Did Halloween Come Early at WMATA?

Was it a mistimed Halloween joke or ignorance?

From Hannah:

Riding Metro last Friday, I heard a recording in at least three Metro stations (Rosslyn, Union Station, Eastern Market) advertising that Metro would open at 5 a.m. that Sunday to accommodate the additional traffic for--get this--the Marine "Corpse" Marathon. At first, I thought it was a one-off, but then I heard the same voice make the same announcement at two other stations.

The voice on the recording didn't seem to be the same one that gives the "walk on the left, stand on the right," or the "excuse me, is that your bag?" announcement.

Way to go, WMATA. I'm not sure you could have come up with a less appropriate (although distastefully hilarious) way to mispronounce a proper noun.

I mean, you'd think someone, somewhere in the recording studio (or in the approval process) would have had a cousin--or someone--who was in the Marines and would have noticed.

Other items:
Why are SmarTrip upgrades delayed again? (GGW)
How do people get to work? (U.S. Census via truthaboutcars.com)
An explanation of bus clumping/clustering (New Scientist via @carlosinhp)
How do you get from BWI to DC w/o taking a cab? (Prince of Petworth)
Remake of Tysons could cost $15 billion (WaPo)

Rider(s) Hall of Shame: Ottoman Empire

Photo by: @iwantamonkey (link to original)

Photo by @samerfarha Comfy? #wmata http://yfrog.com/2psqjj


Photo by @geomantic The Metro is not your living room. Please take you feet off the seats. #wmata http://yfrog.com/0qvcntj

Other items:
Metro hosts budget forums in Md. (WaPo)

Metro Celebrates NPOW with Numerous Overruns

Combing through Metro's disruption reports is always good for a laugh and/or scare. Here are some nuggets from our latest sweep through:

National Platform Overrun Week?
Sept 26
8:37 a.m. A Red Line train at Dupont Circle in the direction of Shady Grove overran the platform but was able to service the station.
11:10 a.m. A Red Line train at Grosvenor-Strathmore in the direction of Glenmont overran the platform but was able to service the station.

Sept 29
9:23 a.m. A Blue Line train at Crystal City in the direction of Largo Town Center overran the platform but was able to service the station.
9:55 a.m. A Red Line train at New York Ave in the direction of Glenmont overran the platform but was able to service the station.
10:26 a.m. A Red Line train at White Flint in the direction of Glenmont overran the platform but was able to service the station.
12:03 p.m. A Green Line train at U Street in the direction of Greenbelt overran the platform but was able to service the station.

Sept. 30
9:41 a.m. A Red Line train at Union Station in the direction of Shady Grove overran the platform but was able to service the station.
10:01 a.m. An Orange Line train at Rosslyn in the direction of Vienna overran the platform but was able to service the station.

Isn't the station supposed to be open already?
Sept. 26
7:13 a.m. A Yellow Line train at Crystal City was delayed to allow the station manager to open a defective lock and open the station.

Hope you didn't have to ride the Green Line early on Oct. 6
6:16 a.m. A Green Line train at Greenbelt was not put into service because no train was available.
6:18 a.m. A Green Line train at Greenbelt was not put into service because no operator was available.
6:30 a.m. A Green Line train at Greenbelt was not put into service because no operator was available.

Play that Funky Music!

Amazing creativity, although WMATA gets us to walk through a decidedly more coercive means--not having working escalators. Do you think WMATA would ever allow something like this? (H/t @FloeDezzy)

And while we're on a musical note, @stephaniemay sends a shot of a "man playing a keyboard http://twitpic.com/mzwvg"