Metro had previously said the garage at Dunn Loring underground station had 1,326 spaces, but a “capacity check” showed the garage actually had 1,963 spaces.
WASHINGTON – Metro found hundreds of parking spaces this summer that it didn’t know it had.
Metro previously said the garage at Dunn Loring underground station has 1,326 spaces, but a “capacity check” showed the garage actually has 1,963 spaces, according to Northern Virginia Transportation Commission documents. .
That’s almost 1.5 times more space than Metro previously believed to be available to passengers.
The additional spaces had been added during the second phase of the garage construction which was completed more than a year after the first part of the garage opened in August 2013, the Metro spokesperson said, Ron Holzer, in an email.
“Metro is checking the capacity of all parking lots, during which a discrepancy was discovered at the Dunn Loring garage. The capacity was updated last month to reflect the 637 spaces added during phase two of the garage construction, but was inadvertently excluded from the total, ”said Holzer.
The disclosure in the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission documents aims to explain what would otherwise appear to be a sharp drop in garage usage when comparing data from July 2017 (71%) to data from July 2018 (48% ).
“Transactions at Dunn Loring have remained stable year over year, but the upward variation in capacity has resulted in lower utilization rates,” the documents say.
The utilization rate is important for Metro’s long-term planning and for users who consider which stations generally have parking available. In Virginia, updated Metro numbers show that only the Van Dorn Street, East Falls Church, and Wiehle-Reston East lots are typically full or nearly full on weekdays.
Last year, in a separate incident, Metro admitted to miscalculating the distances between train stations, leading to thousands of passengers paying bad fares for years.
