Metro's Reputation Has Dramatically Improved: Report

Metro says they're improving, and the public appears to agree, according to a new poll.

A Washington Post-Schar School poll found that 68 percent of Washington-area residents rate Metro positively, compared to just 42 percent in 2017.

However, there's a flip side: fewer people are using Metro, according to the poll, so there is a question of whether the improvements Metro has made will be enough to bring ridership back.

Metro is close to recovering the reputation it had before a fatal smoke incident in 2015 set off a series of improvements across the system that resulted in shutdowns and headaches for commuters.

Commuters appear to believe that Metro's attempts to improve the safety and reliability of the system, while painful, have been largely successful. With 68 percent viewing the system favorably, Metro is close to its 2013 approval of 71 percent.

The Washington Post quoted one expert who said he believes that more on-time service and the new 7000-series rail cars, which are "bright and clean," are likely behind the growing reputation.

However, the survey also found that 40 percent of residents say they ride Metro less than five years ago, with just 16 percent saying they ride it more often. That falls in line with actual ridership numbers, which have been steadily falling over recent years.

Last summer, Metro released a settlement with the family of Carol Glover, who died in January 2015 as smoke filled a tunnel near the L'Enfant Plaza station. The settlement amount was sealed, but Glover's sons sought $50 million in damages from Metro.

Glover's death led to a system-wide overhaul known as SafeTrack, which resulted in entire sections of track and stations shut down for weeks at a time, driving people away from using the system. Those shutdowns still happen today, but not as frequently as they did when the program was rolled out.