Metro trains are meeting the transit agency’s goal for being on time, according to a new report, but only because officials recently dropped the standards. The agency lowered its goals for how it measures success earlier this year, dropping the target of having 95 percent of all trains arriving on time to 90 percent. Now, a new report says, 90.9 percent of trains were considered on time in May.
Yet even after lowering the bar, the agency couldn’t meet its own goals for keeping escalators running or buses arriving on time.
Only 74.5 percent of the system’s buses were on time in May even after the goal was lowered from 80 percent to 78 percent.
| What does “on time” mean? |
| Metro has consistently had about one of every four buses miss scheduled arrival times. But even so, the agency has what one board member called the widest window for what it counts as “on time.” The agency has looked at narrowing that time span. Doing so, though, would reduce how many buses the agency could count as being on time. |
| Current standard: |
| • 2 minutes early or up to 7 minutes late = 75 percent of buses are considered on time |
| Proposed standard: |
| • 1 minute early or up to 5 minutes late = 59 percent of buses would be on time |
| Other options: |
| • 30 seconds early or up to 7 minutes late = 65 percent of buses would be on time |
| • 30 seconds early or up to 5 minutes late = 55 percent of buses would be on time |
About 82.5 percent of escalators were available instead of the goal of 89 percent, down from the earlier goal of 93 percent, the report says.
The targets are a way for the agency to measure how well it is running the system. Metro General Manager Richard Sarles told The Washington Examiner earlier this year that he was lowering the standards as a management tool to help staff focus on making improvements.
But that translates to delays for riders and more frozen escalators. At Foggy Bottom on Tuesday, for example, all of the escalators were out of service for much of the day, leading to massive crowds and grumpy commuters.
The report said that more escalators were expected to go out of service as Metro is ratcheting up inspections and overhauling more units. It also said that the lateness of buses may be because of seasonal road construction and traffic patterns.
Metro now may change the measuring stick again, this time to benefit riders. It is considering reclassifying what it takes for a bus to be late. Currently buses can be two minutes early or up to seven minutes late and still be considered “on time.” But board member and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Mortimer Downey criticized Metro in May, saying the agency had the widest definition of what qualifies as on time as any transit agency he’d seen.
The agency now says in a report to board members that it is looking to narrow that window from nine to six minutes — one minute early and up to five minutes late — to “work towards a shorter wait time” for riders.
But, the agency cautions it can’t make that change immediately. To lessen the wait time for buses, the agency says it needs to install new bus tracking equipment, acquire new buses and garages, hire more operators and work with local governments to improve road conditions.
