Metro Board Approves Name Change for King Street Metro
King Street Metro will be called King St-Old Town beginning with the June 2012 map.
The Metro Board on Thursday approved name changes for several Metro stations, including changing King Street to King St-Old Town.
Primary station names can be 19 characters. The board exempted some station names from that limit because "customers have strong familiarity with the existing names." Those exemptions include Franconia-Springfield. Additionally, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport remains unchanged.
The King Street name change will cost between $90,000 and $120,000, mainly to replace signage and create new maps. The funding will not come from the city’s general fund. Instead, it will come from the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission allocation the city receives annually to pay for a portion of its Metro needs.
Alexandria's City Council began pursuing the name change in September.
Katie Dolac
4:02 pm on Thursday, November 3, 2011
The name is probably more descriptive, but wow, the price tag ... Thanks, Del Ray Patch for the update!
djrobb
4:26 pm on Thursday, November 3, 2011
I am very pleased this went through. It's shocking how many people don't know that Old Town is metro accessible and I believe this will bring more people to Alexandria to dine and shop which will cover the costs.
Peter S. Kim
6:57 am on Friday, November 4, 2011
What's up with the long Metro station names? I just moved here from New York City and the long names are annoying. Just keep it short and simple. King Street Station is just fine. People aren't so dumb that they need everything to be spelled out. Even before I moved to the DC area, I knew King St was basically synonymous with Old Town. Why don't they just rename it King St-Old Town-Whole Foods-BRABO-Torpedo Factory Art Center Station? That way, it's really dummy proofed AND they can sell naming rights to businesses to fund the station name change!