MARC riders who have signedup for the e-mail alerts say that far too often, the information is delayed so long that it is not helpful. These alerts are supposed to notify subscribing riders when there are delays or cancellations to a given train or line. Officials at the MTA admit that the system tends to develop a “logjam” when multiple messages are sent out in sequence and say this is what seems to create the delays. The sad thing is that this is the third software program that MARC has used, and it still isn’t right.
Virginia Railway Express also has an e-mail alert system, and it seems to work pretty well — so much so that MARC officials are planning on talking to them about it in hopes that it will solve their problems.
Town Hall Meeting
Metro’s Board and the Riders Advisory Council will host a town hall meeting tonight in Rockville. This will be a good forum for riders to discuss just about anything related to trains, buses and MetroAccess. It will be held on the third floor of the County Council Building at 100 Maryland Ave. beginning at 7 p.m.
It’s a bit of a hike from the Rockville Metro station (three or four blocks across some busy streets with some hills), but it is doable. You might go to Metro’s Trip Planner (www.wmata.com) to learn about other options. There will be a chance for the public to be heard in this forum, but you have to sign up first. There will be exhibits as well as brochures and other materials about new bus projects, safety and security and other things.
Elevators
If you use the elevators at the Farragut West Metrorail station, you can forget about it for the next 10 weeks. Metro is taking the elevators out of service for roughly 10 weeks to “modernize” them. The system will provide free shuttle-bus service around the station for those who need and request it. To ask for one of the buses that will be stationed in the area, you’ll need to call 202-962-1825 in advance. What they mean by modernizing is that the majority of the mechanical and elevator cab parts will be replaced with new ones. It’s a way to extend the life of the elevator, and it should all be wrapped up by February.
On another note
One more Metro note: Metro has started the work to rehabilitate the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant parking garage. The project will take about a year and a half. The four-level parking garage will remain open during the project, but you can expect service parking to be rather dear. The project will temporarily take 200 parking spaces out of service (usually they do this to provide a place to store equipment, supplies and other stuff). Metro will be upgrading the stairwells and drainage, and will be doing some repaving in eight phases. Metro suggests that those finding parking too difficult might want to consider parking at Landover, New Carrollton, Morgan Boulevard or Largo Town Center.
