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Just days after nine people were killed and 76 injured in the worst train crash in Metro history, commuters in Takoma Park last week said they still believe Metro is the safest, most convenient way to travel.

Jennifer Byers, a frequent Metro commuter, was undeterred by the June 22 crash in which a Red Line train rear-ended another that had stopped between the Fort Totten and Takoma stations on the southbound track. She rides the Red Line every day from her home in Silver Spring to work in Takoma Park.

"It's my only form of transportation," she said with a shrug. "I don't have a car."

Aside from the necessity, Byers said she still feels perfectly safe on the Metro. She cited Metro's otherwise safe track record and a healthy dose of caution as points of reassurance during her commute.

"It's still safer than driving, especially when I'm the one driving," she said. "I do admit that I am a little more hesitant to sit in the first or last cars after what happened. Today, I sat smack dab in the middle."

Takoma Park resident and longtime rider Robert Fox was equally steadfast in his decision to ride the Metro, despite the fact that he had taken the southbound Red Line route on the morning of the fatal crash. He returned on the northbound track about 4 p.m., an hour before the collision.

"I had just gotten home and my friend called me and asked if I was all right," he remembered as he waited Thursday for the southbound train. "For the next six hours, I was glued to my TV and my computer trying to figure out what had happened and who got hurt."

Fox returned to the station for a ride to the Washington Nationals game Thursday, expressing comfort with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's safe track record. He recalled the non-fatal collision of two Red Line trains in November 2004 as the last Metro crash in recent memory.

"It's normal for people to have concerns following a major accident like this," said WMATA spokeswoman Angela Gates. "[But] it's very rare for an accident like this to happen. There was only one other time in Metro's 30 year history when we've had an incident that resulted in customer fatalities, and that was in January 1982 in a derailment between the Federal Triangle and Smithsonian stations."

Immediately following the collision, Metro began diverting trains along either side of the Red Line while running free buses between the Silver Spring and the Rhode Island Avenue stations to handle rush-hour commuters, Gates said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Trains will continue to run at 35 mph this week, slower than the typical 59 mph, as an added safety precaution, she said, asking commuters to factor in at least an additional half hour to their routes. The Takoma Metro station will close today from 10 p.m. to midnight as the National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation into the crash. Service will continue from the Glenmont station to Silver Spring, and between Fort Totten and Shady Grove stations. Buses will shuttle passengers between Fort Totten and Silver Spring stations. Takoma station will reopen in time for the morning rush hour.

While ridership numbers have not suffered dramatically since last week, not everyone has been so eager to renew their trust in Metro's safety.

Jay Levy, a Takoma Park resident and activist, said he has never felt completely at ease with the Metro and nearby CSX trains. As the chairman of the city's Nuclear Free Committee, Levy argued that collisions and derailments would be far more devastating if CSX freight trains carrying nuclear waste or other hazardous materials were involved.

"These kinds of problems exist all around us. I'm not any more aware of them than I was before," he said. "This is nothing new. Just puts a sorry exclamation point on the issue."

The Takoma Park City Council prohibits nuclear weapons and byproducts, including hazardous waste, from entering the city, according to Chapter 14.04 of the City Code.

The Hazardous Materials Transportation Emergency Act of 2005 would have cemented the ban on CSX from transporting hazardous materials through D.C., but CSX objected, noting that rerouting the trains would cost too much money, and has held up the D.C. Council bill in court for the last several years, Levy said.

Looking past the long-term significance of the fatal collision, area residents for the most part seem willing to rely on the transit system.

Philip Herner of Takoma Park escorted his daughter, 6-year-old Allison Herner, and his nephew, Matt Price, 12, to the Takoma Station on Thursday, explaining that the Metro was still the best way to commute.

"I haven't really figured out any possible alternative routes or anything," he said as he purchased fare cards at the station. "[Plus] I feel like it's probably the safest time to [ride] now that we're in this time of heightened vigilance and oversight [by WMATA]."