In a recent ranking of Metro’s 91 stations by ridership, three of the seven least used were on the western end of the Silver Line. The stations, all between Wiehle-Reston East and East Falls Church, had lower-than-expected ridership, while Blue Line riders — whose service was reduced to accommodate the new line — dealt with crowding and long waits for trains.
So when Metro board Chairman Jack Evans mentioned the Blue Line as a potential candidate for an extended shutdown — though General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld followed by saying such a move was not under consideration — riders became frustrated.
“Whether they’re serious about shutting the Blue Line or not, the fact that they view that as sort of the most dispensable line that they can put out comments like that I find concerning,” said Jeff Larrimore, 33, a government researcher who co-founded “Save the Blue Line” in 2014.
He said it was as if the Blue Line was Metro’s “punching bag.”
Wednesday, for the first time, Blue Line advocates had a chance to express their concerns to Wiedefeld.
Wiedefeld appeared before Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council (RAC), the 21-member advisory group that reports to the agency’s governing board. He was quick to clarify Evans’s remarks.
“I think he just sort of put something out there,” Wiedefeld said. “But I think he was just driving home the point . . . that we are facing serious issues here.”
While rider advocates initially bristled at the idea of an extended closure, some of the agency’s loudest critics said they would stand behind Wiedefeld’s push for needed safety fixes — provided they are kept in the loop.
“I think the ridership shouldn’t be blindsided by things like that,” said RAC member Chris Barnes, known on Twitter as @FixWMATA.
Wiedefeld reassured the group that he would indeed keep them informed.
For better or worse, Metro’s recent woes have provided lots of class material for Kevin Heaslip, a transit operation and planning professor at Virginia Tech. In his mind, the March 16 systemwide shutdown ordered by Wiedefeld spurred an important conversation about the country’s aging infrastructure.
The day of the shutdown, a Bay Area Rapid Transit social-media staffer engaged in a candid dialogue over Twitter about the problems plaguing that region’s system. For many, Evans’s comments also harked back to the closure of a 10-mile segment of Chicago’s busiest rail line — the Red Line — for five months in 2013.
“If you’ve been looking at what’s been going on in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Washington, the story is just repeating itself,” Heaslip said in an interview. “We’re reaping what we’ve sown. That’s very difficult for people to hear and to realize. We want low fares, we want high up-time, and we don’t want to pay for it. I think that’s why the shutdowns could be an important step. It’s a reset.”
Heaslip said his transportation planning class even began discussing how Metro might relieve congestion at the Rosslyn tunnel, the bottleneck shared by Orange, Blue and Silver line trains that is the source of so many commuter woes.
He said Evans’s comments were an indication that Metro is willing to make big, potentially disruptive decisions to ensure that passengers are safe. Larrimore and others said they would back a safety-based maintenance plan but were frustrated with the tone Metro set by singling out the Blue Line.
Metro would not have floated such suggestions about the Red or Silver lines, they said.
The Silver Line’s Greensboro and Spring Hill stations averaged 1,079 and 1,042 riders weekdays, respectively, good for 89th and 90th in the 91-station system in February.
“What we have to keep in mind is where we are today and where we are going to be,” said Tom Biesiadny, director of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation. “These are . . . stations which are not as high ridership as we were expecting, but there is development on the way there.”
When the Silver Line opened in 2014, Metro increased the time between Blue Line trains to ease congestion through the Rosslyn tunnel. In the ensuing months, crowding on the line increased 20 percent and consistently exceeded Metro’s target of 100 passengers per car — reaching an average of 130 during afternoon rush hours in July 2015.
RAC member Colin Reusch said Wednesday that Blue Line difficulties are part of the reason he moved from Alexandria into the District last year.
He said he used to ride the Blue Line from Van Dorn Street station into the District but saw commutes to Foggy Bottom-GWU and Farragut West stretch from 40 minutes to more than an hour. Daily headaches were resolved, he said, when he moved to Southwest Washington and became a Green Line rider.
“That is one area that we have to take a fresh look at as well,” Wiedefeld told the group Wednesday. “Clearly we have to take a look at that.”
Later, speaking with reporters, Wiedefeld said that Metro had no imminent plans to adjust service on either line but that the agency was exploring the problem.
Reusch said he was heartened to hear that but wants to see concrete changes — and soon.
Metro said in a statement Friday that “to accommodate the Silver Line opening, two rush hour ‘slots’ were taken from the Blue Line, while Orange Line service was reduced by six trains per hour. Silver Line trains are carrying that load.” It pointed to enhanced Yellow Line service, known as “Rush Plus,” as a way the service gap is being accommodated, saying the number of trains serving the Pentagon station southward has not changed.
“The region collectively decided to add the Silver Line to the transit system more than a decade ago knowing that service would have to be adjusted on other lines to accommodate it,” Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said. “All of this being said, the GM has heard the concerns of Blue Line riders, and this may be an area that gets a fresh look once other, more pressing matters are addressed.”
Biesiadny says the situation at the Silver Line stations is only temporary. Mixed-use and office development in the area will soon drive up ridership, he said, pointing to residential, office and retail projects such as “The Boro” at Greensboro and the new Capitol One headquarters that will bring thousands to Tysons.
At Greensboro on a recent afternoon, one of the few riders boarding an inbound train, 33-year-old government contractor Kevin Robertson from Arlington, said he has noticed ridership start to pick up with the warming weather.
“I always have a seat,” Robertson said. Of the stations, he said: “I think they’re helpful. Not essential.”