The snow-fearing Washington area braced for the worst, but the worst never came.
The federal government followed its new rules on what to do for wintry weather Sunday night, giving employees a two-hour delay and an option to telecommute.
But no ice arrived Monday, and drivers were greeted only by fog and dry roads.
Frustrated workers complained about being unaware of the change and showing up to work early, although the Office of Personnel Management announced the change Sunday evening, while others erupted on Twitter about long Metro waits and stuffed trains.
Metro promised to extend rush-hour service Sunday night, but riders waited 12 minutes between trains at some stations, packing into trains headed downtown between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
But Metro said Monday that extended rush-hour service didn’t mean that trains would come as quickly as they normally do at peak hours.
“We absolutely ran additional trains,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said. “Our policy wasn’t necessarily meant to be the same frequencies of trains you see at peak of the peak.” Trains came an average of every five minutes between 10 and 11 a.m. on the Red Line, and every eight minutes on the Orange Line, Stessel said.
Stessel said train service was increased about 20 percent between 9 and 11 a.m., and ridership was up 25 percent.
“No one was being left behind at the station because trains were too crowded,” he said.
Metro did not charge peak prices, he said. It also canceled its midday track work.
The government backed its decision, even if no ice came.
“Freezing rain situations are generally more problematic from a traffic perspective. I think it’s wise for us to err on the side of caution,” said Dean Hunter, a deputy director at OPM.
OPM made the call to delay the federal workday after consulting with emergency managers from across the region in a Sunday afternoon conference call organized by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
“As far as improving how we coordinate and make good decisions after the shellacking we got last winter, I think people are more in the lean-forward posture, erring on the side of caution,” said MWCOG executive director David Robertson. “I thought [the federal delay] was a very effective call and played out pretty nicely.”
