Just eight days ago, we were on a train that suddenly went out of service at Rosslyn causing a major human pile up, and today we got to enjoy another Metro foul up. This time, we got to spend about 12 minutes stuck in the tunnel between Smithsonian and Federal Triangle because a train was out of service at Rosslyn. When that train was "recovered," we moved along, and while there were certainly built up crowds, it wasn't the worst we'd seen.
We're not saying this is the end of democracy as we know it, but this number of major delays is simply unacceptable for a mass transit system, and it undermines crucial support this Metro needs among many would be financiers. We wonder how many people on that train went home tonight bemoaning how Metro sucks. We bet they used that very word. Sorry Greater Greater. We know you don't like that word, but Metro, all too often, sucks. It sucks in many ways for many reasons.
At least on this particular train, we had the dulcet tones of the DJ driver to soothe frayed nerves. You know him. "The next station is Rrrrrrosslyn, the firrrrst station in the Commmmmonwealth of Virrrrrrginia."
As you can see in yet another Metro YouTube effort, the system prides itself on being "safe, clean and reliable." I guess two out of three ain't bad.
Speaking of this video, they say that Metro offers one of the "smoothest" and rides around. I'd say that's true on the Y (left and right) and Z (up and down) axes, but on the X axis (forward and backward), we've never been on a more jolting subway system.
Where are you Red Line riders? We know you have some good stories!
Photo: John Morris
What gets me is that so many of us Washingtonians are totally dependent on a system that's only reliable 50% of the time. If Metro starts cutting back service hours and opening stations later (hypothetically - I know Catoe already ruled out closing stations early on weeknights) then there's really no way to get to work unless you slug.
ReplyDeleteAll we want is a safe, reliable system. I don't care if it's clean!
We're upset with Metro's reliability, too. That's why we started the site. However, you go a little far in saying that it's reliable only 50 percent of the time. Evidence here: http://www.infosnack.org/2008/09/metrorail-breaks-down-twice-as-often-as.html says otherwise, but our experience tells us the breakdowns and delays are more frequent than this study shows. Two major delays in 8 days, and we didn't even use Metro the day McPherson Sq. was smoked out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
Not sure why the whole URL wasn't posted. Try this: http://tinyurl.com/cqjdex
ReplyDeleteI swear service goes in the crapper whenever metro wants to raise fares - as if they're doing it on purpose to justify the increase.
ReplyDelete