MoCo, WMATA, Ride On slow to recover from blizzard

Grey lines indicate streets
where plowing has yet
to begin; map image from
7:20 AM today

A snow emergency remains in effect as Montgomery County and WMATA continue to struggle in recovering from Winter Storm Jonas. Montgomery County Public Schools are closed again today, and County snow plow crews are now tackling neighborhood streets.

According to the County snow operations map, some neighborhoods' streets remain untouched 59 hours after the snow ended. Spring Hill, Green Acres, Springfield, Wood Acres, Rock Creek Palisades, Randolph Hills, Stoneybrook Estates, and parts of Aspen Hill are among the "children of a lesser god."

The crews are working hard, but it appears the County did not procure enough of them in advance, despite the unusual advance notice of this weather event.

The other gaffe today is the County's Ride On bus service. Only Routes 1, 5, 8, 15, 16, 17, 23, 30, 34, 43, 46, 47, 55, 56, 59, 83, 100 will operate today, and - get this - only from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. What is this, just for senior citizens or something?! Unplowed neighborhood roads + no rush hour Ride On feeder buses = residents unable to get to work today.

Apparently, just because elected officials can declare themselves closed for a day off, they've lost touch with the fact that most of their constituents lack such authority. At last check, janitors can't telework. The failure to get the basic emergency transit service up and running is costing people pay, and possibly their jobs.

Unbelievably, once again there is no T2 Metrobus service along the River Road corridor. When you need transit in Montgomery County, it's just not there for you, folks. You can't rely on it.

Metrorail is operating with service on all lines except the Orange Line between Vienna & Ballston, and the Silver Line.

The Bethesda Circulator will not run today.

METRO TESTS NEW 7000-SERIES RAILCARS IN ROCKVILLE (PHOTOS)

WMATA is finally on something of a timetable to restore automatic train control to its subway system, and the Red Line will be the first route to have it, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. In October, some Red Line trains will begin operating automatically, and all trains will do so by next March, according to the Post report. That long-overdue positive sign wasn't the only big Red Line news this past weekend. Metro tested new 7000-series railcars on the Red Line Saturday and Sunday, between the Twinbrook and Shady Grove Metro stations.

I caught one in action at the Rockville station on Sunday. The train was not accepting passengers during the test run. The 7000-series are manufactured by Kawasaki.

We simply must improve the service and reliability of Metro, if we are to even begin to manage future growth in places like downtown Bethesda, White Flint, Silver Spring and Rockville. Scarce transportation dollars need to go to the projects where they impact the most people, such as 8-car trains for Metro, more capacity on the Red Line (especially north of Grosvenor), and a new Potomac River crossing to relieve congestion on the Beltway and I-270.

TIME FOR MARYLAND TO DEMAND CHANGES AT METRO

The farce that was the last 48 hours of Red Line service on Metro is not the last straw. Whatever the last straw was (I think most riders and employees have lost count at this point), it happened a long time ago. Yet Metro continues to slouch forward, its leadership locking arms with apologists in local government and media. The result is that, in the customer's experience, there has been no positive change whatsoever.

Metro has been a good subway system in the past. Sure, there have always been issues, but nothing like that of recent years. Metro can be at least that good again with the right leadership, and adequate funding.

We've heard a lot about the "aggressive" changes in maintenance, safety and service. Riders have suffered through endless weekend station closures, closures that - along with punitive fare increases - have sent some riders back to their automobiles.

But those inconvenient closures have produced no tangible results. There continue to be delays, derailings, and even another fatal accident that killed an employee. Does anyone call this an improvement?

Yet Metro truly has a Teflon leadership. No matter what happens, it's never held accountable. But riders have leverage beyond their farecards: asking their local and state government officials to tell Metro's leadership enough is enough.

If our elected officials don't take action, we should take action at the voting machines in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Furthermore, the state of Maryland should consider doing what Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell did three years ago: decide what substantive leadership, operation and safety changes they believe should be implemented, and withhold Maryland's Metro funding until those are enacted. Should that be the first and only means of bringing about real change? No. But if all else fails, is allowing one of the best subway systems in the world to continue to decline an option?

I'm certainly open to other suggestions of how Montgomery County and Maryland specifically can apply pressure on Metro on behalf of their beleaguered residents; feel free to leave a comment below.

But we can't continue to be told that change is just around the corner. When's the last time your train was automatically run, rather than manually operated? How many years have gone by without fixing that problem? I don't even hear Metro, the media or politicians talk about that issue anymore.

I'd like to see politicians show the same animation and fury they generate about plastic bags and trans fat on behalf of an unacceptable level of subway service for their constituents. And, if they don't, they should be replaced with people who will.

We can't go on like this.