WP: Metro to Students: Behave!

According to the Post Metro is now focused on minimizing bad behavior from students using public transportation after school. Unfortunately the link on the Post site to page 2 of the story is messed up. Follow this link if you want to read the end of the story.

Express: New Metro Chief Speaks

Read his thoughts here. Mr. Catoe discusses H Street, lightrail, bus rapid transit ("BRT"), clean vehicles and more. Another interesting point he makes is that even non-Metro riders have a reason to support Metro: if someone is riding a Metro train/bus, that person is probably driving (imagine what would happen if a large chunk of Metro users suddenly decided to drive everywhere). By the way, Catoe attended Springarn High School, which is located in Langston Terrace.

WP: Metro Fare Hikes in Limbo

Following a large public outcry Metro is holding off on raising fares. Metro ridership is up in recent years costs are rising as Metro needs additional cars to ferry these new riders. The budget shortfall for fiscal 2008 is $116 million.

Examiner: Stereotypes Keep Buses Down

Thanks to Rebuilding Place for pointing out this article on the image problems that can plague buses. There are various reasons people don't ride buses:
-lack of knowledge of routes
-lack of knowledge of schedules (or fear of/actual irregularity in schedules)
-perceptions about the types of people that do ride the bus
-preference for cars/metro
Whether you think these reasons are valid, or not, you've got to admit that a good number of people simply refuse to ride the bus. Will many of these people be willing to ride the H Street streetcar? I'm betting they will. Even if you object to making changes to cater to the prejudices that keep some off buses, the reality is that a streetcar will get these guys out on H Street and they will spend money here. That, is a good thing.
Bus Load: The B.S. Bus Solution (Dan Savage)
How to Ride the Bus (Rick VanderKnyff) <--Serious, yet funny bustales.com <--true stories from the bus