WMATA installing new bus shelters at Medical Center Metro in Bethesda

Transit agency WMATA is installing new bus shelters at the Medical Center Metro station in Bethesda. The installation is being staggered so that only two at a time will be closed for the switch. Affected bus routes will temporarily relocate to temporary stops. The new shelters will feature brighter lighting, better protection from weather, and accessibility upgrades.

New Metro pylon installed at Bethesda Metro station (Photos)

Transit agency WMATA has begun installing new Metro pylons at the Bethesda Metro station. This one is on Woodmont Avenue. The primary change is the use of a colored circle to designate the Metro line(s) that operate through each station. Letters - in this case, "RD" for Red Line (not Robert Dyer) - have been placed inside the circle for riders who are color blind. I have posted a photo of the classic stripe design below for comparison purposes. The new design is - like most changes WMATA has made over the last decade - a step down in aesthetics, though not as glaring as the operating room-esque lighting that has wrecked the dramatic original lighting effect inside stations. Surprised and relieved they didn't drop the classic brown for lemon yellow, at this point. Nuts!

Old design, for comparison

Montgomery County Metro ridership up 94.6% year-over-year

Montgomery County commuters have been returning to the Metro subway system in force in recent months, according to the latest data from WMATA, the D.C.-area transportation authority that operates it. Ridership in January 2023, the most recent month for which data has been made public, was up 94.6% over January 2022. Pandemic-era data released by Google in 2020-2022 had shown much weaker ridership, and a turtle-like pace of increasing return to the system after the initial lockdown of 2020.

A Red Line train approaches the
Rockville station

The biggest surges, 296.6% at Shady Grove and 263.6% at Rockville, may have had more to do with maintenance-related closures at those stops over the last two years. Grosvenor-Strathmore was the next-highest, with an increase of 140.5%. Twinbrook had the smallest increase at 8.7%. WMATA's numbers are based upon the number of entries and exits recorded at each station, so they do not count gate jumpers, only paying customers.

Montgomery County residents in parks, grocery stores more than before the pandemic, data shows

Residents still not going back to the

office, transit, or general shopping 

in great numbers

Montgomery County residents are shopping inside grocery and drug stores in larger numbers than they were before the pandemic, the latest Google Mobility data show. They're making even greater use of parks than before Covid-19 officially arrived last spring. Other travel hasn't bounced back as strongly, such as going into the office, or commuting there by transit. And in-person retail shopping for items other than groceries and medicine remains sluggish, in relative comparison.

Using a baseline of mobility data Google collected from Montgomery County residents' devices between January 3 and February 6, 2020, behavioral changes are evident. The latest Google data covers the period between Monday, July 19, 2021, and Monday, August 30, 2021.

Hillwood Manor Park in Takoma Park

Over the last half of this summer, County residents were using parks 28% more than they were at the start of 2020. One caveat to that: the new data covers a warm, summer period, while the baseline was taken during the height of winter.

Safeway in Damascus

A more apples-to-apples comparison is in grocery and pharmacy shopping; the latter surges during winter months. But during late summer 2021, County residents were going into grocery stores and drugstores 7% more than they were during the height of cold and flu season in early 2020. There has been an increasing strain on grocery supply lines again in recent weeks, as evidenced by Costco reinstating limits on the number of some items that may be purchased, such as paper towels and toilet paper. Business Insider reports that shortages are the result of panic buying over the Delta variant, and of labor shortages affecting the ability to produce, ship and restock merchandise.

CVS Pharmacy

Residents aren't shopping in other types of retail stores, or traveling for non-park recreational activities as much, though. "Retail and recreation" travel was down 12% in late summer this year, compared to early 2020. One would expect recreation to be higher in summer than in midwinter, so that is a notable decline.

Metro Red Line train in Rockville

Travel to workplaces looks better than it was during the lockdowns and peaks of the pandemic, but still follows the national trend of those working from home continuing to do so where possible. Workplace travel was 44% lower in late summer 2021 in Montgomery County than it was in January-February 2020. Those traveling for any reason are often still wary of using public transit. Bus and rail commuting was down 42% in recent weeks, compared to early 2020.

One thing many residents are doing is continuing to stay home. Despite warm weather, County residents stayed at home 11% more over the last six weeks than they did in frigid January-February 2020.

WMATA says woman intentionally placed herself on track at Bethesda Metro station

WMATA is disputing Montgomery County officials' account of Sunday's incident at the Bethesda Metro station, in which a woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services' spokesperson said that the woman had fallen onto the track from the platform as an oncoming train approached the station, rolled into an "area of refuge" to dodge the train, and "self-rescued." Since filing my report based on that information, I was contacted by Metro's Media Relations Manager, Sherry Ly, who said that account "was not accurate."

Ly said the woman did not fall from the platform, but intentionally placed herself on the track, and that the quick action of the train engineer in applying the emergency brakes resulted in only "incidental contact" between the train and the woman. Her full statement follows:

At approximately 8:20 a.m. Sunday an adult female sustained minor injuries at Bethesda Station after intentionally placing herself on the trackbed as a train was approaching the station. The train operator saw the woman and activated the emergency brakes in an effort to stop. While the train was slowed significantly as a result of this action, the lead car made incidental contact with the woman, knocking her to the ground.

Montgomery County Fire/Rescue and MTPD responded, and the woman was transported for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. She will undergo a psychiatric evaluation due to the nature of her actions.

WMATA using Greyhound, Bolt Bus as shuttles during Metro station closure

The Bethesda and Medical Center Metro stations will be closed through Friday this week for scheduled maintenance. Yesterday, I noticed that WMATA was using Greyhound and Bolt Bus buses for the free shuttle service they are running between Grosvenor and Friendship Heights. Perhaps it is easier to social distance aboard these buses, but they are certainly more comfortable than Metrobuses. Bring in a Trailways to complete the trifecta!

Coronavirus slashes Metro ridership, Montgomery County restaurant/retail patronage

MoCo Council, Rockville leaders 

wall themselves off from public 

as COVID-19 spreads

Ridership of the Metro subway system and patronage of Montgomery County businesses plunged Thursday and yesterday, according to data from Google. As the week ended, the Montgomery County Council voted to bar the public from their building. The Council will continue to legislate and hold meetings, but their constituents will not be allowed to enter the Council building, sit in on those meetings or testify at public hearings. A long-held fantasy of the Montgomery County political cartel has now come true - citizens may now only email comments, meaning feedback will have virtually no public impact or reach to galvanize any resistance to Council moves.

The City of Rockville did the same, also barring the public from City Hall, meetings and public hearings. Gaithersburg canceled Mayor & Council work sessions, and meetings of other city bodies like the Planning Commission. Gaithersburg leaders did not officially bar the public from City Hall or their meetings, but are encouraging citizens to email comments and rely on live tweets from what will be streamlined Mayor & Council meetings on only the most pertinent city business for the time being.

Federal and state governments have not yet taken the likely most-effective step of closing all businesses except grocery stores and pharmacies, unlike some other countries. But many people are - wisely - staying in their homes anyway as much as possible.

Google data shows Metro ridership (pink)
during Thursday, Friday evening rush
was a fraction of what it usually is

Google real-time data showed Metro ridership on the Red Line at the Bethesda station was not even half of the average for Thursday and Friday evening rush hours. The Google data also showed patronage of restaurants and retail centers continuing the dramatic slide first reported here earlier this week.

Woodmont Grill, which has the largest volume of sales of any downtown Bethesda restaurant according to industry insiders, seemed the least hurt of any Montgomery County dining establishment. But patronage at Red Robin in Germantown was less than half what it would usually be on a Friday evening at dinnertime, according to Google's real-time count.

A decline in traffic at Red Robin,
combined with heavy sales of hamburger
buns at local stores, suggests more
burgers are being consumed at home

Traffic at Westfield Montgomery Mall was down about half last evening according to Google. Ellsworth Place mall in downtown Silver Spring was faring better, with traffic only down about a third. Silver Spring seemed to be slightly more insulated from the coronavirus panic, as even the Regal Majestic IMAX cineplex was still mustering about a 60% turnout - much better than the scenes of empty movie palaces being shared by brave moviegoers on social media Friday night.

Officials are protecting themselves, but whistling past the graveyard in not taking further steps to stop the spread of coronavirus. Because so many have not been tested, and because the precise nature and scope of the virus' spread in the region is not yet clear, these same officials will likely be caught short by next week when the total number of infected residents could well skyrocket. The general consensus of the Montgomery County cartel that this will somehow be a "two week" pandemic is almost certifiably nuts, as was the Maryland House voting to ban plastic bags in the midst of a world health catastrophe. This is the last time you would want people reusing dirty bags in public places or their own homes.

To add insult to injury, just as homebound residents turn even more heavily to streaming services like Netflix for some diversion, our corrupt elected officials quietly moved their Netflix tax forward. If passed - and if Gov. Larry Hogan's veto is overturned, Montgomery County residents would have to pay a tax on each of the many streaming services they subscribe to.

Some of our elected officials need professional help, folks. Or at least a clue.

WMATA reneging on Grosvenor Metro parking promise

In the latest example of developers refusing to eat their vegetables, and still getting their chocolate cake anyway, WMATA is now seeking to get out of providing all of the parking it promised to replace spaces lost to a new residential development on its Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro station parking lot. Phase 1 of a two-phase garage expansion at the station is now underway. But that addition will replace just over 52% of the spaces eaten up by the new development.

WMATA is now proposing to cancel the Phase 2 garage expansion, which was to provide 194 parking spaces. The transit agency's reasoning is threefold: First, it continues to be strapped for cash and would like to save the cost of the Phase 2 project. Second, it claims many parking spaces are currently sitting empty at the White Flint and Twinbrook Metro stations, and suggests Grosvenor riders switch stations to one of those. Finally, it notes that the Phase 2 construction will greatly disrupt the Kiss and Ride area, and the Arts Walk.

A public hearing on the proposed changes has been scheduled for Monday, March 30, 2020, at 6:30 PM at the Mansion at Strathmore, located at 10701 Rockville Pike. The hearing will be preceded by an Open House at 6:00.

Virginia studying another Metro extension - why isn't Montgomery County?

The Silver Line isn't even finished yet, and booming Northern Virginia is already looking at another ambitious subway extension to Prince William County. Meanwhile, Montgomery County elected officials are looking at a ten-day February vacation, and even sleepier, moribund economic times ahead. What they should be studying are Metro extensions to the Upcounty and East County, studies that should have begun over a decade ago.

Clarksburg is about 12 miles from the Shady Grove Metro station. Burtonsville is around 10 miles from the Silver Spring Metro station. Virginia's $2 million Blue Line study is examining a 15-mile extension to Prince William via Fort Belvoir, Lorton, Potomac Mills and Quantico, modestly bigger than either potential Montgomery County extension.

Rail transit is far more advantageous for economic development than bus rapid transit. Unlike BRT, companies and developers can be assured the new transit isn't going to be suddenly cut off or rerouted. Ridership of rail would be far higher than that of buses or BRT (the County's future "Flash" B"Rapid"T will take a sluggish 87 minutes to travel from Clarksburg to Bethesda - longer than a car in traffic!).

In contrast, Montgomery County couldn't even get the Corridor Cities Transitway bus line built. Instead of high-speed rail technology fomenting a modern economic hub of the future, Montgomery's "Science City" ended up as Sleepy City. Just more stack-and-pack residential development, and thousands more cars vying for space on over-capacity I-270 and MD 355 every rush hour. Promised anchor biotech tenant Johns Hopkins Medicine just exited stage left as a result.

Meanwhile, what jobs we had in the 270 corridor continued to migrate to Northern Virginia and Frederick County. Montgomery County was at rock bottom in the D.C. region for job growth over the last decade. What we need are boardrooms, not more bedrooms.

There are also large properties planned for redevelopment north of Shady Grove, such as Lakeforest Mall, COMSAT and the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. These developments will not be "smart growth" without a Metro extension, or other rail service, and will not have the job component we need to also reduce the number and length of car trips in the corridor. The same goes for White Oak and Burtonsville.

A coordinated plan to address our moribund economy and failing, incomplete transportation system is needed. No such plan has come out of our current County Council.

Here's what we should be prioritizing today:

• Study extending the Red Line to Clarksburg, including options for at-grade, elevated and cut-and-cover underground segments
• Metro should connect to Lakeforest and COMSAT
• Study of Metro extension from Silver Spring Metro to Burtonsville
• Addition of third track to MARC Brunswick Line
• Making Ride On bus service free
• More business-friendly tax policy and regulations
• More competitive state tax policies
• Fully privatizing the County liquor monopoly, and allowing beer and wine sales at all grocery, drug and convenience stores
• Coordinate timing of new business policies with zoning/sector plan updates that incentivize and favor commercial/corporate development (a.k.a. high-wage jobs) over residential housing
• Planning and construction of long-delayed Midcounty Highway Extended (M-83 Highway Master Plan Alignment), with potential use for median/cut-and-cover simultaneous construction of rail line from Shady Grove Metro on relevant segments
• Construction of equally-long-delayed new Potomac River crossing to Dulles Airport with trackbed for future Red Line extension to Silver Line in median, as a toll facility built by a private company
• A concerted, focused effort on attracting aerospace, defense and tech corporate headquarters, and related research and manufacturing facilities (i.e. satellite and rocket assembly)

The Montgomery County Council isn't doing any of this. In fact, they're in the middle of a 10-day vacation. In February. 

Working hard, or hardly working?

In contrast, the Council-equivalents of our biggest competitors - Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties - are all meeting this week. It would be interesting if all local media - print, online, TV, radio - would join me in exposing the lazy work schedule of our self-proclaimed "full-time" slacker County Council.

Anyone who thinks we can dig ourselves out of this economic hole with a small-ball agenda by running empty BRT buses up and down, giving government contracts to small businesses, believing residential housing that generates more costs than revenue is the definition of "economic development," and patting ourselves on the back by adding the same STEM components to our schools that all of our competitors' school systems are also adding - or that it can be done under the leadership of our current County Council - is fooling themselves. 

Virginia has plenty of housing. But they also have plenty of jobs. Plenty of revenue, as a result. And they are making the big ticket investments to keep cleaning our clock for decades to come. Meanwhile, we're scaring every company away, have a structural budget deficit as far out as the projections go, are paying record high taxes, have massive debt, and steadily declining revenue even with a 9% tax hike several years ago. 

We can't go on like this.

Arcing insulator near Medical Center/Grosvenor Metro stations slows trains in Bethesda

Passengers on the Red Line are experiencing significant delays right now, as a report of smoke in the tunnel between the Medical Center and Grosvenor Metro stations caused single-tracking of trains. Firefighters who responded to the report said they saw no smoke in the tunnel or platform areas. A WMATA Emergency Response Team went into the tunnel, located the arcing insulator that caused the smoke, and reported it is now fixed, according to scanner reports.

Metro is reporting Metrobuses are currently bypassing the Medical Center station, and that trains from Silver Spring "will operate to Friendship Heights" for now.

Firefighters investigating smoke near Bethesda Metro station platform

Montgomery County firefighters responded to a report of smoke near the platform at the Bethesda Metro station. An electrician from Metro arrived on-scene, as well. The smoke was determined to be coming from a light fixture, and there is no fire emergency at this time. A plastic bottle was melting on top of the lamp, according to a firefighter communicating via radio.

Breakdown! Oft-broken Bethesda Metro escalator offline again (Photos)

The plaza-to-bus bays escalator so often out of commission was back offline again during the evening rush hour last night...just weeks after being repaired yet again. It was functioning as a very expensive staircase. This breakdown appropriately came on a day in which the Washington Post revealed that WMATA inspectors not only falsify reports, but have gone as far as using old photographs to fool those reading their false reports. Sad!

Metro's surge and SafeTrack efforts have utterly failed to improve conditions in the system. Is there any truth to the rumor they are changing one word of their latest motto, so it will now be "Back 2 Bad?" Pay a new sales tax for this? Hell, no!

WMATA misses another escalator deadline at Bethesda Metro station (Photos)

WMATA promised the extremely-behind-schedule repair of the plaza-to-bus bays escalator at the Bethesda Metro station would be completed this week, and that it would be back in service yesterday. Wrong. The escalator was out of service Friday.

“SafeTrack has been very successful in terms
 of safety performance, work completed,
and schedule achieved.” - WMATA

Metro has been blasted by riders now that the final results are in for the "surge" and "Safe Track" efforts, and they have been an utter failure. They didn't even fix the water leaks at Bethesda, and are going to start another Safe Track-style extended station closure scheme this month to "try" to fix it. In fact, the end of Safe Track brought a complete meltdown on the Red Line this week. As I told you all along, Safe Track was nothing more than a way for Metro to save money by not running trains, while "looking busy." This from the transit agency that can't even get automatic train control operational with eight years to fix it. Eight years!

"This is an enormous achievement."
- Metro Board member Jack Evans

Forgive me for having a few chuckles while listening to our inept Montgomery County Council give equally inept Metro boss Paul Wiedefeld a "Heckuva job, Brownie!" warm welcome in Rockville this week. Perhaps in their shared incompetence, they find P.W. a kindred spirit of sorts. It's a match, folks.

There's also some new art in the Bethesda Metro station, and I have to say, I don't like it. I tried to contain myself when the first mural was done around the upper rim of the bus bays. But it basically looks like someone vandalized the station. It would be fine in a different context on its own, but it just doesn't fit with the Metro architecture. When you think of the great artistic triumphs of Greece and the Roman Empire, and then consider public art in downtown Bethesda...Good God, what's happened to
us? We need someone to Make Public Art Great Again!

"The remainder of the system
is in good shape."
- Paul Wiedefeld

“We’ll see a continuation of the
improvement of our infrastructure."
- Joe Leader, Metro COO