Get There Archive: Inauguration
How it Worked, Part 4: Rail System Was Key
The Inauguration Day transportation plan worked as well as it did because the planners fully exploited the Washington region's biggest transportation asset: the Metrorail system. Among the essential lessons learned last Tuesday was that we need to maintain this asset in top condition. That's a challenge right now, as Metro faces budget problems that could result in service cuts. And it will be a challenge for at least the next few years, because the transit authority needs a new plan -- and new money -- to buy new equipment. On Inauguration Day, the transit authority says, Metro provided about 1,120,000 rail trips. That was the highest ridership day in its three-decade history. (We don't know the exact total, even on rail, because many people were allowed through the fare gates without paying, just to ease the crowding.) Sunday through Tuesday of inauguration weekend, Metrorail took people on about 2.6 million...
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Robert Thomson
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January 27, 2009; 8:19 AM ET |
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How It Worked, Part 3: Closing Roads Last Tuesday
One of the most important and controversial parts of the Inauguration Day Transportation plan was the closing of streets and highways in and around Washington. Police blocked inbound Key Bridge on Tuesday morning. (Thomson) It was a bold move: Faced with the task of moving an enormous number of people, planners chose to shut out the most popular instrument of travel, the private car. In the process, they promoted a shift to much less popular forms of travel: transit, walking and biking. I can raise several questions about that plan: * Did it underutilize our road network when we needed every transportation asset we could muster? * Did it require both the enforcers of the plan and the spectators to follow instructions that were far too complex? But there's no getting around the bottom line: It worked. Hundreds of thousands of people heading for one place at approximately one time...
By
Robert Thomson
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January 26, 2009; 9:17 AM ET |
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How It Worked, Part 2: Introduction to Walking
One of the reasons our transportation system performed so well under great stress on Inauguration Day was that people made their feet part of the transportation system. Perhaps it will become a habit. Walking Memorial Bridge. (Thomson) Rarely has walking for distance been such a widespread activity here. Many people did it because they knew that the roads and transit systems would be crowded on inaccessible. Some did it because the walk could be part of the day's experience. Many of the practical-minded got off Metro's Red Line at stations well north of the Mall and walked south. Metro had done a good job creating and distributing walkers' guides on how to reach the ceremonies from stations without having to transfer from train line to train line. And many people going to the ceremonies had done a good job getting acquainted with the walking routes ahead of time. But Metro...
By
Robert Thomson
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January 26, 2009; 8:36 AM ET |
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How it Worked, Part 1: Thousands Biked Tuesday
Many planners, workers, volunteers and travelers contributed to making the Inauguration Day transportation plan a success. That doesn't mean that close to two million people all got where they were going and back in a timely fashion, but that would be way too high a standard for a rare event like this. Near Lincoln Memorial.(Thomson) What it does mean is that the transportation system's managers across the region worked together to give people travel options, so travelers actually could come up with the Plans A, B and C that they needed to handle Tuesday's difficult circumstances. One of the available options that helped make the plan work was cycling. Thousands of people took advantage of that. Here's what I observed and heard. The first cyclists I saw on Inauguration morning were pedaling at pedestrian speed across Memorial Bridge, which was covered with walkers heading toward the Mall. The bikers --...
By
Robert Thomson
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January 22, 2009; 8:23 AM ET |
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Metro Ridership Tops 1 Million, Shattering Record
Inauguration-bound throngs. (By James A. Parcell For The Washington Post) Metro set an all time record for rail ridership on Inauguration Day, with riders taking about 1,120,000, Metro officials said today. The transit agency was open from 4 a.m. Tuesday until 2 a.m. Wednesday, and ran an unprecedented 17 hours of rush-hour service. The previous record was set on Monday, when riders took 866,681 trips. The agency yesterday also provided 423,000 bus trips and 1,721 MetroAccess trips for a grand total of 1,544,721 trips, the highest ridership day ever in the transit authority's history. Metro General manager John Catoe said months of planning paid off. "Our Metro system wasn't designed to transport this many people in such a short time, but we did it," he said. See the full press release. POLL...
By
Mike McPhate
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January 21, 2009; 11:04 AM ET |
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Inauguration Aftermath: Attitude Counted
We're still figuring out what went right and wrong and what could have been done differently, but one thing I feel sure of after sampling our transportation system under its severe stress on Tueday. The attitude of the officials on the streets and the platforms and of the travelers had a lot to do with whatever successes we had. Crowding at L'Enfant Plaza. (Thomson) Time after time, I saw situations that could have turned out differently had one side or the other not been determined to make things work. They occured at intersections, on sidewalks, on Metro platforms, on escalators and on buses. That's a lot of stress to put on equipment, transit employees and transit riders. It translated into crowded platforms, crowded trains, crowded escalators and crowded entrances. Yet for the most part, people not only kept their cool but also demonstrated a commitment to making the thing work...
By
Robert Thomson
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January 21, 2009; 9:25 AM ET |
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