More than a year after Metro told Fairfax County officials that the names they’d chosen for stops on the planned Silver Line were too confusing, the county board voted Tuesday to submit a new set of station names culled from public suggestions.
Gone is the list of station names that Metro called highly repetitive and forgettable – the original list had four consecutive stops named “Tysons.” The new list includes simpler, more recognizable station names like “McLean,” “Tysons Corner” and “Herndon.”
The county heard from more than 16,000 people in an online survey on station names that asked respondents to choose names that were brief (19 characters or less) and relevant (referencing local landmarks or actual place names) but also “unique and evocative.” Nearly 47 percent of the respondents were from Fairfax County, supervisors said.
The board made slight adjustments to two station names – changing “Greensboro Park” to simply “Greensboro” and “Innovation” to “Innovation Center” (“Innovation” alone, the board decided, sounded too “Disney-esque”).
The board unanimously approved the new names and sent them on to Metro. In the meantime, supervisors say they’re pleased with their revised station names.
“They should be very easy for transit riders to understand,” said Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay. “People who actually use the system agree with these. This should be about riders more than anything else.”
The new station names are as follows:
- Tysons–McLean becomes McLean
- Tysons I&II becomes Tysons Corner
- Tysons Central becomes Greensboro
- Tysons–Spring Hill Road becomes Spring Hill
- Reston–Wiehle Avenue becomes Wiehle–Reston East
- Reston Town Center remains Reston Town Center
- Herndon–Reston West becomes Herndon
- Herndon-Dulles East becomes Innovation Center
