MU “commuter struggle” intensifies with inflated travel time

Photo: Pixabay, January 20, 2017

By: Kiley Cargill

Washington DC’s regular congestion is steadily increasing, and it’s taking a toll on the Marymount community.  Most Saints are commuters, and having the city right around the corner makes for a tough trip any day; but frustrations are especially on the rise with the Metro’s recent SafeTrack program underway.  Metro revisions are coming at the cost of inflated commuter travel times.

The SafeTrack Program began this past summer on June 3rd.  Its aim is to complete three 3 years worth of construction in one.  The urgency arises from nearly 40 years of neglecting very necessary revisions.  In an effort to mend flaws in the metro system with haste and proficiency, it was decided that the SafeTrack Program was the quickest, most efficient way to get the job done.  The program facilitates more hours for work to be done by cutting into the typical hours Metro users are accustomed to.  For example all tracks close by midnight every night, including weekends.

According to the Metro’s main website, as part of its process the SafeTrack Program includes what are referred to as “Safety Surges”.  These Safety Surges close off stations and longer or more complicated tracks in need of maintenance for a prolonged period of time.  They do this in order to increase the workflow of more major projects.  In talking with students, Safety Surges seem to be the root cause of commotion, often forcing commuters to seek alternate routes.

“I used to just take the Red line to Metro Center then from there just transfer to the Orange or Silver line to get to Ballston, but now with the SafeTrack Programming in place the Red line is [going to] be disrupted during the month of November” Cynthia Diaz, a second year Marymount commuter, divulges the difficulties she’ll be running into just next month.  ”Instead of 14 stops to get to school it’ll take me 18 to 20 stops.”

Ms. Diaz has been commuting since her freshman year at Marymount.  When asked about her initial reactions to the SafeTrack announcements she immediately expressed the anxiety that had flushed over her.  Marymount commuters rely heavily on the Metro, and the thought of a year-long program directly inhibiting their ability to get to class on-time is understandably shocking to Metro users like Ms. Diaz.

This coming November her commute will be stretched from roughly 35 minutes to upwards of an hour, not including wait time for new trains between line switches.  Ms. Diaz discloses that “The Orange and Silver lines have issues from time-to-time with single tracking”, perpetually extending the wait time to outrageous lengths.  Others like Alison Jackson, a junior at Marymount, have more to say about these extended wait times.  “I work in East Falls Church and leave around 9:00 at night.  By the time I get to the metro I sometimes have to wait 20 minutes for the next train.”

These delays are necessary to the safe functioning of the Metro, but they are unwelcome nonetheless.  However, the grumblings that would arise from these inconveniences were predicted in advance and are being taken into account.  In an attempt to lessen the blow of the SafeTrack Program on riders and allow them ample time to prepare their alternative routes, the Metro has issued some shuttle bus services between stations during closures.  They also provide a schedule online of all planned Safety Surges and their approximate dates, though apparently even this has also proven to be slightly unreliable.  “Recently there’s been a lot of switching around with the dates and that has made it pretty confusing when it comes to planning my commute ahead of time” said Diaz.

In some cases these delays and obstructions are pushing people towards finding entirely alternate means of transportation.  Some are taking to cars to avoid the hassle of traveling or waiting those extra 20 minutes.  This is what commuting Marymount sophomore Marvin Mundo is choosing, and for him it works.

“What made the difference was me actually buying a car, I bought it to facilitate my commute.  Transition from public transportation to driving is great, I get to go to events that I normally would not go to,” he gushes.  Mundo is the president of the MU Dreamers, a Latino club on campus.  He explains that a lot of the MU Dreamers’ events are late at night, and by the time they end Metro service tends to be very slow.  “My commute was normally an hour and a half during regular hours, but at night it could even take me two hours.”

Surely Mundo isn’t the only regular metro-rider who has made the switch.  There are more yet who plan to transition in the near future- Diaz herself is one of these hopefuls.  She is in the process of testing for her permit, and hopes to be fully licensed and on the road before the start of next semester, if possible; “My dad even bought me a car!”

Those within the Marymount community aren’t the only ones beginning to avoid the Metro, and perhaps the onset of rider aggravation isn’t sourced in the SafeTrack Program alone.  According to a February 12th article by Fredrick Kunkle from The Washington Post, “Ridership fell 6 percent on weekdays in the second half of 2015, compared with the same period 2014. Weekend ridership fell 12 percent.”

As of late, the Metro is becoming a particularly unpopular form of transportation.  The reason stems from any number of facets.  However, according to Marymount students, there seemed to be one aspect of the Metro that fosters particular disdain.  Aside from poor functionality and the obvious need for better management, many riders complain of the sanitation of Metro cars as well, or rather, the lack thereof.

When interviewees were asked for any final comments, all had generally the same reaction, the Metro’s in need of a deep cleaning.  Claire Barnum, a Marymount junior, was almost ashamed in admitting, “it’s been a lot worse.”  This may very well be contributing to the lack of Metro loyalty.

When interviewing Ms. Jackson, she spoke not only of her disapproval with the wait, but jumped at the opportunity to mention that sanitation is not being held to a respectable standard.  “I haven’t gotten any of the new cars; They’re dirty, they’re gross.”  In her eyes the metro has not even tipped the iceberg in terms of improvements, and user frustrations are seemingly being taken in vain.

Jackson and Ms. Barnum are not alone in their plea for Metro cleanliness.  We see that others feel the same in the Washington Post article, “Here’s What the Metro Should Do to Win Riders Back”.  In it Kunkle compiles a list of names of professionals who ride the Metro regularly, and reports their thoughts on what the Metro can do to rekindle riders’ interests.  The compilation maintains two accounts of an urge for sanitation.

Among other concerns of the riders in Kunkle’s article is the functionality of the Metro, even before the launching of the SafeTrack Program.  Though Metro congestion and delays have certainly been exacerbated since the start of SafeTrack, it’s apparent that it’s been ill-managed since even beforehand.  A shocking amount of poor service reviews flood the internet regarding timeliness, frequency, and accuracy.

To some extent these malfunctions can be attributed to the 4 decades of neglect of Metro maintenance, considering employees can’t possibly improve the proficiency of metro timeliness if the trains themselves don’t work.  In another Washington Post article from May 3rd by Paul Duggan, Lori Aratani, and Robert McCartney, even President Obama agrees that this project has been long in the coming, stating that “The D.C. Metro has historically been a great strength of this region, but over time we have under-invested in maintenance and repairs.”

Without quick-acting repairs now, who’s to say that the future would not be more dim, and the Metro obsolete.  There is no conceivable doubt the SafeTrack Program is coming at a poor time, but can it be said that there would ever be a “good” time?  Some may argue that it would be best to avoid a program that generates so great an inconvenience to the DC community.  But the Metro in turn continues to assure us that this is not the case, that the installation of SafeTrack is the exact opposite of something we should be avoiding.

Pre-SafeTrack, out of 168 hours in a week the metro was running 135 of them.  This doesn’t leave nearly enough time for repairs to be made as quickly as the Metro itself breaks down.  In a video posted to their SafeTrack informational page, Metro GM/CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld tells us that at this rate “It will take us years to achieve the safety and reliability needs that our customers deserve”.  It looks like in order to even begin to attain the pristinely functioning DC Metro that’s so desperately yearned for by Marymount and DC riders alike, temporarily sacrificing is a must.

It is clear that SafeTrack promotes even more congestion than this city entangles itself in by its own right, and the Marymount community continues to be gravely affected.  However, we can only hope that the future of the Metro will be brighter when the SafeTrack Program is completed and everything settles.  Until then, commuters beware.