Metro is looking at ways to improve the customer experience on buses and trains by changing signage across the system, including the possibility of renaming and numbering its rail lines.
Metro’s Chief Experience Officer Sarah Meyer, who recently took the job after spending time at New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, says Metro is now studying transit agencies around the world. The idea is to find out what’s working best to make traveling through the system as easy as possible for riders.
“So you’ll notice that letters are now popping up on all lines [in other systems], numbers sometimes, just to make sure for those that might have colorblind issues or visual impairments that they know where they are going,” Meyer told reporters during a conference call.
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Metro says the color-coded names for the lines aren't going anywhere. Leaders are considering adding numbers and letters to the names to make navigation more accessible.
While putting numbers or letters on Metro’s traditional color lines would be a massive change, that is being talked about as something further down the line.
“We’ve been talking about it a ton internally. I think it’s a step two. Right now, we are just trying to fix what I think is the malpractice [with signage] in the system, and then we’ll move forward to perhaps renumbering or labeling the lines,” said Meyer.
When News4 asked whether Metro would consider doing something like labeling the Red Line as Red 1, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said it’s theoretically possible, adding that Metro plans to ask riders their opinions.
“We're keeping the colors! No one wants to change the colors,” Clarke said. "But would it be valuable to also, potentially, add a number inside of a color, as an example?"
Clarke said another idea is to label entrances/exits, perhaps with letters, so that trip-planning apps can point riders to the one that will get them closest to their destination.
“I’ve gotten lost on the system myself, and I’ve lived here twice!” Clarke said. “It’s not to change the whole world. We’re not going to move everyone’s cheese. We’re just kind of refining, I think in a more modern way, how people can way find around the system.”
In the meantime, Metro’s outdoor pylons, digital maps in stations, displays inside trains and buses, and bus stop signage could be changing.
“We have beautiful stations, but they are very large and they sort of all look the same. I know for myself, being new to the area, it’s taken me a while to figure out and get my bearings,” said Meyer. “What we are trying to do is create signage and a wayfinding system that’s inclusive to all of our riders.”
Meyer says one of the main issues she has noticed is that not everyone understands the end points of lines and what they represent.
“So directionally, when you say Shady Grove-bound and you say Glenmont-bound, those are both Maryland-bound, and you might not understand that they are also D.C.-bound. And that’s where adding direction will help those that are lost in the system,” said Meyer.
The busy L’Enfant Plaza Station – which Metro leaders say can be one of the most confusing stations to navigate – would be seeing changes first.
“It’s the perfect test case because it is so complicated,” Meyer said.
New signage is expected to start appearing this week, and the Metro Board will hear a board presentation about these plans on Thursday.
Metro will also address an upcoming shutdown of the Red Line at the board meeting this week. That shutdown will happen around the Christmas holiday to address structural issues.
The Red Line will be closed between the Farragut North and Gallery Place Stations from Dec. 18 until Dec. 30. The Judiciary Square Station will be closed from Dec. 22 until Dec. 24.
