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05 Jun 2011 00:59

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U.S.: The guy who designed DC’s Metro map preps for a redesign

  • A classic design gets a refresh: Nearly 40 years ago, graphic designer Lance Wyman designed a map that’s come to define a city. The result — a map of a fairly self-contained Metro system — has survived numerous station changes and many iterations to remain a truly useful piece of work. With upcoming changes to the Metro system that will make the map significantly more complicated, Wyman’s getting another chance to work on the design, which needs room for Dulles Airport, a new color and a ton of names that have gotten unwieldy over the years (see “U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo“). And people are clamoring for a redesign — seriously, check out this contest right here. If you’re wondering if the 73-year-old Wyman is getting nervous about all this, the answer is yes. This is his ’68 Comeback Special here. (photo by The Washington Post’s Jennifer S. Altman; see a gallery here) source

31 Oct 2010 20:26

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Politics: DC Metro numbers suggest huge “Rally to Restore Sanity” crowds

  • 350,000 number of trips the DC Metro has on an average Saturday
  • 825,437 number of trips the DC Metro had yesterday source
  • » To put it in perspective: The rally had the highest Saturday ridership ever – passing the record set in June 1991, when a rally was held for Operation Desert Storm. That rally gave Metro around 786,358 trips that day. And assuming the riders went round-trip yesterday, that means 237,719 extra riders were on the Metro yesterday. That doesn’t mean 237,719 extra people – the tally doesn’t account for multiple trips by the same rider – but suffice it to say that the crowd was really huge yesterday. And no, the Beck rally (which also took place on a Saturday) didn’t even rate in the top five (which is what we know you were really wondering).

07 Aug 2010 22:14

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U.S.: A couple of punk kids ruin the D.C. metro-riding experience

  • 70 people were unfortunately involved in last night’s brawl source
  • » To explain D.C. Metro dynamics: These kids started their fight at the Gallery Place station, near the Verizon Center, where the Washington Wizards play. This area has become very popular for teenagers and is one of the area’s busiest stations. These kids got on a train, continued the fight, got off at the L’Enfant Plaza station, and caused a huge brawl that injured a number of people. Because these are two of the busiest train stations in the entire city. This is how people are supposed to act, apparently. Get some manners, you brats.

26 Jun 2009 17:22

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U.S.: For those commuters still on edge: More D.C. Metro drama

23 Jun 2009 11:08

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U.S.: Feds: We told the D.C. Metro to upgrade trains; they didn’t yet

  • The trains involved were getting old and outdated. In response to a 2004 crash that injured 20, the National Transportation Safety Board says that it told the city of Washington in 2006 that it needed to upgrade some of its trains or phase them out. It didn’t happen. “They have not been able to do that and our recommendation was not addressed,” NTSB spokeswoman Debbie Hersman said. For Metro riders: this is not good. source

23 Jun 2009 08:59

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U.S.: The tally from the D.C. Metro crash has risen, but not hugely

  • 7 people died in the accident, which tore out an entire Metro car in dramatic fashion, sez mayor Adrian Fenty
  • 75 people were directly involved in the accident, which happened during rush hour traffic yesterday afternoon source

22 Jun 2009 19:22

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U.S.: The death toll in the DC Metro crash: The worst ever

  • 6+ confirmed dead, but people are still trapped in the wreckage source
 

22 Jun 2009 18:30

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U.S.: Holy God, this DC Metro crash is bad. Very bad.

At least two people have been confirmed dead thus far. And lots of people are injured. This is the scariest thing we’ve ever seen. source

22 Jun 2009 18:10

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U.S.: Scary: If you live in DC and use the Metro, stay off the Red line

  • Metro reports that 2 train collided and one train is on top of the other train. Metro reports massive injuries at this time. The green line and the red line are affected. Further information to follow.
  • A text alert sent by the AlertDC system • Informing commuters of a crash on the DC Metro’s Red Line. Here’s a photo. We’ll keep you posted as more happens. • source