VRE Repairs, Tardiness Fuel Ridership Drop

Some riders said passengers systemwide are fed up with VRE's older cars, derisively referred to as "cattle cars" for their rigid seating and metallic interiors. VRE has bought 11 cars that will be added this year and has ordered 50 more that will arrive by December 2008.

VRE officials said a slash in their advertising budget has also affected ridership. And they stopped promoting their service as a superior commuting alternative because, Roeber said, his agency no longer has the confidence to make those claims -- at least until the $26 million Quantico bridge is completed next year.

"In normal circumstances, we'll beat a car," he said. "But until you see the bridge in place and functioning, you wouldn't see us making any statements that would lend automobile drivers to believe our ride was going to be significantly faster."

When the trains are on time, it's hard to imagine anyone choosing to get behind the wheel. The 7:15 a.m. train Aug. 9, for instance, left Fredericksburg on time and breezed past the backups on I-95, which popped into view from time to time on the train's left side. To the right, riders watched the sun rise over the platinum-colored expanse of the Potomac River. The train reached Union Station eight minutes early.

In the afternoon, the cars were more crowded and the bathrooms dirtier, and the riders seemed much less patient, lining up by the exits. But the 6 p.m. train made it to Fredericksburg on time, 90 minutes after leaving Union Station.

Roeber said VRE is one of the only rail services in the country that provides "free-ride" vouchers to passengers if a train is more than 30 minutes late.

But riders such as Stafford County resident Doug Graham said the vouchers do him little good. "When I try to use up my free-ride certificates, the train is late all over again," said Graham, who has ridden VRE for the past 10 years. "The on-time record is really a killer."

Graham and others on the Aug. 9 Fredericksburg train spoke about their commute with a mix of weariness and resignation, convinced that VRE is still their best option. But a few said they are not so inured to suffering on VRE that they haven't looked at alternatives.

"It's getting to be a tougher and tougher trade-off," said Andrew Johnston, a Fredericksburg resident who has been taking VRE for eight years to his job in Rosslyn. Johnston said getting to work an hour late after a one-way commute of more than three hours is "embarrassing," but he would rather sit through delays in the company of other riders than alone in his car.

Even though he is off VRE, Melnyk isn't much happier. He is on time for work now, but, he said, afternoon I-95 traffic is a "nightmare."

"It's just unbelievable that this situation has gotten so out of hand," Melnyk said. "When you spend an average of four hours a day commuting, how can you have a life?"