Longer Waits Coming?

PIDs like this might start to look pretty good. (Via @LoriG Yup, that's wmata pic.twitter.com/jmOxUxqv)

Is Metro proposing stealth service cuts?

On Thursday, the Metro Board's Customer Service and Operations Committee will hear a proposal by Metro to change the "rail service criteria."

According to the presentation, the criteria means the "maximum customer wait time between trains."

The current proposal appears to increase those times significantly to:

15 minutes during the peak
30 minutes during non-peak

As of March of this year, the criteria are listed as:

In the core:
Three minutes in the core during peak
Six minutes mid-day

Non-core:
Six minutes during peak
12 minutes mid-day
20 minutes off peak

There is no breakout between core and non-core in the current presentation.

While the approved 2012 budget posted on the Metro website details headways, the proposed 2013 budget currently posted, does not.

There was no discussion of these increased headways during the most recent budget process.

Posited one reader:

I think this week's Board document is there to set the stage for service reductions necessary as cars are taken from other lines and put on the Silver Line.

Hopefully someone form the Board will ask some good questions to shed light on this potentially troubling issue.

This is not the first time Metro has lowered its standards, all the while increasing fares.

Other items:
Some Metrobus drivers working 20 hours a day (WMATA/Examiner story)
Is Metro too risky for a pregnant woman? (WaPo)