WAMU 88.5 Contributors

Martin Di Caro

Transportation Reporter

Di Caro has been WAMU's transportation reporter since February 2012. He covers local and regional issues challenging the residents of the heavily-congested, transit-friendly Washington metropolitan area. Martin often focuses on how transportation, land use, and public policy converge to shape the face of the region and the lives of its traffic-weary residents. Before coming to Washington, Di Caro worked at some of the most popular radio stations in the country's largest media markets. As a general assignment reporter at New Jersey 101.5 FM he won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best New Series after reporting on the severe illnesses suffered by 9/11 rescue and recovery workers. Di Caro also works for the Associated Press Radio Network in D.C. and New York.


Articles Written by Martin Di Caro

WAMU 88.5
Virginia transportation officials say building the Bi-County Parkway will help turn Dulles Airport into a major air cargo hub, but a new study says a new highway may not make much difference. The study (pdf) by David Versel, a researcher at the George Mason University Center for Regional Analys...
WAMU 88.5
It's been fifty years since D.C. had a working streetcar line. And transportation officials say building a new streetcar system from scratch is proving to be a tricky process. The D.C. Department of Transportation takes WAMU on a tour of streetcar construction on H Street to view the challenges and disruptions of building a line along a busy corridor. Transportation reporter Martin D...
WAMU 88.5
.mainpic { display: none; } .caption { display: none; } .photosource { display: none; } The H Street/Benning Road corridor is undergoing a permanentâ...
WAMU 88.5
Since hiring a D.C.-based public relations firm to improve its messaging, the Virginia Department of Transportation has stepped up its efforts to build public support for the Bi-County Parkway project, a ten-mile connection between Prince William and Loudoun Counties west of Dulles Airport and Manassas battlefield. The public relations campaign continued Tuesday night inside...
WAMU 88.5
Metro is bracing for another big hit to its bottom line, as the government shutdown will dent the transit authority's rail and bus ridership. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, Metro rail ridership was down 22 percent compared to the same time last Wednesday. It's an effect that is noticeable for those who still take the train to work. "Usually there is a line here at Dupont Circ...
WAMU 88.5
Starting today every taxicab on the streets in D.C. must accept credit card and smartphone payments. D.C cabbies have had since June to install credit card readers, one piece of the D.C. Taxicab Commission's drive to modernize the taxi fleet. Despite a lot of reluctance and confusion that led to two extensions, most met today's deadline. "It is here now, so we just...
WAMU 88.5
The District Department of Transportation is launching a one-year study of a nine-mile, north-south streetcar line between Buzzard Point in Southwest D.C. and Takoma in Northwest, a key segment of a planned 22-mile priority streetcar system that is supposed to be part of a District-wide transportation network with Metro buses and the D.C. Circulator. ...
WAMU 88.5
.mainpic { display: none; } .caption { display: none; } .photosource { display: none; } In Tysons Corner, the reinforced concrete pillars rising high above and alongside traffic-clog...
WAMU 88.5
"Extend the deadline! Extend the deadline!" they chanted. About 200 D.C. taxi drivers held a rally in Freedom Plaza Wednesday morning to demand more time to install credit card readers in their vehicles. Come next Tuesday, Oct. 1, every taxi...
WAMU 88.5
A coalition of 32 groups representing civic associations, environmental activists, smart growth advocates, and real estate developers testified in favor of constructing an 80-mile bus rapid transit (BRT) network in Montgomery County over the next decade during the first public hearing held on the issue by the County Council Tuesday night. The hearing officially began what will...
WAMU 88.5
The District is sticking with its current visitor parking pass policy, scrapping plans to overhaul the system by making the coveted passes on-demand only. "DDOT will automatically mail the pass to those residents who received the pass last year. It will continue to be free of charge. It will continue to be only one pass per household," says Monica Hernandez at the District Dep...
WAMU 88.5
Have you noticed improvement since Metro began the "Metro Forward" rehabilitation program? When Metro claimed this month that more of its 588 escalators are working th...
WAMU 88.5
Floyd Corkins, the man who plotted a mass shooting at the Family Research Council offices near Gallery Place, has been sentenced to 25 years. Leo Johnson rose in court and looked into the eyes of the man who nearly killed him. "I told Mr. Cork...
WAMU 88.5
The agency constructing the first phase of the Silver Line rail project to Tysons Corner and Reston remains unable to estimate a date for the start of passenger service, three and a half months before Metro hopes to begin collecting fare revenue. Officials at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) on Wednesday said Phase 1 of the Silver Line will cost close to...
WAMU 88.5
The Virginia Department of Transportation continues its public relations push to win support for plans to build a major highway in Northern Virginia, fueling accusations the agency is misleading the public about two infrastructure projects. As VDOT and the National Park Service continued to hammer out the details of an agreement that will let the state build the Bi-County Pa...
WAMU 88.5
Most licensed taxicabs in Washington will be ready to accept passengers’ credit card and smartphone payments by an Oct. 1 deadline, according to the District’s top regulator, who issued a warning to any cabbie considering picking up passengers without the mandated payment equipment. “Any taxicab that is on the road seeking customers that has not complied with the requi...
WAMU 88.5
Related Coverage Navy Yard Shootings: No Second Gunman; Victims' IDs Emerge Three Injured In Navy Yard Shooting Expected...
WAMU 88.5
As the FBI continues to investigate the possibility of a second shooter in the attack at the Washington Navy Yard, witnesses of the event are trying to come to terms with what they saw and heard. As it became clear that the incident, punctuated by "pop-pop-pops," was mor...
WAMU 88.5
Metro is losing rail ridership and fare revenues are falling short of projections, but transportation planners and policy experts say the short-term losses detailed in a 17-page report that will be presented to the WMATA board today do not signal significant trouble for a transit agency they expect to remain central to the region’s economic growth in the coming decades. Me...
WAMU 88.5
Amtrak service between Washington D.C. and Philadelphia has been restored, after being suspended for several hours on Wednesday afternoon. Spokesman Craig Schulz says passengers should expect delays of between one to two hours as crews continue repairing the system and restoring the second track for service. Rail service had been suspended earlier Wednesday after over...