Next Stop On Metro: Strap Test For Riders

Raise your hand if you ride Metro. Good, because Metro might soon give that hand something new to hold onto.

The transit agency is testing different styles of overhead handles in rail cars to give riders standing in the aisles something , anything, to improve their balance and comfort.

For years, shorter riders have been clamoring for Metro to give them better grips, especially for when trains are standing-room-only during rush periods and when trains stop abruptly, sending anchorless riders hurtling into taller passengers.

Metro has been operating eight cars with overhead handles made of nylon or vinyl for several weeks. The straps are black, yellow or gray and hang 10 to 12 inches from overhead bars. The black straps are made of nylon mesh; the others, in yellow and two shades of gray, are vinyl. The tests, to continue for another month, are being done on the Red and Orange lines, Metro's busiest.

Metro plans to seek rider feedback before picking one style to install on at least 100 cars by the end of the year. Metro also is testing spring-loaded stainless-steel handles in 40 of its newest cars.

The vinyl and nylon handles cost $15 to $30 each, or $300 to $500 a car, said Jeff Pringle, a senior Metro rail car manager.

Samantha Sissman, who is 5-foot-1, knows the frustration of riding trains and finding overhead bars hopelessly out of reach. Sissman, an aide to Chris Zimmerman (D), Metro board chairman and Arlington County Board member, commutes about 30 minutes on the Yellow or Green lines and the Orange Line during rush periods.

"If I don't get to a pole or a chair, I don't have a lot of options for steady travel," she said yesterday. She has not ridden any of the cars with straps, but she and her friends "are very intrigued and excited about this possibility."

With record ridership, the transit agency needs to "do everything we can to accommodate riders," Metro chief engineer Michael Hiller said. When riders are sandwiched in a crowded rail car and shifting their weight from side to side to stay upright, "just one small place" can help them keep their balance, he said.

One of Metro's goals this year is to install overhead handles on at least 25 percent of its fleet of 1,136 cars, including 184 newer cars. By the end of the year, the newer cars will have the spring-loaded stainless-steel handles, which cost more than $100 each, officials said. The design of the new cars works better with the spring-loaded handles; seated passengers are less likely to bump their heads against the handles, which pivot out, when they stand.

As part of the tests, Metro personnel will monitor the durability of the straps and determine which style is most cost-effective, officials said. Riders can contact Metro at a customer comment link on the agency's Web site ( http://www.wmata.com) or by telephone.

"We know customers want them," spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said of the straps. "People are not shy about contacting us."