I guess it’s a good thing that the National Transportation Safety Board is based here in Washington, because the Metro system is giving investigators there a lot of work. The derailment of the Green Line train at Mount Vernon Square is just the latest incident to require the attention of the federal agency. In addition to all of the issues related to fares and the budget in general, one would have to assume that new general manager John B. Catoe will have to refocus the agency on safety issueswhen he comes on board at the end of this month.
It seems like this sort of thing is cyclical, that there are periods when bad things come in bunches. While the most recent incident is one of the worst in the agency’s history in terms of the number of people injured, at least no passengers have died recently. At a time when it’s being contemplated that fares will go up, the agency needs to assure passengers and potential riders that they can get from point A to point B safely. Right now that seems to be in doubt.
Where are the seasons?
With temperatures in the 50s and 60s so far this winter, I wonder what the local highway agencies will do with all of the salt and other snow-removal chemicals they stockpiled at the beginning of the season. I guess salt doesn’t go bad, and much of the work that’s been budgeted for plow operators and maintenance personnel won’t really be tapped until and if the white stuff starts to fall. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see a little snow. The change of seasons is one of the things I really enjoy about this region. Without it, I guess I’d be living in Scottsdale or somewhere else in the desert.
Ridership continues to grow
The American Public Transportation Association says public transit ridership continues to grow. In the first nine months of 2006, there were 7.8 billion trips on transit, representing a nearly 3% increase. Across the nation, light rail ridership saw the biggest increase, but heavy rail and bus ridership wasn’t too far behind. Washington didn’t make the top of any of the lists of cities, but, as we have already heard, transit ridership in this region was flat though there were some bumps in local services. Overall, the numbers are encouraging and show that transit is more in demand even as the price of fuel falls.
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
