Thanks for the Great *cough* Commute

@metroopensdoors Red Line: Trains sharing same track btwn Farragut N. & Judiciary Sq. Smoke on tracks at Gallery Place-Chinatown. Delays in both directions.

From Matthew:

I got to experience the fun at Gallery Place this morning.

When I got there on the Yellow Line, there were about 12 DC firemen on the scene on the Glenmont side of the platform.

A Metro Police officer told everyone who was coming upstairs to go to the other side of the platform.

When I got over there, it became pretty apparent that no one knew what was going on. Several Metro officials kept assuring us that a train was coming despite announcements that there was no train service to Metro Center or Gallery Place, and shuttle bus service had been requested.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting for the trains that were never going to show and the shuttle bus service that was still being requested, several of us, decided it was bus time.

After asking the station managers if they knew what buses would run from Gallery Place to Union Station, it became apparent it was time to walk it.

Then, there is a entirely different problem with DC sidewalks not being shoveled, ever.

I understand these issues happen but there has to be a better response, especially during rush hour.

And reader Chris adds the following experience:

I just wanted to relay my horrid experience from this morning's Red Line debacle.

I was on an inbound Red Line train and had reached Rhode Island Avenue when the reports of the smoking train began to filter through the system.

We held at the station for quite some time before the driver came over the speakers and said that due to the issue at Gallery Place, the train would be offloading, and Metro would be forming a "bus bridge" to connect us.

We dutifully shuffled off the train and out into the snowy parking lot assuming that Metro employees were hard at work to direct us to the "bus bridge."

However, no busses nor employees were anywhere to be found. No station manager was in the booth, no one was there to answer our questions, just a couple hundred cold and angry people waiting in a cold parking lot.

After 15 to 20 minutes one of the riders, NOT a metro employee, came out and announced that the trains were running. Again, we shuffled back up the stairs and into an already crowded train. Then we moved on as if nothing had happened.

Great coordination Metro!