Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Report says that service-industry workers heading home after 10 p.m. are often left behind by overcrowded buses and waiting longer than 30 minutes for buses that are scheduled to run about every seven minutes. The agency is working to double the number of extra-long buses on the route.

Two employees accused of stealing thousands of dollars in fares are negotiating a possible plea deal, according to court papers. The agency has hired an accounting firm to review the agency’s revenue center and the processes used to handle the money.

Agency is emphasizing innovation and the ability to change company culture in its next leader, and will interview three finalists next week. Since John Catoe’s resignation last April, the agency has not had a permanent general manager.

The agency needs to fill more than 210 vacant positions for bus operators, train operators and station managers. A hiring freeze, stricter standards and retiring operators are behind the majority of staff losses.

The agency will invest $10 million in beginning to replace approximately 400 Red Line track circuits, enabling it to run its trains in automatic mode. All 1,730 track circuits are slated for eventual replacement, at an estimated cost of $60.5 million.

The agency preliminarily endorsed amending the capital budget to include a $351,000 security grant, and authorize Metro to initiate and award a contract to purchase and install the equipment to support the electronic countermeasures system.

Nearly $202M in Recovery Act dollars was allocated to the agency, of which $52M was used to purchase the vehicles and construct the new shop. Metro began receiving the new diesel-electric hybrid buses and paratransit vehicles earlier this year.

A 20-cent peak-of-the-peak fee for trips taken between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 4:30 and 6 p.m. weekdays has been implemented to reduce the cost of a SmarTrip card from $5 to $2.50.

System will capture video and audio inside and outside of Metrobuses, detect when an operator makes a defensive move to avoid an accident, brakes or accelerates suddenly, turns sharply, or is involved in an incident.

Agency received $150M in federal funds for the procurement of the new generation railcars. Of the 428 new cars, 128 will enable the expansion of Metro service on the Dulles rail corridor and 300 will be used to replace the 1000 series cars.