"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:
It seems to me that it would be far easier to fix this than to
extend tracks miles and miles into the exurbs or countryside.
Assuming the goal is to serve as much populated area as possible
as cheaply as possible.

Brian Robinson OR Carol Goter Robinson OR Bill Robinson
wrote:
No, the purpose is to serve customers, customers being drivers, good
citizens who have paid their dues for a MetroCard and the right to
be tracked by TIA in the future. Pedestrians are vagrants.

Huh? About half the stations don't have parking lots. All stations
are accessible to pedestrians. You can ride without a SmarTrip card.
And there's no requirement to register a SmarTrip card, in which case,
if you paid cash for it, all they are tracking is card number 214365,
and they have no idea what name goes with that card.

Oh yeah... no tourists or visitors or anyone who might have a
legitimate reason to drive to an outlying Metro station are allowed.
No more "drive to DC, park at Greenbelt, take the Metro to visit the
city..." SmartCard holders (car commuters) only!

SmarTrip cards won't be nandatory for people parking at Metro stations
until there are SmarTrip card dispensers at every Metro station
parking lot. Yes, it's an annoyance that tourists will have to pay an
*extra* five dollars. Once. But that's far from saying they're not
allowed. Also, if I'm reading the press release correctly, parking
will remain free on weekends, implying that no SmarTrip card is
required then.

If anything, it sounds like they're trying to *discourage* people from
parking at Metro stations, and would prefer that people get to them on
foot, by bike, or by bus.

Mt. Pleasant, one of the most liberal neighborhoods in the country,
ANC just passed a law asking the police to detain and question
"persons of a suspicious character... who don't look like they
belong" in a given area. According to Washpost.

The closest thing I can find to that on their website is:

... the District's Mt. Pleasant neighborhood, where the five-member
Advisory Neighborhood Commission narrowly adopted a resolution, 3
to 2, asking the police to take aim at everything from assaults and
animal cruelty to littering, double parking, even cursing. ...

That may be unreasonable, but it's far from stopping and questioning
people who are just walking on the sidewalk.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
--multiplaza.nl.nu--