http://patch.com/virginia/reston/ridership-plunges-wiehle-reston-east-metro-station

Metro is grappling with a revenue crisis, and the latest numbers from Virginia Metro stations shows the problem worsening.

By Dan Taylor (Patch Staff) - March 1, 2017 3:54 pm ET

RESTON, VA — New ridership numbers are in for Metro, and they show a shocking decline across the board, including right here in Reston.

Ridership at the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 -- which covered October, November and December -- was 976,548, a 13.4 percent plunge from the total over that same period the year before, which was 1,128,147, as reported by WTOP.

That is by far the largest decline among the five exclusively Silver Line stations in Virginia, with Tysons Corner's 7 percent decline in second.

Still, Reston's dip doesn't come close to the staggering drops on the Orange line. Vienna saw its ridership drop by 41.2 percent, or from 1,446,883 riders to 850,920 just a year later.

There is likely no one reason for the decline, but a large part is most likely due to SafeTrack, which has punished lines in Northern Virginia in particular over the last year with "Surges" resulting in extensive single-tracking and even entire line-segment shutdowns. All the while, Metro has urged riders to stop using the system and find another way to get to work, and it appears that riders are taking that advice to heart.

That's causing a big problem for Metro, however, as rising costs are being met with plummeting revenues thanks to declining ridership numbers, thrusting the agency into a crisis.

Uber Uber Everywhere

That's my theory for the overall decline.

* Lyft also - tripled in ridership in USA 50 mil in 2015, 160 mil in 2016 https://blog.lyft.com/posts/lyfts-breakout-year
* Also for Lyft carpool commuting rides pre-tax beneift in some cities, not DC/No. VA yet https://blog.lyft.com/posts/lyft-commuter-benefits
* Also Lyft St. Patrick's DC metro area Sober rides, $20 promo credit https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/anti-drunk-driving-program-shifts-strategy-on-holiday-rides/2017/03/01/52fc6e96-fea6-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.e7b6dd6f852c
* If you like (totally optional), you can tip your Lyft driver through the app at end of the ride. For Uber, you have to have cash.

Also with Metrorail, yet unreliable, especially if have to get to work or other appointment, or catch a flight or Amatrak, on time. Read a few or several days of posts at https://twitter.com/unsuckdcmetro?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor OR at https://twitter.com/dcmetrosucks?lang=en

Also more jobs in last decade, suburb-to-suburb, more often than not, trains do not work efficiently (even outside of unreliability above), round-about commutes, such as Vienna to Tysons or Wiehle on train transferring at East Falls Church). So instead people drive, Lyft/Uber if shorter drive (say if only one car in household), bus (some limited stop ones work better than the train, but often not), or if short distances especially nicer weather days, either or bike. Also more telecommuting jobs.

... either walk or bike ...

>rising costs are being met with plummeting revenues thanks to declining ridership numbers, thrusting the agency into a crisis.

Metrorail has been in a state of crisis long before the recent surge operations began. In fact, the critically deficient infrastructure was the crisis that led to the need to initiate the surges in the first place. WTF is wrong with journalists today? It's like there is nothing between their ears except for maybe some loose dirt or lint.

What the fuck did everyone expect to happen? Adding the new Silver Line doubled the number of trains on a single track going in each direction, without adding any additional capacity. I am done freezing my ass off waiting for buses and trains that never come on time. SCREW THAT SHIT!!!

Riding the metro just cost too much. I was spending about $300 a month for that shit. I just ended up getting a car.

Not to mention the third world people riding the nog hauler these days. Very easy to catch TB or Ricketts on a metro train.

Metro will continue its decline as long as 95% of its employees are niggers.

Defective equipment and rampaging nogs - Wonder why ridership is down.

It is cheaper to UberPool

yMMyN Wrote:
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> ... either walk or bike ...


Buy a car loser.

What do you expect when Metro only hires apes to run a transit system?

Cheap motherfuckers Wrote:
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> yMMyN Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ... either walk or bike ...
>
>
> Buy a car loser.


And pay $300 a month to park it

Parking in the city Wrote:
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> Cheap motherfuckers Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > yMMyN Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > ... either walk or bike ...
> >
> >
> > Buy a car loser.
>
>
> And pay $300 a month to park it

Sounds like you need a better job. Higher paying and/or some parking options.

We need to hire whites occasionally if we expect more than mudhuts and machete attacks.

There are not nearly enough metro transit police to keep people safe in nova. Vienna/Reston aren't southeast/PG, decent people here want to feel safe on public transportation...

You mean people don't want to get on the nigger hauler anymore? Wow that's fucking shocking I'll say!

To increase ridership at these stations, WMATA plans to install Arthur Treacher's Express restaurants. Riders will be able to pick up some fresh, hot fish and chips for their long, horrible commute.

yMMyN Wrote:
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> ... either walk or bike ...

There are some people who are multi-modal, have a car, but on nicer days to get some exercise while perhaps running a small errand say a mile or two away, will walk or bike to it.

Is that like bisexual?

Or is it like if a person is a fan of both Long John Silver's AND Arthur Treacher's? Would they be tri-modal if they also like Captain D's?

Multi Modal? Wrote:
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> Is that like bisexual?
>
> Or is it like if a person is a fan of both Long
> John Silver's AND Arthur Treacher's? Would they be
> tri-modal if they also like Captain D's?

Google the fairfaxcounty.gov website. Its one who uses multiple modes of transportation.

Yes, but does it apply to fish and chips shops, as well? If I am at Arthur Trecher's and I order chips AND hush puppies, does that make my meal multi-modal?

Please, oh please educate us you smart asshole.

The problem with the silver line is it takes to fucking long, too many stops. Put in some express trains, until then fuck that I'll take an uber when I'm too drunk to drive.

Takes to fucking long Wrote:
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> The problem with the silver line is it takes to
> fucking long, too many stops. Put in some express
> trains, until then fuck that I'll take an uber
> when I'm too drunk to drive.

I agree also takes too long by the train. Actually measured through Tysons 2.5 minutes on the Dulles Toll Road between Routes 123 and 7 exit where the Silver Line enters and exits Tyson. Traveling through Tysons, assuming Metro is not having a bad day, it takes eight minutes with the four stops and the detour. Restore some of the express Fairfax Connector buses up to Dulles Toll Road as before July, 2014 when the Silver Line opened. I vocally expressed my concern to FCDOT beforehand, and well as dozens of other passengers did on the Fairfax Connector's Facebook afterwards, but it fell on deaf ears. They said it was duplicate service, but at the same time, even if had a minimal of bus service along the toll road between WFC and Reston, it also provides an already bus backup when (not if) Metrorail fails; otherwise, you are looking at three buses to go that section of the rail. Not to mention part of the tunnel between Tysons and Greensboro is a cellular dead zone and not in Metro's plans to fix (I looked at those on their website and that short tunnel segment is missed), so you cannot have a constant conversation or data connection on the above ground segment past Ballston to Wiehle, say if you are just listening in on a work conference call on the way home. Concern was raised to Verizon who previously wired some of the underground subway, but even after that, they only partially fixed the tunnel problem. And they are wondering whey they are losing choice transit riders (those who are not transit dependent) and instead take Uber/Lyft or drive their cars, even with the extra traffic. Loudoun County since the Silver Line opening actually listened to their constituents and have a route from Eastern Loudoun to West Falls Church https://www.loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/111194

That said, Fairfax County Budget Hearings coming up in April and town halls happening now http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dmb/fy2018/advertised/fy2018-advertised-budget.htm section FY 2018 Advertised Budget Plan - Getting Involved . Also Fairfax County Department of Transportation director email address is Tom.Biesiadny@fairfaxcounty.gov, Fairfax Supervisor Catherine Hudgins in Reston also on the WMATA/Metro board huntermill@fairfaxcounty.gov , and Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova chairman@fairfaxcounty.gov. If they don't hear from a good number of constituents/taxpayers, nothing is going to change. Too much money is wasted on bus service that is little used, many of the commuter feeder buses from the Reston South Park and Ride to Wiehle less than 10 passengers per bus and also the every 10 minutes shuttle from Wiehle to Reston Town Center, and other off-peak bus routes in western Fairfax County less than 5 or 10 passengers I see from in car. I believe Supervisor Hudgins will listen if enough people speak up http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/huntermill/ , as she as a little girl she rode buses in the rural South, but unsure which of the other supervisors really care much about buses, maybe a few more about trains.

** Provide more transit service for traffic relief that choice riders will use, such as more on the Dulles Toll Road and I66 during rush hours **. Right now there is http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/599.pdf (only Pentagon/Crystal City to Reston North/Wiehle) AND https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/05a.pdf (from Rosslyn to Herndon Monroe) but Metro is planning to eliminate/raise fares on the 5A https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/budget/fy18-proposed-service.cfm. Also in this article http://wtop.com/sprawl-crawl/2017/01/dude-wheres-my-bus-fairfax-co-to-launch-tracking-system-soon/ , it says 'A new express route on I66 will launch this summer between the Fairfax County Government Center and the State Department in Foggy Bottom.'

Takes to fucking long Wrote:
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> The problem with the silver line is it takes to
> fucking long, too many stops. Put in some express
> trains, until then fuck that I'll take an uber
> when I'm too drunk to drive.

They routed the Silver Line through Tysons with support of large business and large land owners there. It barely qualified for federal funding on its $3 billion price tag for just the Falls Church-Reston segment when built based on projected ridership. Weekday daily ridership in 2015 downloaded from https://planitmetro.com/ was around 20K, much from Wiehle, probably some less now with the Metrorail reliability issues.

Building the Silver Line was a combination of errors of poor Metrorail design:
1. It should have had built straight on the Dulles Toll Road, with a segment offshoot to McLean (with trains only stopping peak times) and Tysons Corner Mall 1&2, one of three largest mall complexes on East Coast and the most used station in Tysons.
2. A connection made at/near West Falls Church. For any who do it, Tysons to Vienna requires a transfer at EAST Falls Church between Orange and Silver adding at least 10 minutes depending on transfer time. The tracks connect about a thousand feet past WFC, so a walkway and an interim stop on the Silver Line to existing WFC platform.
3. Additional track capacity to handle Blue, Orange, Silver, and say a Silver Tysons segment offshoot. Right now, only about 20-25 trains per hour get through Rosslyn-Foggy Bottom tunnel (actually 26 can be had spacing trains 140 seconds apart, but to some extent does not happen). Even with three lines, if all lines have equal service (come July 2017 WMATA budget), then trains only every eight minutes rush hour instead of every six 'scheduled' now. Perhaps the Tysons offshoot could only run to Ballston.
4. Not part of design, with existing tracks and no additional build, only keep the Tysons Corner station open during off-peak hours, and even also during rush hours, close down Greensboro which sees little usage even then. This was suggested early on in this or last years budget talks as a cost savings measure, but dropped when other stations in DC and MD they were planning to do likewise was going to disproportionately affect minority riders.

As far as cost, item 2 is the least cost to implement within an infill station and a walkway (couple of others have happened such as New York Avenue in DC and being considered Potomac Yards in Alexandria), item 1 down the toll road can happen probably under $1 billion, but cannot see it how it can happen without shutting the Silver line down off-peak hours to make the interconnections cutting through above ground concrete barriers. Item 3 discussed at Greater Greater Washington website https://ggwash.org/ will cost billions, perhaps additional tracks through Georgetown including the bars there, but with funding challenges, likely do see that happening for a couple of decades. Item 4 actually saves Metro money, probably only in the millions of dollars, in station operation costs including paying the station managers.

Some lesser known limited stop and express bus alternatives to avoid getting on the train, some of these have better paid worker demographics and ones who want to use traffic and avoid traffic in their cars. Note some of these routes have premium fares.

* Burke to Tysons on I495 toll lanes
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/495.pdf
* Lorton to Tysons to I495 toll lanes
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/494.pdf
* Springfield to Pentagon and Mark Center using I395 express lanes
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/393.pdf
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/394.pdf
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/395.pdf
* Reston North/Wiehle to Pentagon/Crystal City
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/connector/pdf/schedule/599.pdf
* Herndon/Monroe to Rosslyn
https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/5A_161218.pdf
Proposed to be eliminated or higher fares (see above post)
* Mount Vernon area into DC
https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/11y.pdf
* Vienna Metro to King Street Metro, limited stop vs. transfer on trains
https://www.wmata.com/schedules/timetables/upload/29kn.pdf

Also add to above list http://wtop.com/sprawl-crawl/2017/01/dude-wheres-my-bus-fairfax-co-to-launch-tracking-system-soon/ , it says 'A new express route on I66 will launch this summer between the Fairfax County Government Center and the State Department in Foggy Bottom.'

Reduced, unreliable service, coupled with higher prices. Who could ever have seen that leading to a business downturn? Only braindead apes at Metro!

There was guy that worked at this station, he was black, very friendly and helpful. I'm sure he's probably not there any longer.

These cucks should have routed the new silver line stops to brand new Arthur Treachers locales opening up all over the northern virginia cesspool.

SMH