We received this email from a transit user who was attempting to transfer from Metrorail to ART, but upon leaving the Metrorail station found that there was no way to tell where the correct ART stop was. Have you ever had a similar experience with ART? Please tell us about it. Have you seen solutions to this problem elsewhere, or do you have any ideas for solutions? (The email is reprinted with permission of the author.)
To Arlington Transit and Metro officials:
I write today to complain about the lack of signage for travelers seeking to make a Metro to bus transfer at the Court House Metro Station and to encourage you to take steps to improve signage in and around the station.
On Wednesday, June 4th, I was making a trip from Metro Center in D.C. to the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Four Mile Run Drive in Arlington. Metro's online trip planner conveniently produced travel options, and I decided to make a connection from Metro's Orange Line at Courthouse Station to the Arlington Transit bus #41.
Unfortunately, when I got off the Metro at Court House Station, I was immediately in trouble. Coming out of the Metro station, there is absolutely NO signage indicating which of the three exits from the station patrons should take in order to find connecting buses. After stopping several other travelers for information, someone directed me to the exit that took me up to the street level at the intersection of Clarendon Boulevard and N. Uhle Street.
Up on the street, I still found NO signs indicating the direction in which I should walk to catch bus #41. However, directly in front of the exit from the Metro station was a bus stop with a sign indicating bus #61 as well as bus "#41 Sat and Sun Only." The bus stop sign was confusing to me, as the Metro trip planner had clearly shown #41 bus service on Wednesday, but it never occurred to me (and there was no sign indicating) that there was another bus stop in a different location for bus #41 on weekdays.
Only after waiting 15 minutes did someone walking on the street tell me that the stop for weekday service on bus #41 was on the other side of the street, on 15th St N. next to the courthouse. At that point I had missed the 12:25 p.m. bus, and decided to wait at the designated bus stop for the 12:40 p.m. bus. It never arrived, and at 1:00 p.m.--having been trying for 40 minutes to connect to the bus and with neither the scheduled 12:40 p.m. nor the 12:55 p.m. bus anywhere in sight--I gave up and, in total frustration, took a taxi (at a cost of $15) to my destination.
How can you possibly hope to encourage people to rely upon public transit, particularly when traveling to unfamiliar locations, under these kinds of situations??
I strongly encourage you to work together to put up appropriate signage in the Court House Metro Station and to post directional signage at the street level so that patrons can find their way to their destinations.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Clifford M. Johnson
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