For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 12, 2018
Public outreach survey showed that 70 percent of riders
preferred the increase in service
ROCKVILLE, Md., July 12, 2018—The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Board of Directors met today and approved the increase in peak period service by eliminating the Grosvenor turnback and having all trains continue service to the Shady Grove station starting in December 2018.
“This is a big win for Montgomery County transportation,” said Montgomery County Council President Hans Riemer. “I am grateful that WMATA's Board kept their commitment to run trains all the way to Shady Grove during peak hours, instead of stopping half of them at Grosvenor. The turnback negatively affects our residents by severely diminishing service to the White Flint, Twinbrook, Rockville and Shady Grove stations. This hurts ridership precisely at a time when we are working hard to provide residents with reliable transit options. Montgomery County residents deserve full, reliable service on the Red Line, and the next step is to eliminate the turnback on the east side at Forest Glen station, and run all of the trains all the way to Glenmont."
The Council sent a letter to WMATA in February asking Paul J. Wiedefeld, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of WMATA, to keep its commitment to eliminate the Red Line turnback at the Grosvenor-Strathmore station by July 1, 2018. The Council also asked Mr. Wiedefeld to eliminate the turnback at the Silver Spring station on the east side of the Red Line when new rail cars are acquired.
Currently the Red Line service operates every eight minutes between Shady
Grove and Glenmont (7.5 trips per hour) with additional service operating
between Grosvenor and Silver Spring, providing a four-minute headway
between these locations (15 trips per hour).
During April and May 2018 WMATA staff conducted public outreach to Red Line riders and the results of the survey showed that over 70 percent of the responders preferred the increased service. WMATA management reviewed the recently completed public participation process, sought board approval of the equity analysis report and recommended the implementation of the additional peak period service on the Red Line.
At the meeting the board had discussed three alternatives before approving Alternative A, full elimination of Grosvenor Turnback with 15 trains per hour at Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook and White Flint:
• Alternative A: Full elimination of Grosvenor Turnback with 15 trains per hour at Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook and White Flint.
• Alternative B: Partial elimination of Grosvenor Turnback to increase peak period service from 7.5 trains per hour to 12 trains per hour at Shady Grove, Rockville, Twinbrook, and White Flint stations.
• Alternative C: No change
WMATA’s report can be viewed here.
# # # Release ID: 18-194