Metro riders feel pain of second repair phase

This time, Metro riders are upset.

With the second phase of its yearlong repair operation underway, Metro has shut down parts of the Orange, Silver and Blue lines, reduced and delayed train service, and deployed congested shuttle buses to ferry commuters between inoperable stations.

And subway riders are feeling the pain.

Unlike many morning commuters, Dwaine Heison had ended his shift and was going home at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. He usually takes the Green Line, then the Orange Line from his home in Congress Heights to his job in Landover. Since Phase 2 of Metro’s “SafeTrack” plan began Saturday, his travel time has nearly tripled.

“I would normally get home in 45 minutes; now it takes me two or two-and-a-half hours,” said Mr. Heison, who works nights as a meat cutter for Metropolitan Meat, Seafood and Poultry. “There are other things I need to be doing with that time.”

The new SafeTrack operation has closed rails between the Eastern Market and Minnesota Avenue/Benning Road stations, and is set to end July 3. It has created more headaches for commuters than the first phase earlier this month, which forced some trains onto single tracks at a handful of stations but did not require riders to alternative modes of transit.

D.C. native Nia Streater lives in Prince George’s County, where the full closures have taken effect. She said she had hoped the track repairs would be made before she returned home from college for the summer.

“Sixteen days is a really long time to have the area shut down,” said Miss Streater.

She described the free shuttle buses as effective but difficult to navigate, saying it’s hard to identify which buses are the shuttle and which are part of regular transportation routes.

To ease transfers from rail to bus, more than a dozen Metro workers directed riders Tuesday to the appropriate buses at the Minnesota Avenue station. But Miss Streater said she missed the correct bus at least once while waiting at the station.

Metro has said its shuttle buses will depart every five to 10 minutes, but some riders said the buses should be scheduled around the arrival of the trains.

“The buses should be here already,” said Ferdinand, a commuter at Minnesota Avenue who declined to give his last name. “They know exactly when the trains are coming. There is absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t be timed better.”

In addition to longer wait times, Metro officials have warned that shuttle buses will be able to accommodate only about 30 percent of the tens of thousands of commuters who typically use the system during rush hour. While a subway car may hold up to 800 people, most buses can take only 50 passengers.

Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said last week that the closed portion of tracks is one of the “busiest” and that riders should expect a “tough” experience riding the buses.

Local authorities have said that about 70 percent of subway riders living in Prince George’s County and the eastern corner of the District need to arrange alternative transportation such as ride-sharing, carpooling and telecommuting.

Metro officials reported Monday that a large number of riders had followed the transit agency’s suggestions: Inbound morning ridership from New Carrollton to Minnesota Avenue and from the Largo Town Center to Benning Road was down 65 percent compared to a typical Monday.

Marylanders are not the only ones affected by station closings. In Virginia, there is no rail service between Arlington National Cemetery and Rosslyn, forcing commuters to use the Yellow Line for travel in and out of the District.

Victoria Stroop, who lives in Pentagon City, said that since Phase Two began, her commute to Rosslyn has lengthened.

“Given the outage from Arlington Cemetery to Rosslyn, I now have to cross the river via Metro to get to L’Enfant Plaza and then I have to transfer to the Silver Line to get to Rosslyn, crossing over the river again,” Miss Stroop said.

The indirect route is more time consuming, said Miss Stroop, but she’s lucky compared to many: Her new commute will set her back only half an hour.