigate delays," according to WMATA social media manager Brian Anderson.
Metro says to expect at least three hours before normal service is restored. WTOP's Adam Tuss is reporting the person struck has died.
A Red Line train also struck a person at the Friendship Heights station on August 1, which caused serious delays then right as the evening rush hour was beginning. That individual survived.
More details to come. There's still no clear information about why the person was on the tracks or whether their presence there was accidental or intentional.
Monday's MetroAccess driver protest. (Photo: John Hendel)
MetroAccess bus drivers are worried about their long hours, we've learned in the last week. Last Friday I talked about a driver union's concerns, about the fear of fatigue that accompanied the new 13-hour schedules instituted by MV Transportation, the California-based organization that runs MetroAccess, about six weeks ago. The union arranged a protest at the MetroAccess headquarters in Hyattsville as well as at the Jackson Graham WMATA headquarters on Monday, and I was there bright and early at the first place. My account and photos are here. MetroAccess is the paratransit service of WMATA and is responsible for transporting about 2.5 million people with disabilities. The union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764, represents about 800 drivers.
Today a disturbing and sad video from a MetroAccess bus driver illustrates the very concerns I heard drivers voicing at the protest. The video features a driver speaking in a distorted voice looking over a schedule board. What we see is the difficulty a driver faces in arranging any break, as hours after hours go by without any breaks. The two-and-a-half minute video is titled "10 Hours Later...." and was uploaded today by the YouTube user MeanBlackDude.
"This is absolute slavery," the driver says. "We often work 12 to 16 hours a day without a lunch break, water break, or a bathroom break. This is absolute slavery. We are driving. We need to be totally focused on the road, and this just does not happen at MV. Their main concern is 'Get the route out at any cost.'"
It's a passionate speech and highlights why these union workers are protesting. The frustration completely harmonizes with what I saw Monday morning. I even have suspicions about who this very driver is — the story harmonizes well with some of the profoundly stretched schedules described in front of the Hyattsville MetroAccess building on Belcrest Road. The union hopes to repeat their protests on Thursday to emphasize their emotional concerns. Underneath the drivers' talk is a subtle, very real fear presented to MV Transportation: When will a rider be killed due to how thin these schedules stretch the drivers?
Don't take my word for it though. Watch the chilling video after the jump:
The National Building Museum now features a sculpture of Amy's cans arranged to resemble a Capital Bikeshare bike. The sculpture, titled "Capital Biteshare" was built as part of Canstruction 2011, an event where 19 teams build art out of cans to help raise money for the Capital Area Food Bank. This bikeshare sculpture is, simply put, awesome.
I first noticed a photo of the sculpture earlier today and now there's a time-lapse video of its creation that one of the creators, Jorge Mayor, provided to Greater Greater Washington that I can't resist sharing. All 19 can-tastic creations are visible online now, and you can vote for your favorite if you give a $1 donation. See all the sculptures here.
Even better, however, is the time-lapse video that Mayor provided, showing how his team built Capital Biteshare step by step. Enjoy:
Do cyclists have a place on the GW Parkway? (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The National Park Service recently issued a statement from the superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway declaring that bikes don't belong on the GW Parkway or the Clara Barton Parkway. Why? Well, "the roadways of the Parkways are too narrow and unsafe to allow both bicyclists and motorists utilize the same roadway lanes," NPS says. The statement plays up the risks — narrow lanes, storm inlets that could catch bicyclists, the millions of vehicles that visit the parkways. NPS suggests that bicyclists take advantage of nearby alternative routes, such as on the Mount Vernon Trail.
Washington Area Bicyclist Association director Shane Farthing has objected to how NPS frames the issue. He calls the logic "deeply flawed" and says it "leads to a conclusion that unfairly prevents cyclists from accessing a portion of the National Park that is made accessible to other transportation 'visitors.'" He says this move "furthers concerns" about how the NPS gets along with the region's bicyclists.
The question of how to balance the different vehicles on the GW Parkway has been ongoing. Remember the three-car crash that happened in late July when a car tried to let a bicyclist cross the road? At the time, Stephen Miller suggested HAWK signals: "HAWK signals are activated by the crosswalk user and installed at locations where a traditional stop light would not meet traffic engineering standards," Miller wrote. "Research has shown that HAWK signals are not only more effective than other traffic signals at getting motorists to safely stop at the crosswalk, they reduce traffic delay compared to traditional signalized mid-block pedestrian signals." Park Police have created their own issues on the GW Parkway, such as at the beginning of this month. My colleague Andrew Beaujon reported that, when a driver slowed to let him bike across at a GW Parkway crossing, an officer threatened to ticket the driver. Then there was the whole issue of the NPS saying Capital Bikeshare stations don't belong on the National Mall.
On some level, I can understand the NPS's concern about biking on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. There are a lot of crazy turns on the GW Parkway, and idea of biking along it seems a little hectic. Have any of you done so before? I wonder about the experience. But the NPS shouldn't have dismissed the idea of bikes on the road, just as it shouldn't have shut down the idea of bikeshare stations on the Mall and should be open to meeting with Farthing on these issues now.
What's NPS's problem in all these instances? The organization doesn't get the new language of transit.
Marion Barry, our city's former mayor and current council member, drove to the Wilson Building this morning in a car that was literally falling apart. He says it was a hit and run. "When you live in the ghetto, this stuff happens," Barry apparently told reporters on the scene, requesting that they, as the Post's Tim Craig tweeted, "just ignore he drove a heavily damaged car down street."
See multiple photos of the incident from Craig, on the scene now and tweeting out photos of the surreal moment.
Craig says the car also seemed keyed and heavily vandalized — showing signs of more damage than a hit and run would suggest. Who knows. But what a city we live in, right? How weird does all that sound. Poor guy. Let's hope he fixes his car soon.
Late last week, Zipcar launched a LivingSocial deal in which District residents could sign up for a year's membership for a mere $29 — 75% off the standard price and with $30 in driving credit included. The deal ran for about two days, all said and done, and attracted a quite a bit of attention.
Well, the numbers are in — the deal grew Zipcar's D.C. membership by a whopping 3,745 people.
The deal was first unveiled early Thursday morning, and I couldn't take my eyes off it. I wrote about the company's LivingSocial deal shortly after it was announced, wondering initially whether Zipcar may have conjured up the deal as a way to collect new members in a car-sharing market that's about to get some competition. Zipcar lost most of the District's 84 curbside parking spaces recently, which for years it had enjoyed exclusively. Although Zipcar maintains that it won't experience a genuine reduction in spaces or rising prices, the company will know its first true competition in the area for the first time in nearly half a decade. DCist confirmed that this is not the case — that the LivingSocial deal had been scheduled for months and was happening in multiple locations — but I still can't ignore the implications of what such a LivingSocial deal means at this time.
The numbers told their own story as I watched the LivingSocial site.
Hurricane-turned-Tropical-Storm Irene may not have halted Metro in the slightest, but DDOT is still struggling with its real victim — a vast number of the District's 140,000 to 150,000 trees, downed and blocking roadways. I had been eyeing the trees of my own neighborhood on Saturday and made sure I parked my car well clear of the bigger ones on my block. Normally I love the amount of greenery as I walk to the Metro, but during intense rains and wind, no one wants to be near a big, ancient oak. I saw a huge tree literally uprooted from the ground next to a house midway through the storms, and only luck saved the nearby house and cars from major damage.
"If you have a tree down, then contact 311," DDOT's director Terry Bellamy said today on the Kojo Show. "311 is the city-wide call center."
The report will be dispatched to the relevant crews. Wires tend to make the big difference, apparently. Pepco and fire emergency services come if any wires are tangled among the branches. If there are no wires, DDOT adds the downed tree to the list for a contractor to handle. Trees are normally a pedestrian dream, the aspiration of streetscapers and strollers everywhere, but today they pose a threat. DDOT wants you to keep your distance.
"Don't trim your own trees," Bellamy cautioned when talking to the WAMU host. "Do not try to trim those trees with the wires."
The transportation director said that when wires are present, they generally advise staying two pole-lengths away.
DDOT reports that traffic signals are out at 29 intersections as of late this afternoon, most powered by generators or equipped with temporary stop signs. At least the LED street lights are unharmed. Crews were clearing debris from the 15th Street bike lane as of this afternoon. The Maryland state highway administration has advised extreme caution to pedestrians and drivers this coming week as power outages, road obstructions, and traffic signal issues persist.
Wayne Baker, president of the MetroAccess bus drivers' union. (Photo: John Hendel)
MetroAccess bus drivers carry nearly 2.5 million of D.C. metro area's residents with disabilities as of the 2011 fiscal year — and they feel their new working schedules have made their driving dangerous. MV Transportation, the company that operates MetroAccess, began scheduling its drivers to work 13-hour shifts about six weeks ago, says Wayne Baker, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764 since 2006. His union represents about 800 MetroAccess drivers, and this morning, about 15 of them took signs to the MetroAccess and WMATA headquarters at 10 a.m. to march in circles and chant about the risks of the new schedule and other concerns that California-based MV has allegedly ignored.
"Thirteen hours! Safety first!" the bus drivers shouted as they marched in front of the MetroAccess headquarters on Belcrest Road in Hyattsville, Maryland. "Enough is enough — can't take no more!" the small crowd repeated in unison as passersby attempted to understand what was happening and as drivers sometimes honked in solidarity. A cool breeze accompanied the drivers' steady march and a sky punctuated with clear signs and distinctly loud, planned shouts.
The paratransit bus drivers' many signs, strung around their necks and carried on sticks, echoed these messages: "Fatigue is unsafe," one sign read. "We aren't appreciated by our employers ... MetroAcess drivers are subject to safety hazards." Photos show what the morning gathering looked like.
MetroAccess is housed in the same Prince Georges Plaza compound that houses Metro's Lost and Found. I went down there this morning to get a sense of how the protest came together. The drivers planned to rally for close to an hour and a half there, and then move to WMATA's headquarters in the Jackson Graham building for another hour or so in the early afternoon. MetroAccess have always endured tough schedules, Baker told me. They had complained about 12-hour schedules since day one. But the 13-hour schedules imposed six weeks ago are stretching the workers far too thin. Baker himself carried a sign around his neck that said, "We are fed up, can't take any more, enough is enough."
"It's just too much ... It isn't the union's intent to make MV [Transportation company, which runs MetroAccess] look bad," Baker told me. The union president adds that "we want to make it clear there won't be any work stoppages." He said he hopes this is a wake-up call and that MV recognizes the dangers in the recently implemented 13-hour schedule — Baker says that MV would benefit more in the long run. "What happens if, God forbid, there's a fatality?" the soft-spoken man asked.
Some Republicans in Congress have a problem with you and your shiny red Capital Bikeshare bikes, D.C. In 2010, the GOP launched the YouCut program, which sought input on which federally funded programs should lose funding. In 2011, the House's GOP majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia now spotlights those programs they'll potentially cut. He asks people to review the YouCut options and "vote on which spending cut you believe should be sponsored by the YouCut program," like some twisted game of Survivor.
Of the three programs Cantor points to, one is bike-sharing programs. The other two options are to eliminate grants to worsted wool manufacturers or the EPA's Science to Achieve Results program. Capital Bikeshare is less than a year old, yet its expansion and success throughout the District has already inspired examples around the country. But what Cantor poses is an existential threat to its existence.
Should the government be supporting bike commuting, storage facilities, and bike lanes? Should they support full programs like our Capital Bikeshare? Not like it has been, according to Cantor's site:
The onset of Hurricane Irene has led to an impromptu transportation holiday throughout the Washington, D.C. metro area, as residents fear rain, wind, and the hassle of making their way around the city. People have retreated to gatherings of friends and families in a Saturday night more domestic than any in memory. No one wants to leave the house tonight, nor should they given the weather's mess.
Metro has, however, remained open despite the increasingly heavy rains.
WMATA has kept up live-tweeting and prepared for the weekend's hurricane with plenty of pump inspections, chainsaws, and more than 2,000 sandbags. Yet the transit authority recently announced that ridership is down 47% compared to an average Saturday. That percentage is likely to increase later in the day — no one's going to be riding once the hurricane hits for real. Common wisdom says "just stay home," and it's reflected in the statistics. Only around 100,000 people rode the rails today as of 5 p.m., whereas nearly 188,000 had done so last Saturday. Metrobus service is also reported to be light, with two minor detours due to downed wires.
These statistcs again reflect that conventional belief that tonight, we should all be staying inside. I've been glancing at the DDOT webcams of the streets I talked about earlier, and sure enough, the city's intersections look wet as all hell. Who wants to walk and travel in that weather?
Feeling wet yet, D.C.? Hurricane Irene is big, nasty, and on her way to the District's streets this very second. The rain has been coming down since late morning and recently sped up a little, but we're not seeing anything too wild yet. Metro hasn't released any updates yet, and cars are still rolling along the road as calmly as they ever were.
But as the hurricane comes in, conditions may change — the big fear here is wind. Downed trees, power lines, and other detritus that can blow into the road.
One terrific way to see these conditions is through DDOT's traffic camera location map. The city has a few dozen cameras around the District that capture real-time footage of what's going on at various intersections. DDOT's map lets you click a location on a map showing the dotted cameras, and see live footage. Curious about 7th Street and New York Ave NW? There's a camera showing you exactly what's happening there now. It's a fun enough tool that on a normal day might not be too exhilarating ... but today, as a hurricane hits D.C., the real-time cameras might provide a fascinating look into what the rain and winds are doing to our roads. Take a glance at the cameras as the day goes by to see a true on-the-ground look at what's happening — assuming the cameras themselves survive Irene's touch. Although anyone who needs real road conditions should check official dispatches from DDOT and elsewhere, these cameras will offer a dynamic way to see if a big tree has crashed down or lawn chairs blowing in the wind througout today.
Tip of the hat to Phabiola Herrera for bringing this to my attention earlier this morning.
The end times have officially arrived. The nation's capital shook with an earthquake's rumblings on Tuesday, and less than a couple days later, news of hurricane has District residents everywhere hurrying by with umbrellas and jugs of water. Mayor Vincent Gray has declared a state of emergency as of last night. Metro has begun their stream of press releases on Hurricane Irene, starting with the sexily-titled "Metro Irene Update 1," which reiterates rain tips and that there are "no planned service changes." It was released at 6:15 p.m. yesterday evening. As long as winds stay below 45 miles/hour, Metro should be fine, and there aren't any predictions that they'll exceed that just yet.
On the day of the earthquake, Metro officially released six of their "Metro earthquake update" press releases. Anyone want to take bets for how many they end up sending out this weekend?
Here's a review of the week's top transit stories here at On Foot:
• Given that yesterday was women's equality day, it was only fitting to highlight the District's first woman driver — the pioneering Alice French of Capitol Hill, who earned her license 111 years ago in 1900.
Every good commute calls for a good playlist. Forget long waits for Metro trains, crowded jostling on the cars, walks that seem endless, and the bus stops to what feel like nowhere — this weekend, just sit back and enjoy the songs on your iPod or MP3 player. The right song kills all the travel stress, and in honor of that fact, TBD's On Foot blog offers you a weekly transit-themed track for your Metro playlist. The destination will come eventually, after all. In the meantime, just enjoy the ride and the music.
This week's traffic jam: "Crosstown Traffic" by Jimi Hendrix (1968)
As if an earthquake and a hurricane weren't enough on Metro's plate for one week, WMATA also has a brewing labor problem for first thing Monday morning — a protest at their Hyattsville building.
Multiple MetroAccess bus drivers plan to hold a rally there protesting what they're calling "unsafe" working conditions, including schedules that force drivers to work 13 hours a day and add to the risk that vehicles will drive dangerously and crash. MetroAccess helps transport around 2.5 million people with disabilities as of this past year and now costs around $100 million annually. But both ridership and cost have doubled in recent years, and the rapidly expanding size of MetroAcess has taken its toll, one effect of which is Metro attempting to shift some MetroAccess riders to using the less expensive transit of Metrorail and Metrobus, if the people with disabilities are willing and able. The Equal Rights Center has voiced concerns about the conditions of WMATA, suggesting that the transit authority discriminates against those with disabilities. The center currently has a call out for complaints of Metro discrimination.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764, which represents around 800 MetroAccess drivers, is organizing the protest and plans to gather at MetroAccess headquarters on Belcrest Road at 10 a.m. Monday morning. I confirmed these details with Wayne Baker, president of Local 1764, who was busy sending messages and getting the word out among his union's members. Baker said it was too early to tell how many workers the union might have at the rally, but he has a 57-passenger bus ready to take some.
"If we can get 50 people on that bus along with the others who will come on their own, I think it will be a success," Baker told me.
In honor of the new documentary "Magic Trip," which chronicles the novelist Ken Kesey's journey with his Merry Prankster friends across the country in an LSD-fueled 1964 bus ride, I've collected a few of the most iconic buses throughout history. As I discussed the film earlier this week, I found myself wondering the same question over and over — is Kesey's bus the most famous in history? The colorful, crazy bus even has a name, for Christ's sake! It's called "Further," written in big letters across the front.
So I dug into history and pop culture a bit. I discovered an underwater bus featured on the 1932 Popular Science cover. I remembered the drama of the 1994 film classic Speed. I looked back into the '70s and at politics and at culture from across the decades. What resulted are the 16 slides featured above.
What other buses should have made the cut? Any tour buses, perhaps? I considered Selena's. I would have included the Spice Bus from Spice World if I had found a good photo. I'm curious. What is the most famous bus in history?
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial dedication has been canceled, postponed indefinitely due to the heavy rain and winds we're likely to see this weekend — and beginning this afternoon according to hourly weather reports. The real weather party won't get started until mid-Saturday.
All the road closures announced from DDOT and the expanded service hours from Metro will no longer apply. Metro says trains will begin running at 7 a.m. Sunday at regular weekend intervals but adds that no weekend track work is planned and that all weather preparation will continue as announced yesterday.
How much money will be lost from rescheduling all the MLK Memorial ceremonies? How much will Hurricane Irene ultimately cost the city? How secure are the Capital Bikeshare stations in heavy weather like this? DDOT's looking into that last question now. We're still waiting.
Favorite 
Retweet 
Reply
Richard Harris
