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ble commuter trains more than subway cars. There's also an air of civility about the system.

When Sandy Carroll recorded the "Please stand clear of the doors" message that plays on all rail cars, she had to do it over because Metro managers thought the original was too harsh.

"The idea was for the 'Doors opening' and 'Doors closing' to be pleasant and the 'Please stand clear of the doors' to be more forceful," said Carroll, who lives in the District and works at a law firm. "But the first recording was very stern, and people really responded to that negatively. So I had to re-record it to make it kinder, gentler."

                                 © 2001 The Washington Post Company

Keeping Up With the Riders

Washington Post
Thursday, April 19, 2001

IMPELLED BY maddening traffic jams, lured by employer fare subsidies or just offered a chance by newly available service, more Washingtonians than ever are climbing aboard the region's buses, subway cars and commuter trains. According to the latest data from the American Public Transportation Association, transit ridership in the region grew by 13.2 percent last year, four times the national average. The numbers are a transit success story: Metro ridership has grown roughly 8 percent for three years in a row; last year Metrobus was the fastest-growing bus system in the country. It's not just a local trend, either. Nationwide, the association found, transit ridership grew at a faster rate than highway trips for the third straight year, with last year's total of 9.4 billion rides the highest in more than 40 years.

That's not to say, of course, that Americans are giving up on their cars. Automobile and truck trips overall still massively outnumber those on public transit. But the growth in transit ridership shows that under the right circumstances drivers can in fact be coaxed out of their vehicles. That's clearly happening locally: The challenge for Metro is to provide adequate service to keep them from turning right back to the highway. It's a serious hurdle for a system already straining at the seams. Local governments are promising to step up; Maryland acted most recently with passage of a $500 million transit package that will fund, among other things, the state's share of more than 50 new rail cars and 300 Metro buses. Fairfax City Mayor John Mason, who chairs the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' transportation planning board, says the long-term needs outstrip available funds, and he will lead the board in an effort to find new sources of money.

The transit needs are only part of the larger transportation picture for the region, of course. Overall, the Council of Governments has estimated that existing revenues fall nearly $1.7 billion a year short of what's needed for highway and transit growth, rehabilitation and maintenance over the next 25 years. In Northern Virginia alone, over the next two decades, planners have identified $30 billion worth of highway and transit needs, of which nearly $15 billion remains unfunded. Ultimately, to keep the area moving will require a strong regional authority with dedicated funding, and creating that structure will require more leadership than we've seen at the state and local level so far. In the meantime, traffic gets tougher, and Metro scrambles to keep up with its success.

                                 © 2001 The Washington Post Company

For Some, Metro Has Become Part of the Family

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 26, 2001

It happens occasionally while Letroy Baker is driving the 28A route in Virginia. Another Metrobus is heading toward him and through the glare on the windshield, he can make out the smiling face behind the wheel.

"I say, 'There's my Pops,' and I just wave my hand," he said. Coming the other way is Moses Baker, Letroy's father.

If Moses Baker's bus route extended far enough, he'd pass another son and daughter on the road. All three of his children are Metrobus drivers.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is a major employer, with 9,000 people on its payroll. But Metro is also a family place, especially for its blue-collar workers.

It has been 25 years since the subway opened and 28 years since the Metrobus system was created from the fusion of four different bus companies. Enough years have passed for the original workers' grown children to land their own jobs on the road and rail and in the offices.

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