Changes Coming to METRO & THE Map

[The Davy Crockett]

Thanks Ryan. Great post!

It's interesting that the split blue/orange line is coming back, but unlike the earlier iteration the "color" of the train will be driven by the origin, not the destination of the train. In 1982 a Ballston to Addison Road train would always be blue (because it had went to the end of the blue line). This summer, that same train will be an Orange train, because it's originating on the Orange side of the line.

Somehow this just seems inherently backwards to me. I mean does one care more about where the train came from, or where it is going?

But will the extra service not be operating in both directions? If it is, then it would only be identifying where the train came from in one direction, but will be showing its (more or less) destination line in the other. I say "more or less" because the Yellow Line will be extended to Greenbelt, which isn't its normal terminal, but it makes more sense showing it as a yellow line than as a Green Line.

Suddenly the 'split' Orange and Blue Lines on the 1982 map make a whole lot of sense.

 

[trainman74]

In NYC, that is exactly how they Identify their trains. Remember the movie Pelham 123, that name is because the train starts at Pelham at 1:23. I laugh because it is funny that someone in Hollywood used a real naming convention :giggle:

I think it was the author of the original book who did all the heavy research, rather than "Hollywood" when they made the movie.

I have friends who live on the north side of Chicago who complain about the automated annunciators in 'L' stations that are programmed to say "train from the Loop arriving" instead of "train to Howard arriving" or even just "northbound train arriving" -- so it's not necessarily just railfans who notice this kind of thing.

 

[Trogdor]

I have friends who live on the north side of Chicago who complain about the automated annunciators in 'L' stations that are programmed to say "train from the Loop arriving" instead of "train to Howard arriving" or even just "northbound train arriving" -- so it's not necessarily just railfans who notice this kind of thing.

It's because the system wasn't very advanced. It was just triggered by a train passing a certain point. The system doesn't know where the train is going (or, even, whether the train is in service).

Those announcements can be quite useless at a place such as Roosevelt, where you don't know whether the train is Green or Orange, and therefore still need to wait until the train gets in to see whether it's the one you want.

All that is pointless now (and hopefully they'll either disconnect or reprogram it), because Train Tracker tells you when the next (several) train(s) is(are) arriving, and where it(they) is(are) going.

 

[DET63]

At least on BART the platform signs tell where the train is going. There are, of course, no destination signs on the trains themselves, save for a very small one in the operator's cab of the lead car.

Here's a typical sign showing a train's destination:

 

[Ryan]

So does WMATA (in addition to the destination signs on the train):

 

[Trogdor]

3 min, 12 min, and 14 min. Sounds about right for WMATA. The only surprising part about that photo is that the all three trains are (supposedly) in service.

 

[Ryan]

I don't know when the picture was taken, but since it's showing trains short-turning at NY Ave, it's certainly during a time of abnormal service.

 

[afigg]

I don't know when the picture was taken, but since it's showing trains short-turning at NY Ave, it's certainly during a time of abnormal service.

Could have been taken during one of the weekend maintenance service reductions with single tracking on the Red Line north of NY Avenue. The time spacing between trains is consistent with a weekend or later night service. NY Avenue station will be renamed NoMa-Gallaudet when the new map and schedules take effect in June. If they short turn trains after the name change, I would guess the sign would say NoMa. Which will really confuse people until everyone learns where NoMa is.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Which will really confuse people until everyone learns where NoMa is.

And which will never happen because so many folks in DC are 'just visiting.' METRO really needs to stop taking cues from a station's local business and school community or we will soon (if we already aren't) be in the record books for the station(s) with the longest names in the world.

Imagine being a tourist from a country like China, whose native tongue is so different, and not knowing English well. It must be VERY confusing!

Well at least Washington doesn't get very many international visitors! :giggle:

 

[afigg]

Which will really confuse people until everyone learns where NoMa is.

And which will never happen because so many folks in DC are 'just visiting.' METRO really needs to stop taking cues from a station's local business and school community or we will soon (if we already aren't) be in the record books for the station(s) with the longest names in the world.

Imagine being a tourist from a country like China, whose native tongue is so different, and not knowing English well. It must be VERY confusing!

Well at least Washington doesn't get very many international visitors! :giggle:

Perhaps, I should not have written "everyone learns where NoMa is", but "most people learns where NoMa is". The NoMa name for the neighborhood has, after enough years of plugging away by the developers, has begun to become commonly used in the local press and on websites. Once the Metro station has been renamed and the name shows up on maps, it will become the common name used in everyday conversation. As for name length, that is the advantage of NoMa as the key identifier. Its short. It may be a little silly, but it is short. Swampoodle might have been more fun, but developers would never go for "swamp" in the name. :lol:

"New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U" is rather vague, especially if one has no clue what or where Gallaudet U is.

 

[sechs]

So does WMATA (in addition to the destination signs on the train)

Metro is based on the BART system, so it kind of follows.
BART is planning on getting new cars (some of the current rolling stock has been on BART since the system opened in 1972), which, as I understand it, have additional signage, such as Metro has had for some time.

 

[sechs]

NY Avenue station will be renamed NoMa-Gallaudet when the new map and schedules take effect in June. If they short turn trains after the name change, I would guess the sign would say NoMa. Which will really confuse people until everyone learns where NoMa is.

So, instead of being long and confusing, they'll be cryptic and confusing?
When I looked up "NoMa" I found it to be a Danish restaurant. And there are plenty of folks who have no idea what Gallaudet is, let alone where.

 

[Trogdor]

"New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U" is rather vague, especially if one has no clue what or where Gallaudet U is.

It's not vague at all, if you have any sense of the DC street network. One would assume that a station with that name would be at or near the intersection of New York Ave and Florida Ave.

Though, to be fair, most tourists who have no idea where any of these landmarks are have just as little idea of the DC street network (save perhaps a couple of really famous ones, such as Pennsylvania Ave). I'd bet a good portion of visitors get more DC regional geography from the subway map than anything else.

 

[afigg]

So, instead of being long and confusing, they'll be cryptic and confusing?

When I looked up "NoMa" I found it to be a Danish restaurant. And there are plenty of folks who have no idea what Gallaudet is, let alone where.

NoMa is a created name for an area just north of Union Station in DC. Stands for North of Massachussets Avenue. There is a lot of construction and buildings going up there. Give it a couple of years with the new Metro station name and it will be an established name for the neighborhood.

It has had a Wikipedia entry for a few years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoMa,_Washington,_D.C.

Business development website to plug the neighborhood: http://www.nomabid.org/

 

[sechs]

So, this is just government enforcement of a lightly used colloquial name. They might as well go with not-dead ex-presidents; that's already popular with the airports.

 

[Ryan]

That's not exactly true, the NoMA "brand" is driven more by the private developers that want to drive demand for property in this area. The BID (along with the other 7 improvement districts in DC) is a private-public partnership that gets its funding from the businesses located in that district. The only government involvement is the legislation that makes the setup of the organization possible.

 

[sechs]

So, it's a name manufactured by business interests for their own gain; now, to be foisted upon the public by the government? This isn't getting better!

 

[AlanB]

And here I thought it was all my fault.

Last year for NTD my mom & I came down a day early and stayed in the new Courtyard right by the New York Metro station. And as we walked from Union Station my mom kept turning down the wrong street and I had to keep saying No Ma, we have to go this way.

 

[Ryan]

So, it's a name manufactured by business interests for their own gain; now, to be foisted upon the public by the government? This isn't getting better!

I'm not sure I see where anything is being foisted on anyone by the government.

And here I thought it was all my fault.

Last year for NTD my mom & I came down a day early and stayed in the new Courtyard right by the New York Metro station. And as we walked from Union Station my mom kept turning down the wrong street and I had to keep saying No Ma, we have to go this way.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[The Davy Crockett]

And here I thought it was all my fault.

Last year for NTD my mom & I came down a day early and stayed in the new Courtyard right by the New York Metro station. And as we walked from Union Station my mom kept turning down the wrong street and I had to keep saying No Ma, we have to go this way.

And the rest is history. :unsure:

 

[Trogdor]

Granted, NoMa is shorter than New York Ave, but doesn't this station renaming kinda go against WMATA's desire to stop naming stations after every little neighborhood association and attraction in the area near the station?

This will just open a whole nuther can of worms with groups who want a station renamed. Even with the new map design, it can go from New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U-NoMa-Holiday Inn-Bob's Discount Used Bookstore and Coffee Shop-American Museum of Ridiculously Long Transportation System Names and Signs, to

NoMa-Gallaudet

New York Ave-Florida Ave-Holiday Inn-Bob's Discount Used Bookstore and Coffee Shop-American Museum of Ridiculously Long Transportation System Names and Signs

If it were up to me, I'd call it "New York Avenue" and be done with it.

 

[afigg]

So, it's a name manufactured by business interests for their own gain; now, to be foisted upon the public by the government? This isn't getting better!

This is not any different than countless towns, communities, and streets that have been named by developers all over the US. If you live or have lived in any sort of post WW II planned urban and suburban developments, the street and community names were created by the developers to market the development project and sell homes and lease office space. The result, of course, is few colorful or interesting names, but mostly bland ones.

So we get NoMa, which is rather silly, but that is the name. I gather the inspiration for the short name was the SoHo district in NYC, which looking it up, stands for South of HOuston Avenue. I imagine they tried to make a name from combining Florida and New York Avenues - FloNY?, NewFlo?, RidaNew? - but No, Ma! it is.

 

[Ryan]

If it were up to me, I'd call it "New York Avenue" and be done with it.

The problem with that is that NY Ave is really long, so the station name doesn't do a very good job of saying where exactly the station is located.

NoMA is shorter and more precise. Exactly what WMATA was going for.

That said, I still refer to it as NY Ave in conversation.

 

[afigg]

Granted, NoMa is shorter than New York Ave, but doesn't this station renaming kinda go against WMATA's desire to stop naming stations after every little neighborhood association and attraction in the area near the station?

This will just open a whole nuther can of worms with groups who want a station renamed.

...

If it were up to me, I'd call it "New York Avenue" and be done with it.

WMATA staff's and transportation experts may want shorter descriptive names, but the politicians and their representatives on the WMATA board who, in response to political pressure from other politicians (and the interest groups that support them), make the final call. So, over the years, when renaming opportunities opened up, the system got stuck with U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo. The good thing about the new map is that many of the worse names have been shortened with the secondary names moved to the smaller print second line. Where they can be ignored by people trying to keep track of which stations they need to get off at. Well, with the exception of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, but that was forced on them by Congress.

The funny thing about the New York Avenue-etc,etc Metro station is that it is not located on New York Avenue, but rather south of it. Look at the station on Google Earth, which incidentally displays NoMa as a neighborhood name. The north end of the station exits onto a trail and 2nd St NE a little south of Florida Avenue NE. You have to walk about 600'-700' to get to New York Avenue NE. The station name should have led with Florida Ave when it was built as an in-fill station, but New York Ave is better known and a major road since NY Avenue NE is also Rt. 50, so the station was given New York Ave as the lead and shorthand name.

 

[trainman74]

American Museum of Ridiculously Long Transportation System Names and Signs

I wish this really existed!