A Storm of Weather-Related Traffic Woes

I've gotten some answers to your questions about performance of our traffic and transit authorities during the past week's storms. I've got to say, all in all, it seems like most people had limited gripes. There were a few real difficulties -- mostly on Metro and in the District -- but overall, I've heard fewer complaints than I would have expected.

OrangeLineHater wrote: The Orange Line this week has been unbearable. WMATA [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] lists 10-minute delays on their Web site . . . um, try one hour, 15 minutes to get from McPherson Square to West Falls Church last night. And another hour this morning. Why can't they be honest about the delays?

I can understand that the trains would be slower because of the problems at Federal Triangle, but how about some eight-car trains for the Orange Line? I waited out three trains last night before I was able to squeeze onto one for the interminable and uncomfortable ride home.

Ginsberg: Metro has promised to improve communications and be more accurate about delays following a torrent of complaints during the week. Specifically, managers have pledged to revamp the way e-mail alerts go out, so that all riders will get them for events, and also to change the way delays are posted on its Web site. This was a particular gripe Tuesday, when the Web site reported no delays through most of the morning, while angry riders contacted me to complain about jamming onto platforms and waiting for a half-dozen trains to pass before they could get on one. After I asked Metro about it, they changed the site to say there were delays of about 10 minutes, which prompted more angry e-mails and calls. Metro said it will manually update the site in the future to more accurately reflect reality.

Metro said it did run eight-car trains.

Ffx took issue with Metro's claims of success: From Metro's Web site detailing yesterday's [Monday] service: "Percentage of rail customers who experienced no delay: 97.42 percent."

Ginsberg: That number jumps out, doesn't it? On a day when two stations were flooded and much of the system was hobbled, Metro trumpets the figure that 97.42 percent of people had no trouble at all. Well, as it turns out, not really.

Metro measures percentages according to whether trains arrive at stations on time according to schedules, not whether people were able to get on those trains or make it to their final destinations. Using their method, trains that never arrived because stations were closed because of flooding were not included, nor were the people who waited over an hour to actually board a train. Interim General Manager Dan Tangherlini has pledged to change Metro's calculations to better reflect what people actually experience.

Sean assessed it this way: The worst part of the commute was by far in D.C., where the police really failed to provide any useful help. They were not posted at nearly enough traffic lights, would often divert traffic onto roads and then fail to have someone at the next intersection to move people through the dark light. They failed to enforce parking restrictions on the roads they did have open, often blocking much-needed lanes of traffic. They really seemed to lack a plan for dealing with this . . .

P.S. Do drivers in D.C. not understand that a dark signal automatically means a four-way stop?

Ginsberg: First District Cmdr. Diane Grooms said D.C. police directed traffic in six intersections on Sunday and three on subsequent days -- at Seventh Street and Independence Avenue, 15th Street and Constitution Avenue and 16th Street and Constitution. As anyone who was trying to navigate the city could attest, this was not nearly enough, when lights at several downtown intersections were out. Grooms said police did the best they could under the circumstances. "I could not deploy my whole district on Constitution Avenue," she said. "Of course there's a safety and traffic thing, but there were other priorities -- calls to service for crimes in progress."

One option would have been to request help from the Department of Public Works, which directs traffic daily through more than a dozen intersections, many of which had functioning signal lights during the past week. Grooms said, "We would not pull them unless we were in dire need."