Metro News Release
For immediate release: November 4, 2009
Metro's communications returning to normal
Trains, buses, paratransit service operational
Approximately one dozen communication functions associated with transit service have been returning to normal throughout the day since an early-morning power failure resulted in the loss of services ranging from NextBus and e-Alerts to debit card use and rail station public address announcements.
Trains, buses and paratransit service continued to operate throughout the day.
An outage to a Metro internal power distribution unit at Metro headquarters at 2:45 a.m. took a data center computer out of commission temporarily and affected several communication services to Metro customers.
Services began to return at 8:30 a.m. when the Metro web site came back online. Metro’s Customer Call Center began to receive calls by about 9 a.m. All reservation and dispatch systems for MetroAccess returned to use at about 10 a.m. The MetroAccess call center and online reservation system returned to service also at about 10 a.m. The Bus and MetroAccess Operations Control Centers had early difficulty communicating with buses on the streets, however vehicle radios came back into service at about 10 a.m. The public address system in rail stations returned at 10:30 a.m.
Metrobus fareboxes were functioning, although some bus operators had difficulty logging onto them earlier this morning. If that was the case, customers were allowed to ride without paying. This affected a minimal number of buses.
As of mid-afternoon, customers were still unable to purchase fare with their debit cards. Customers have been limited to charge a maximum of $20 at a fare vending machine using a credit card at fare machines. The NextBus system is not operational.
SmartBenefits are not functioning. The e-alert system is not functioning.
The power outage occurred at Metro Headquarters, 600 5th Street, NW.
Media contact for this news release at 202-962-1051.
For all other inquiries, please call customer service at 202-637-7000.
News release issued at 2:39 pm, November 4, 2009.