Metro customers like short station names

We reported a couple months ago about Metro's efforts to sharpen up their station names.  WMATA has now conducted a series of focus groups, and, not surprisingly, customers widely agreed that they want short station names, but still want names that are based on clear geographical destinations and landmarks.

Examples of stations they liked were Bethesda, Pentagon, and Union Station.  As one customer put it, those names "let you know exactly where you're going."  Names like Metro Center are short, but don't tell you where you're going at all.

Riders did not favor the stations with longer names such as Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter.

They also complained about stations named for things that aren't anywhere close, such as Woodley Park Zoo/Adams Morgan.

Changes to the Metro system map are expected in 2012 with the realignment of the Blue and Yellow lines.  More revisions will of course be made at the end of 2013 to accommodate the first phase of the new line to Dulles.