There are 6 colored lines and 91 metro stations. Many stations are on multiple lines and that is something we must account for in our exploratory analysis.

1. Red - 27 stations
2. Orange - 26 stations
3. Blue - 27 stations
4. Green - 21 stations
5. Yellow - 17 stations
6. Silver - 28 stations

There are a combined total of 892 elevators and escalators within the WMATA system There are 277 elevators, and 615 escalators. Below is a breakdown by line color (and includes overlap stations):

• Are more escalator and elevator outages reported on certain days of the week?

• Are escalator and elevator outages reported more during certain times of the day?

• When elevators and escalators are inspected less frequently, will more break downs occur?
  

• Our proportion uses the total breakdowns for all day types within the month (e.g., total Sundays), and bases its proportion on the total breakdowns for the corresponding month.
  
  
• The proportion of breakdowns are much higher during the week (Monday - Friday) opposed to the weekends.

Initial Hypothesis
The DC Metro’s system of escalators and elevators disproportionately affect travelers by being closed during Rush Hour. “Rush Hour” to be defined as between 7:00-9:00am and 4:00-6:00pm.

Data-Driven Hypothesis
The spikes at 9:00am and 11:00am to be caused by the reporting officials to start their days/report the maintenance findings during those times.

• Breaks appear to increase as inspections increase.
• Counter to expected findings.
• What could be causing this?

• The proportion of breakdowns occurring from Monday - Friday are fairly close in comparison.
• To further expound our exploration, we could:
  • Incorporate the unit_ids, group the elevators/escalators by train station,
  • Implement geo mapping to visualize which train stations have the most breakdowns, and
  • Examine the proximity of train stations with frequent elevator/escalator breakdowns.
• Subsequently, this may prompt additional efforts to incorporate ridership data.

• Downtime throughout the year is consistent.

• Inspections are mostly uniform throughout the year.

• Slight positive correlation between day of month and downtime.

• The average downtime for each month of the year
• Some months the trend is positive, some it’s negative

• WMATA labor union uses “Pick” system
  • This contributes to longer than normal service downtime and repeated breaks
• Outages are often unreported or reported the following day causing a spike in sudden closures.
• There is no indication that inspections influence breaks.
  • Are inspections ever done retroactively?
• Downtime is relatively uniform throughout the year, but some indications of seasonal variation may inspire further research
  • Holidays and weather could be factors

A Little-Known Policy Makes Your Metro Trip Tougher, Roosevelt Reader, October 6, 2014, retrieved from [https://www.gwrooseveltinstitute.org/blog/a-little-known-policy-makes-your-metro-trip-tougher]

Lack of Escalator Safety Maintenance Caused Washington Accident, Claims Journal, April 3, 2013, retrieved from https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2013/04/09/226561.htm.

Learn About Metro’s Maintenance Program, WMATA, retrieved from [https://www.wmata.com/service/elevators-escalators/]

Metrorail Engineering and Maintenance Internal Review, WMATA, 2017, QICO, retrieved from https://www.wmata.com/initiatives/transparency/upload/Metrorail-Engineering-and-Maintenance-QICO-Internal-Review-November-17-2017.pdf.

READ ME, Dataset Information, (http://data.codefordc.org/dataset/wmata-escalators-elevators-hotcars/resource/0ee4eac7-ba7f-4a9f-bc15-d635a24b2cb3)

Why Are Elevators/Escalators Out of Service for Repair?, WMATA, retrieved from [https://www.wmata.com/service/elevators-escalators/outage-types.cfm]

This data frame is powered by the DC Metro Metrics application which includes a list of all stored “unit statuses” between June 1, 2013 and February 22, 2015.