TAXI DRIVERS who are trying to slide past the new requirement that all cabs in D.C. use time-and-distance meters can't catch a break.

Since the May 1 deadline for meter installation has come and gone, they run the risk of getting slapped with a $1,000 fine if they're caught ferrying passengers without a meter. Now, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has set June 1 as a deadline for all taxis servicing Reagan National Airport to hop on the meter bandwagon, WJLA reports.

Why travelers at National would have used a D.C. cab to get into the city from there is a mystery, since the fare to cross the Potomac from Virginia was officially $Arm, plus a $Leg surcharge under the zone system, but whatever. Soon, that, too, will be but an entry in the area's illustrious transit scrapbook.

» "Taxis Required To Use Meters at National Airport" [WJLA]

Photo of a D.C. cab with a meter by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

THREE MONTHS AFTER the biggest fare hike in Metro's history, ridership continues to grow, according to budget analysts.

"Rail ridership is up, bus [ridership] stayed about the same as last year and parking lots and garages are still filling up," said Metro Budget Director Rick Harcum after studying three months of ridership data.

According to Metro, average weekday ridership grew 6 percent in January, 4 percent in February and 3 percent in March. Budget analysts project another 3 percent growth in rail ridership over the next few months, as compared to last year.

Continue Reading "Metro Ridership Up After Fare Increases" »

IT WAS A TYPICAL MORNING on the Orange Line. The train I was sitting on was little crowded, even at 11 a.m., because today is the kind of warm, sunny spring Friday that draws tourists in droves to frolic about the city's myriad attractions.

The ride was uneventful until the train stopped at Foggy Bottom. That's when a guy who looked to be in his early 20s sporting a scraggly goatee and a baseball cap slumped into the seat behind me.

Apparently, today is also the kind of warm, sunny spring Friday that futzes with one's sinuses. Because the moment he plunked his butt in the seat, out burst a sneeze of cyclonic velocity, which deposited droplets of liquid on the back of my neck.

"Woah!" was his response. Not "hey, sorry, man." Not "anybody have a napkin for this guy?" Just "Woah!"

In that moment, my muscles tense, my shoulders arched, I thought about the many, many times I've been coughed on, yawned at, sighed toward or sneezed upon on the Metro by folks who obviously hadn't been listening to Mom when she gave them what I'd guess were repeated unsuccessful lessons on manners.

Continue Reading "Sneeze Guard: For Etiquette's Sake, Give Yourself a Hand" »

Taxi driver Alexander Holder checks his new meter Thursday as he waits for a fare at Union Station. Photo by Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post

IT'S MAY 1 -- D-Day for D.C.'s taxi drivers, the day every cab in the District is supposed to have meters installed as part of the great changeover from the city's notorious zoned fare system to a more traditional metered system.

But if you take a cab today, odds are you won't see a meter. Excuses abound, ranging from a dismissive "We don't need to have them till June" (not true, and violators face a hefty fine) to, "This company ain't ordered them yet." Your driver might cite the high cost of having a meter installed ("over $400," according to one cabbie) or the long wait time (only a few places in the city install meters).

Cabs in D.C. are generally clean and pleasant. They don't smell of vomit or cigar smoke. But today they reek of festering rage. Cab drivers are angry, and soon the District may have a lot fewer of them.

When asked about his missing meter, driver Liban Aden declares that he won't be getting one.

"I ain't gonna work free," he says. "I gotta find another job."

Aden, an immigrant from Somalia, has been driving a cab for two years. He expects to see at least a 50 percent drop in most fares, and that's on top of sky-high gas prices -- he paid $3.99 per gallon yesterday.

He says a passenger recently suggested that if he didn't like the change to meters, he should go back to Africa. But he's sticking with America, if not with his taxi: "I'm a U.S. citizen. I voted. This is my country," he says, "I don't know why I deserve this punishment."

Continue Reading "Fare Warning: D.C. Cabs Convert to Meters? Not So Fast" »

An artist's rendering of above-ground Metrorail track through Tysons Corner. Image courtesy Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project

IMAGINE YOU HAD a beloved family dog. It had lived a long, long life, and it brought your family joy — even if it sometimes spawned an argument or two about whether it ought to be digging in the yard.

Earlier this year, the dog died. You had a funeral for it. You buried it in the yard. You grieved for it. Then, months later, it appeared at your doorstep, wagging its tail and looking for dinner.

That must be how it feels to be someone who worked on the project to extend Metrorail to Dulles Airport. Earlier today, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, in a stunning turnabout, told officials that the federal government would allow the project to move into a final design phase, The Post's Amy Gardner and Lena H. Sun report.

The effort had been brought to a standstill in January, when federal officials cited a laundry list of concerns — rising costs, the ability of the Metro system to integrate the 23 miles of new territory, the ability of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to manage the construction — to support their decision not to provide $900 million in federal funding that was the oxygen the project needed to survive.

Metro to Dulles was dead. So dead that Tysons Tunnel, the tenacious group of residents and businesspeople who opposed the plan because it would snake aboveground track through Tysons Corner, withdrew its federal lawsuit seeking to block the project.

That kind of dead.

Its resurrection has set keyboards a-clacking around the area.

Continue Reading "It's Alive! Reactions to the Dulles Rail Resurrection" »

WITH SUMMER'S HEAT coming right around the corner, Metro and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission have set their first Code Red Air Quality Action Day of the year for Wednesday.

According to Metro, free bus rides will be offered throughout the day on all Northern Virginia bus routes, and special events will take place from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. at various commuter locations to raise awareness about the impact of poor air quality on the health of commuters in the region.

Free bus rides will also be offered in suburban Maryland on forecasted Code Red days through September 15. The program is designed to encourage people to use mass transit and reduce air pollution. Visit Metro's site to find out more.

WHO ARE THOSE FOLKS on Metrorail with the badges in the crisp new duds? Stand back, hepcats — the Metro Transit Police force is steppin' out in style.

A press release put out this afternoon detailed the force's new look:

It consists of a blue pant with gold and blue piping and a white dress shirt. The trim on the pant leg was designed to match the royal blue and gold stitching on the department's official patch.

"The new uniform enhances the professional image of our police department, which is recognized across the country as being a leader in transit policing," said Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn, according to the press release.

A Metro spokeswoman didn't have figures available on how much the uniform refresh cost the perennially cash-strapped transit agency.

UPDATE, 4:45 p.m.: From Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato: "The cost estimate for the transitioning all 420 Metro Transit Police officers to the new uniform is $291,000."

IT'S EARLY MORNING. You walk onto a Metro train to start the daily slog to work. You're sleepy. Maybe a little hungry. And then, you hear the distinctive sound of someone doing the verboten: Eating on a Metrorail car.

It's just this kind of situation that a reader named Su e-mailed us about. Here's Su's story:

I was taking the Metro last week and as soon as I entered, I found two ladies and a man eating their breakfast from Dunkin Donuts. It was very disturbing, since Metro riders aren't used to seeing anybody eating inside the Metro.

Every person that walked in would double check them, because they were loud too, but no one said anything.

What should I have done?

We put the question to Metro public relations director Lisa Farbstein.

Continue Reading "Mailbag: What to Do With an Eater on Metro" »

IT'S A NOTION sure to draw interest in our trafficky little city: the Metro Board on Thursday will reportedly hear a proposal to run a Metrorail line through Georgetown.

It's a brilliant idea. Georgetown's one of the spots within Metro's existing sphere that's most clearly ripe for mass transit, with its array of shops and scads of residents. It's such an obviously smart place to put a Metrorail station that I've encountered many a newcomer who's incredulous that there isn't one already.

It's smart. It's exciting. It's a long time coming.

It ain't gonna happen.

Here's the idea, as reported by WTOP's Adam Tuss:

Another rail line would be built from Rosslyn, across the Potomac River, through the top of the District, and then connect with other lines in the city. This way more rail cars could be sent through the downtown core, spreading out riders.

For Metro officials, the plan is a way to not only serve riders and residents keen to see subway service in Georgetown, but more importantly, as Tuss suggests, an effort to break up the crush of passengers that Metro packs through the downtown corridor each day — especially since, as WTOP reports, some parts of the system will start hitting capacity within the next 10 years.

Continue Reading "Metrorail to Georgetown? It's a Pipe Dream" »

THE TRAVELS of Pope Benedict XIV will be exciting for local Catholics and celebrity-watchers, but not necessarily so swell for local traffic.

According to a news release from the D.C. Department of Transportation, changes put in place for the pope's travels will include the closure of the Frederick Douglass Bridge on Thursday and parking restrictions on parts of Massachusetts Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest.

DDOT's full list of closures follows below.

Continue Reading "Road, Parking Restrictions Set for Pope's Visit" »