Reactions to the concept of Metro closing three stations along the Blue and Yellow lines this past weekend, including National Airport, appear to have been decidedly more numerous than they were to actual events on the ground.When news of the closures hit the fan, it was a very different story. Perhaps Metro made a good choice after all.
andrewroszak DC Metro FAIL! Shuttle busing it because subway is closed this weekend lots of folks waiting in the rain #WMATA http://twitpic.com/gvjok
tdworl Adventures on WMATA - airport shuttle aisle fills w/ bags (shocking) yet the driver refuses to open the back door.
tdworl More adventures on WMATA; letting people off on the street who got on the shuttle thinking it was a bus but she wouldn't go to Terminal A.
jaycohen007 Amazing how empty the Pentagon City Mall is during a holiday weekend. Well done, WMATA, to hurt retailers even more during a recession.
JPoor007 The substitute shuttle bus for the blue/yellow Metro revitalization is an unmitigated disaster. #Metrosucks
the_dp Holy crap. #WMATA FTW. Plenty of shuttles at National Airport, and tons of friendly staff directing people. Way to go Metro!
lowercasejames I love landing at National and not have any public transportation! Nation's Capitol you say??
MrTinDC At DCA, situation is fubar. Metro shuttles in out of way location with poor signage and few employees on hand. #Metrofail
kimrogers Made it to the burbs to park car. Walked in rain to metro. Station closed for construction. Now the shuttle driver is lost. #wmata fail
LindseyMorgan I forgot how much I disliked DC cab drivers...silly metro closing at the airport for a holiday weekend...thanks @wmata
kansassy In line for a cab. Thanks again for closing the metro station on Labor Day weekend, WMATA.
amuzzing Saturday night. Holiday weekend. Metro? Shut down with a 30min wait for bus to Pentagon. WTF, John Catoe? #metrofail
beyonddc Dear mr catoe, lots of ppl are already angry w/ you, this is going to make them angrier. And btw, more signs at the airport would've helped.
Other items:
1000-series cars still leading some trains (Examiner)
An ugly 2011 budget (PDF, WMATA)
WaPo's take on budget
2005 Near miss shines light on Metro (WaPo)
Metro's response (WMATA)
Metro loses a passenger (WaPo)
Metro misses self imposed deadline for Red Line repairs (Examiner)
Oct. 11, 2012
February 21, 2012
March 4, 2010
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5 comments:
This is AFTER a lot of us already cancelled our Labor Day plans because we knew we would be unable to get out of south Arlington easily.
Metro needed to close the station for a 3-day period to get needed work done. If closing over Labor Day weekend - historically one of the lightest periods for metro ridership - was such a terrible idea, what should they have done instead?
a) Closed on three successive weekdays, which only would have inconvenienced people trying to get to work.
b) Closed over the Fourth of July (when lots of people travel to the fireworks), or Columbus Day (when many people still have to get to work), or Thanksgiving (one of the heaviest periods of airport use, and a big holiday shopping weekend at Pentagon City mall) instead?
c) Not done the needed track repairs, and when a serious accident happens someday, explain that they hadn't done the work because it would have been too inconvenient to riders and would have disrupted the traditional Labor Day shopping season at Pentagon City?
So I would say they made the right call.
Still, there is no excuse for the shuttle buses being such a disorganized mess, except that its metro and they rarely if ever seem to get their replacement shuttle buses working right.
They just can't get their act together for anything. Communication is not something they're terribly good at, but they're also pretty bad at just plain being organized. Any time there's a situation that requires rapid response, you can count on poor communication and organization.
In the past, metro has closed stations for 2 consecutive weekends to get work done. This allowed for work to be completed and keep the stations open for commuters. Why didn't metro do this instead?
I do not understand the hatred for the closure. What do people want Metro to do? Run trains while workers are on the tracks, so they can strike and kill a few more employees? Not maintain the tracks, so the trains can go slower? Not maintain the tracks, so that trains can derail and kill a few more passengers? Close the line on a weekday, so that people can't get to work?
I can understand complaints about the shuttle service (it worked okay for me) but how can you complain about the need for maintenance?
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