• cosmic_slate@dmv.socialOPMEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Right? I moved up after the Red Line crash in 2009 so I never was able to see ATO in action. I’m hoping this eventually allows more frequent trains to get through Rosslyn since it’s a bottleneck.

      • whfsdude@dmv.socialEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        I doubt ATO is going to have a significant impact on headways. There might be some minor impact if they include automatic door operation. The looming budget crisis due to low ridership is going to dictate headways/levels of service more than ATO.

        I do look for forward to smoother train rides, especially not having operators lurch the train to a stop to avoid platform overruns.

        As for Rosslyn I don’t remember WMATA ever going below 2 minutes with ATO. I believe the switch is around ~130 seconds to set.

        • checkmategaytheists@dmv.socialEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Headways on trains likely wouldn’t be significantly impacted; but this theoretically frees up their staff significantly to improve bus service, which is constantly and frequently impacted by staffing issues.

          Edit: I was misinformed! I looked it up, and ATO wouldn’t actually move any train operators from the car, they would simply be doing other things and not worrying about driving. Seems like it would be an even more boring job than it might already be!