Metro’s newest rail stations are shining, gleaming, and the fare gates are already working, as General Manager Randy Clarke found out when he flashed his SmarTrip card through them during a Wednesday visit.
All that’s missing are the riders, though that’ll change less than two weeks from now.
After descending the escalator at the Ashburn station, Clarke made sure to say “hi” to the managers already on hand. Outside the entrance to the escalators that take riders to the walkway that runs over the Dulles Greenway, workers are pouring and smoothing out concrete connecting the station to all the restaurants, apartments and parking garages adjacent to the station.
Make no mistake: The main draw is connectivity to Dulles International Airport — time it right and you can pick up your suitcase from the baggage claim and be downtown in about an hour – but all of the growth around the station is proof that the Silver Line extension is about more than avoiding an expensive cab to the airport.
“The Silver Line corridor has just exploded in growth,” said Clarke, as he stood on the platform with the Dulles International Airport terminal in the background. He’s making clear that Metro’s bread and butter has to be more than just getting people to work downtown, since a post-pandemic downtown isn’t as vibrant as it was before with so many workers now clocking in from their home offices now.
“People say, ‘How do we recover ridership?’” he went on. “It’s OK that ridership looks different.”
Someone taking the train from Loudoun to Wiehle is just as important as the traditional weekday commuter going from Wiehle to Federal Triangle in downtown D.C., Clarke said.
“Or Friday night, someone out in this corridor that wants to go to a Nats game is equally important as someone commuting in the morning,” he said.
Clarke added: “Our region is growing, it’s robust and I think all of these different travel patterns are going to merge post-pandemic and we are going to be a stronger region with this connectivity.”
That said, thousands of people are expected to take the Silver Line train to the airport, and there are new signs all over Dulles touting the arrival of the Silver Line to make it as easy as it can be for people flying into town.
The trip from the train to the terminal is just a few minutes, depending on how fast you walk and if you use the moving walkways. It takes you right under the hourly garage that separates the tracks from the terminal.
“This has been a vision for Dulles Airport for 70 years,” said Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
He said taking being able to take Metro to the airport means travelers won’t have to battle rush-hour traffic.
“It also is a very good option compared to what it cost you for a taxi, an Uber, or taking a car here and parking. It provides people with an option, and a very, very good option,” added Potter, standing some of the airport’s bagging carousels.
