© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

In a study released last month, WMATA conducted quite the thought experiment: What if there weren't a transit system at all?
WMATA took the same transportation demand model that it uses to project ridership on a new line and instead ran a couple of scenarios with the region’s transit literally turned off. All of it: the [...]

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

Oh, Good, Wintry Mix: Late November and early December were downright California-esque around here. Those days are officially over: The cold, heavy rain that's been drenching the District all day is expected to turn to some sort of sleety, slushy snow before ending. When it's over, it'll be in the 40s, instead of the 60s. [...]

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

#1 In Your Hearts, #9:30 In Your Programs: Touring bands always give a shout-out to the 9:30 Club when they play there, and even if some of the real legend behind the brand was forged at 930 F Street NW instead of 815 V Street, you get the sense they really mean it. Apparently, Billboard [...]

The Power Of Pepco: Next time the lights go off during a thunderstorm, and you grumble about the rates you're paying for electricity, just remember they could be higher, if Pepco wasn't getting so much money back from the feds. Turns out the company paid an effective federal tax rate of -57 percent over the [...]

With a new 19-character limit on Metrorail station names, a few of the existing ones will be changed. (Makes it easier to post about stations on Twitter, at least.) Some get shorter, some get longer. Per the Metro board's latest meeting:

Navy Yard becomes Navy Yard-Ballpark.
King Street becomes King St-Old Town.
Waterfront-SEU will drop SEU, because the [...]

There Be Lions Here: Typical postings on the Cleveland Park neighborhood message board deal with urgent matters like where one can find "electric adding machines." A recent update had something a bit more urgent—reports of a mountain lion loose near McLean Gardens. Hide your kids! Or at least keep them indoors with their adding machines. [...]

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

Gallery Place / Chinatown Metro.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

© 2011 Michael W. Hicks

SmarTrip Getting Smarter?: It wasn't so long ago that the only way to pay for a Metro ride was to buy a paper farecard, and the only way to pay for a single bus trip was to shove your coins into the farebox on board. But even though Metro only recently upgraded its payment options [...]