I can fix 610 Mine Road.....on Mon 12 Sep

TJR,

Are you a driver?



NoSb

SOV because you can, HOV because you care!

TJR, I wanted to respond to your post since you took the time (thanks for doing so, sorry I couldn't respond earlier.)

Much of what you wrote about the effectiveness of the 2 proposals has already been covered/addressed in this thread (please take a look back), so I won't repeat it here. But I wanted to make sure you knew how this "decision process" came about.

1. Several riders/drivers over the past several months suggested we change line direction and split into 2 lines. I thought they were good ideas, and I still do (I can't take credit for them). So I decided last week to try and step up to see what support there was for these 2 changes.

3. Tuesday I spent about 1.5 hours (0545-0715) loudly announcing the 2 proposals to probably over 200 folks (you had to have seen me if you were there when you said you were)...and I was careful to suggest these were only ideas at this point, and that I was looking for feedback either personally while I was there, or on Slug-Lines.com. At the lot, 2 people gave me negative feedback (1 said line direction was fine, 1 said we can't interfere with bus lane). Probably a dozen or so verbally said things like "good ideas" or "about time", and lots of folks nodding their heads (fewer shaking their heads). I felt that speaking to this many people and allowing them verbal feedback (as well as watching non-verbal clues) would provide a good representative sample of all sluggers who use the lot (there's no way to get 100% feeback). Overall, a lopsided positive response on Tuesday.

4. Wednesday I put out a big ugly green sign with more details about the proposed changes, which asked folks to go to Slug-Lines.com to see more details and provide input. The response on the website was pretty limited, with the "yeahs" and "nays" pretty evenly split. The "nay's" were focused primarily on the 2-line concept (it's nearly unanimous the line direction needs to be reversed). The "yeahs" suggested we at least try the 2-line proposal, and then go back to 1 line if it doesn't work. Since the majority of the overall responses from these 2 days was positive, the next step was to move from the "proposal" stage to the "plan" stage. KEY POINT: I didn't make a unilateral decision, but relied on the direct feedback I was given. I'm aware there were likely folks who kept quiet who disagreed with the proposals, but there were also likely folks who thought it was a good idea but didn't say so. At any rate, the available data after all this effort was still overwhelmingly positive.

5. Thursday I handed out 250 maps between 0530-0700, announcing the changes effective on Monday. Of the folks who told me it was either a "good idea" or "bad idea" (around 20 people), the "good ideas" were about a 3-to-1 majority. Most of the "bad idea" folks were against the 2-line change, with about half of them commenting that they're willing to go ahead and give it a try for a while and switch back to 1 line if it's not working. Feedback on the website was still limited, with the "good ideas" slightly outnumbering the "bad ideas". I had been prepared to pull the plug on the 2-line proposal if I had received a bunch of negative input that day, but it didn't happen.

6. Friday I put out another stack of about 150 maps, to ensure anyone who didn't receive one Thursday got one. There are probably about 30 of them that were not picked up.

Those are the facts of the process. In hindsight, I would have done a few things slightly different, but the good Lord knows I sure ain't perfect. I'm no authority figure or decision-maker, I'm just trying carry forward what a lot folks (the majority I've heard from) think are good proposals, and I'll take the heat for whatever goes wrong. I understand lines may be "temporairly" long due to gas prices or VRE problems, but we need to keep a long-term focus....Stafford is growing like crazy and our slug line will only get busier. Change will be easier now than later.

Monday may be a bit bumpy, but then let's see how it goes for a while, and then reevaluate. What have we got to lose?

Again, thanks for all the input received, sorry for the long post.

Wade

Wade,

I have to agree. It definitely worked much better going "with the flow" rather than counter to.

My only question would be about swapping the DC and Pentagon lines' positions. If someone who were looking for DC riders didn't find any, they could just flow forward to the Pentagon line once they got tired of waiting and drop slugs in the Pentagon area on their way to DC. Just a thought, not that it impacts me currently.

NoSb

SOV because you can, HOV because you care!

quote:

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Originally posted by sbaumgar
[br]What WAS the problem? The only problem I've seen in the two years I've been picking people up is the fact that cars will not pull forward to the end of the median. What sense does it make to pull up to the end of the line first? Because that's they way you've always done it in the "old" 610 lot? Well then stay over there.

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I've been in lines that work both ways - with cars approaching the front or approaching the back of the line. The lines where the cars approach from the back seem to work much better because the drivers can call out their destination and the slugs in line can relay it to the front. There's a lot less "walking the line (of cars)" when it is configured this way.

Great job of "Fixing" the problem -- now the DC cars line up in the outside and the VA cars can't leave when they get riders. By the way, what was the PROBLEM? It worked much, much better for drivers when there was one line.