Metro, MARC, MTA, and VRE coronavirus response

[mtuandrew]

This is getting frustrating actually. Speaking as a Van Dorn user, all the local bus routes terminate there. By eliminating service, WMATA has forced everyone who has to commute (and there are a lot of essential employees who live in our area) to get a ride-share or take the DASH bus to King Street Station. Much more risk of infection by stuffing every commuter on one AT8 bus (or FFX 321/322 or 231/232 to Franconia-Springfield) than it would be to just have people board normally.

EDIT: and my usual commuting station is Morgan Boulevard! Extremely glad I have a car now.

[Sand Box John]

If this is an example of boardings, then Fridays boarding might not be much more then 44 years ago to the day.

[JDC]

For this weekend (March 28-29), Metro is running trains only once every 30 minutes (and on the bus side, only 26 routes are running). https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Weeken ... 8-3-29.cfm

[Jeff Smith]

https://www.wmata.com/service/status/de ... in-content

Week ahead: Sharply reduced Metro service for essential travel only; trains, buses will operate on same schedule as last week
For the upcoming week (Monday-Friday), Metro will use the same service plan as last week, which provides connectivity throughout the region for essential trips, but with sharply reduced train and bus frequencies. Metrorail ridership is now less than a tenth of its normal level, and bus ridership has been reduced by up to 75 percent.

Metro continues to urge the public to travel if absolutely necessary during the COVID-19 public health emergency to ensure that limited transit capacity is available for those who need it most and to allow for safe social distancing.

Monday, March 30 – Friday, April 3, 2020

Metrorail

Open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Trains every 15 minutes on Red Line, every 20 minutes on all others
19 stations are closed until further notice. Trains will pass these stations without stopping; no alternate service.

[Jeff Smith]

https://twitter.com/wmata/status/1242598971488509959

[Sand Box John]

Metro to further reduce service hours starting Monday: Rail to close at 9 p.m. nightly, Bus service ends at 11 p.m.
WMATA Press release 04 03 2020

Service hours reduced to 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM weekdays, 8:00 AM to 9:00 Saturday and Sunday.

[STrRedWolf]

A bit of an update on the MD side of things. Main info here

In summary:

• Bus: All Express routes shut down, two bus routes to schools also shuttered.
• Light Rail: Saturday service on weekdays.
• Commuter Bus: "S" schedule.
• MARC Penn Line: "R" schedule with additional trains: 403, 502 (all stop), 435, 452.
• MARC Brunswick Line: "R" schedule with tweaks: 872 runs all stops from Martinsburgh, 875 goes to Martinsburg, 877 runs regular schedule.

[STrRedWolf]

MARC/MTA is dropping service further, effective Monday the 13th:

The following trains will not operate until further notice:

Penn Line Weekday Southbound:
Train 413 (6:40am departure from Penn Station)
Train 421 (8:15am departure from Penn Station)
Train 641 (4:23pm departure from Penn Station)

Penn Line Weekday Northbound:
Train 412 (8:58am departure from Union Station)
Train 634 (4:35pm departure from Union Station)
Train 440 (5:25pm departure from Union Station)
Train 642 (5:58pm departure from Union Station)

Brunswick Line:
Train 878 (6:25am departure from Martinsburg)
Train 877 (4:55pm departure from Union Station)
Train 881 (6:20pm departure from Union Station) will operate, but will terminate in Brunswick and not serve Harpers Ferry, Duffields, or Martinsburg

Camden Line:
Train 849 (7:10am departure from Camden Yards)
Train 856 (5:58pm departure from Union Station)
Additional changes to existing trains are outlined below:
Penn Line Train 511 (weekday) will add stops at West Baltimore, Halethorpe and BWI Airport
Penn Line Train 536 (weekday) will add stops at Seabrook, Bowie State University, and West Baltimore
Penn Line Train 491 (Saturday) will add a stop at Martin Airport
Camden Line Train 852 will add a flag stop at Jessup
Brunswick Line Train 872 will add stops at Dickerson, Boyds, and Garrett Park
Brunswick Line Train 875 will add stops at Harpers Ferry, Duffields and Martinsburg

[STrRedWolf]

Getcha masks! You'll need 'em now.

MTA (including MARC): Mask required to board starting Saturday the 18th.

WMATA: Not required, but strongly encouraged

VRE: Not required, but strongly encouraged

[davinp]

Getcha masks! You'll need 'em now.

MTA (including MARC): Mask required to board starting Saturday the 18th.

WMATA: Not required, but strongly encouraged

VRE: Not required, but strongly encouraged

The governor of Maryland has ordered masks to be worn at grocery store and public transportation, while the Virginia governor has not. He just strongly recommends it.

[JDC]

Metro is predicting pre-coronavirus service will not return until spring 2021. It's also making use of the dramatically lower ridership to work on the tracks in downtown DC. https://ggwash.org/view/77547/metro-thi ... ally-knows

[JDC]

Today, Metro released its plan for recovering from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. https://www.wmata.com/about/news/covid- ... -plan.cfm The plan will be discussed at the upcoming Board meeting, and is available here https://www.wmata.com/about/board/meeti ... -Final.pdf.

GGW has done a write up, breaking down Metro's multi-phase approach - but the gist is that Metro does not see a return to pre-pandemic service until spring 2021. https://ggwash.org/view/77547/metro-thi ... ally-knows

[TheOneKEA]

Metro is predicting pre-coronavirus service will not return until spring 2021. It's also making use of the dramatically lower ridership to work on the tracks in downtown DC. https://ggwash.org/view/77547/metro-thi ... ally-knows

One omission from this article is the disposition of Metrorail's rolling stock fleet. If there are any substantial number of 1000 Series cars left, my assumption is that they will either never return to revenue service or will be returned to service in 2021 if/when demand reaches "normal" levels.

[Sand Box John]

TheOneKEA
One omission from this article is the disposition of Metrorail's rolling stock fleet. If there are any substantial number of 1000 Series cars left, my assumption is that they will either never return to revenue service or will be returned to service in 2021 if/when demand reaches "normal" levels.

All of the 1k, 4k, and 5k cars have been scraped with the exception of 1000 and 1001 (non revenue preservation).

[R36 Combine Coach]

The 5000s lasted less than 20 years (delivered 2001-2002). Very short, below the standard 25-30 years cited by UMTA and later FTA/USDOT for railcars.

Are the money train cars (two 1000s) still active?