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| Re: WMATA: 7k prototype car pictures (1140725) | |||
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Re: WMATA: 7k prototype car pictures |
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Posted by randyo on Sun Feb 19 18:01:01 2012, in response to Re: WMATA: 7k prototype car pictures, posted by Joe V on Sat Feb 18 17:17:14 2012. While WMATA is not necessarily a bus company, it, like the Baltimore and LA metros came from a tradition of not having any previous rapid transit service but surface operations only. Thus when their respective transit systems were opened, many of the aspects of the long standing surface systems, notably in the area of scheduling and operator assignments were applied to the rapid transit systems. In NY, Boston, Chicago and Philly, their rapid transit systems developed simultaneously with their surface systems so 2 separate and distinct methods of scheduling and crew assignments were developed. Surface scheduling and operator assignment methods usually can't work on rapid transit lines since it takes longer for an operator on a rapid transit train of several car lengths to lock up and secure one operating cab, walk to the opposite end of the train set up a new operating cab and charge the brake system which is why most rapid transit systems have drop back crews to take trains back from terminals especially during peak times of short headways. On bus lines and many light rail systems that terminate in loops, the operator usually remains with the vehicle thus terminal recovery time for both vehicle and crew can be less than it would be on a rapid transit system. When I visited the WMATA offices, it seemed that many of the old timers in the schedule office were left over from the old DC Transit days and were treating the 6 and 8 car metro trains the same way that they treated the buses and streetcars in terms of scheduling and crewing. |
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