Protests: Metro Transit
With Polly Hanson
Metro Transit Police Chief
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2002; 1:30 p.m. EDT

Demonstrators plan five days of marches, teach-ins, vigils and civil disobedience this week to protest the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Saturday and Sunday. A "People's Strike" is scheduled for Friday that calls for shutting down the city. How will this affect commuters?

Metro Transit Police Department Chief Polly Hanson will be online Thursday, Sept. 26, at 1:30 p.m. EDT, to explain Metro rail and bus contingencies.

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Dillsburg, Pa.: Have tickets for Spirit of America on Saturday. Plan on Metro from Shady Grove to MCI Center. About a three hour trip from home and never rode Metro before. Considering the protests, would we be wise not to come?

Polly Hanson: If you have tickets, use them! We do not anticipate protest activity in the area of the MCI Center, or on the Red Line from Shady Grove. There is a Spririt of America event taking place now at the MCI Center, and except for some minor traffic congestion around the building, everything is fine. If you take Metro, you won't run into any traffic congestion! Check our Internet web site (www.wmata.com) to help plan your ride tomorrow.

Washington, D.C.: Rumor has it that the Foggy Bottom Metro Station will be closed on Friday, September 27th. Is this true?

Thank you.

Polly Hanson: Right now there are no plans to close Foggy Bottom or any other Metro station. However, we will be working closely with Metropolitan DC Police and monitoring protest activity. If there is activity near one of our stations, we may decide to close an entrance or a station briefly to ensure customer safety. We will communicate any such closing through the media, on our web site, on our display signs in our stations, and through announcements in our trains and in our stations.

Woodley Park, Washington, D.C.: Hi,
I live near the Woodley Park Metro and was alarmed to come home yesterday to find all of the paper boxes being removed by Metro employees and trash cans on their side. Why is Metro preparing for demonstrations in Woodley Park when there is no mention of this anywhere else? I think it's alarming that residents aren't informed, or the media doesn't care enough about our neighborhood to include it in the published protest plans.
Thanks.

Polly Hanson: Delegates from IMF-World Bank meetings are staying in hotels in the Woodley Park-Zoo area, so trash cans and newspaper boxes were removed merely as a precaution for people living in that area.

Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.: Please, please, please don't overreact and shut down entire rail lines if a couple of protesters try to blockade a station entrance or start chanting on a platform. Keep the trains running! It will be the ONLY way to get around tomorrow other than walking in the heavy rain. I'm a die-hard commuter, if any of our hemp-smoking friends tries to block me from a Metro station I'm stepping right over 'em. I've lived here 10 years and am sick and tired of these brats bringing our city to a halt every year. Let's do our best to ignore them.

Polly Hanson: We're with you! We will keep the trains running, just as we did, for example, on September 11, 2001, when we were the only mode of transportation that was moving for hours after the attacks. You can help us by watching out for large groups of demonstrators entering our rail system, and by reporting any suspicious activity to us at 202-962-2121. Thanks for your support!

Fort Washington, Md.: Will the P-19 and P-17 buses run on Friday evening? Will I be able to catch them at 10th and Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

Polly Hanson: We anticipate that as the secure perimeter around the IMF meetings expands and contracts, there will be bus detours. We encourage you to call our customer service office at 202-673-7000 and/or check our Internet web site (www.wmata.com) for up to the minute information on detours. We will post them as soon as we know them!

Fairfax, Va.: Everyone is being told to take Metro tomorrow, but the protesters who want to tie up traffic are being encouraged to tie up Metro as well. Do you have any plans to deal with this situation if it occurs?

Polly Hanson: Absolutely, we have plans in place to deal with any possible activity tomorrow or over the weekend. We will have additional officers, some in uniform and some in casual clothes, in our bus and rail systems. We have officers specially trained in crowd control techniques. We will be staffing the Metropolitan Police Command Center, and Metro will have its own Command Center operating, so we can keep up with events immediately as they happen and respond appropriately. Our experience in the past is that public transportation provides mobility, access to jobs, and social justice - causes that many of the protestors embrace and support. We're hoping that this weekend's experience will be similar to those in the past.

D.C.: How exactly would you suggest we call to report vandals/large groups of protesters? Almost all the pay phones have been removed from stations!

Polly Hanson: While we have removed some pay phones at the platform level of our stations, we still have pay phones available on the mezzanine levels, near the station manager kiosks. Passenger emergency intercom pylons are located on the station platforms, as well as emergency intercoms on each railcar (located at both ends of each car). Also, please look for any Transit Police officer and/or Metro employee, all of whom will be wearing high visibility vests to make us easy to find.

Capitol Hill: Hi Polly --

I have to make a comment: I think the D.C. police department does a great job of handling protesters, in general. I think Ramsey knows the majority of them are harmless college kids.

I live on the Hill. Should I get out of Dodge this weekend or will the protesters be mainly confined to downtown?

Polly Hanson: We expect most of the protest activity will take place in the area around the IMF-World Bank headquarters, near Farragut Square, McPherson Square, etc. There is no need to get out of Dodge or stay inside. We and Chief Ramsey's department will have plenty of additional resources working to keep the area safe. We have attended numerous pre-planning meetings with the region's law enforcement agencies to help us get ready for this event.

Washington, D.C.: Is Metro planning on running 6-8 car trains since many more will be utilizing the system - especially during peak hours in a.m. and p.m. -- and thanks for keeping the system running tomorrow for those of us who are employed and responsible citizens.

Polly Hanson: We will be running our normal four and six car trains during the morning and afternoon rush hour periods tomorrow. Unfortunately, we don't have sufficient rail cars yet to operate eight-car trains. If we see large volumes of passengers beyond the rush hours or throughout the day, we can adjust our service level accordingly. During the rush hours, we are running all of the available service we have.

NW, Washington: Will all of the Metro Stations be open and operating in the D.C. area during the IMF Meetings?

Polly Hanson: Let me reiterate again, at this time we have no plans to close any of our stations. We will be monitoring activity throughout the day and weekend, and we may briefly close stations and/or station entrances if we feel we need to do so for customer safety reasons. We encourage you to listen carefully to train and station announcements, watch the passenger information display signs in our stations, check our Internet web site, call our customer service office at 202-637-7000, and be sure to follow directions from any Metro Transit Police officer or Metro employee. Thanks to everyone for logging in. Sorry I wasn't able to get to all the questions in this chat. Take care and be safe this weekend. We'll be working hard to keep your Metro system safe and secure, as always!

   |      |