Thursday, June 3, 2010

Culture of Safety



Original YouTube (h/t @mattashburn)

Orginial tip: @mattashburn This morning, Metrobus driver hit parked car @capcitydiner while talking w/ other bus driver pulled alongside him. #wmata

UPDATE June 4: Metro says the incident is under investigation.

Other items:
Metro Bus Driver Sentenced For Assaulting Passenger, Still On The Job (Fox 5)
New GM doesn't need transit experience (area paper)
All is well. Metro oversight committee gets Web site (area paper)
Metrobus map highlighted in the Atlantic
When WMATA workers sexually harass (City Paper)
Homeowers concerned about Dulles rail noise (NBC4)
Metro issues new vital signs report (Examiner)

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. what a bunch of knuckleheads

Caity Rose said...

what the!??? how do you do that?
what line was that. jeez.

Anonymous said...

Be sure to check the Washington Post in two days. That's when they will report the story, as their own. :-)

Unsuck DC Metro said...

10:31
nah. give them credit. it'll just be a day ;)

Anonymous said...

This is probably the texting driver back on the job!

I work in a federal agency where no one gets fired, just moved.

This is exactly the kind of performance you get in such an atmosphere.

Anonymous said...

I sure do hope the driver gave a sworn statement about the truck driver pulling out in front of him.

I don't know why that camera was recording that, but that was classic.

IMGoph said...

that was one of the security cameras at capital city diner.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why more people aren't happy with this video. This is obviously a fine example of how our fare increases will lead to better, safer, and more efficient (and legal) service.

It's about time WMATA went viral-video with their marketing. This sort of thing warms my heart and fills me with supreme confidence that "Together, with Metro, we can all be scared shitless"™

Anonymous said...

Seriously?

Apa said...

... and this is why I try to bike as much as possible. "The New Metrobus: See How Far We've Come!"

Anonymous said...

After this morning's orange/blue line commute, I am now renaming WMATA "The FUBAR Transit System." And with video above, they are now way beyond FUBAR.

Anonymous said...

@10:37, sick people were pretty much to blame for this morning's FUBAR, not really Metro so much. Blame the sick people.

Hates Plagiarists said...

@11:09 -- Are you serious?? Blaming sick people?? What happened?? Did the sick person throw up in the driver’s lap or do something worse??

Anonymous said...

Maybe there was a sick passenger in addition to the "train malfunction" and "track problems" that were announced this morning.

Anonymous said...

@11:09 - What sick people? The first blue train was taken out of service for whatever reason and the second blue line train was taken out of service for mechanical problems.

There was one sick person in my car but she got it together as we uploaded off at Rosslyn.

Come on son!

Anonymous said...

There were sick passengers because the (typical) Metro delays turned trains into Holocaust-style cattle cars. Maybe you'd be happy if they just died and were collected this afternoon at the rail yards.

Anonymous said...

@Hates Plagiarists, & @11:53 - the public health policy is to remove the trains from service when people barf on them. Not keep going and avoid the barf when you enter the train. It's not fair to blame metro for something that is out of their control. Now the blue line breaking down, yes. Go ahead, yell your little hearts out.

Anonymous said...

Metro makes people barf, obviously.

Anonymous said...

Shooting on Metro? Gang fight on the Red Line? Can we get some info?

Anonymous said...

I don't blame sick people, I blame Metro. I continue to wonder how many passengers, feeling ill, get on the train hoping to get relief at their destination as there are NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS to either get relief or assess your situation. I have heard tell that there are restrooms if you ask. However, several years ago I had a problem (that lasted several months and I won't get into). I asked at a station and was told there weren't any. Now tell me in a city where you bascially have to be purchasing something to get to use a restroom, what are you supposed to do? You get on the train and hope you can make it whether your issue is serious or just inconvenient. It can get ugly. Now , I realize they pose a safety risk and god forbid a terrorist might want to hide out or plant something there, but why does this system not have a restroom or a water fountain? So if someone is barfing on a train, they may have felt ok when they left home but once in the system you gotta get out to get relief. It might have been the stench from the garbage...or a body(?) left on a train that is causing someone to become ill.

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:01 if you followed Unsuck or any transit peeps on twitter, you'd know.

Anonymous said...

I know this post isn't about the orange line this morning, but since the comments are...

It took me an hour and 20 minutes to get in from Vienna to Foggy Bottom this morning on the Orange line. I was just grateful I had a seat. I would like to say a couple things, however, about this morning's commute.

If our driver is to be believed, there were two trains with sick passengers and three trains that malfunctioned this morning and WTOP reported delays with a train at Foggy Bottom that had mechanical difficulties before I even arrived at the Vienna, which was causing delays. We then received an update from our driver about the second train that broke down long before we heard about a sick passenger, so I think we can place a lot of blame on malfunctioning Metro.

Also, I've been sick on Metro before, and actually left the train at a platform and threw up in a station trash can, instead of ON the Metro. Maybe if the passengers hadn't been stuck on trains in tunnels, they would have been able to avail themselves of other options, though our driver indicated that at least one passenger required emergency responders.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to my driver this morning, who kept us updated with frequent information and multiple (what sounded like) heartfelt apologizes and thanks for our patience. He doesn't have any control over it and neither do we, but he understood that it was a common courtesy to know why we sat in the tunnel between EFC and Ballston for 10 minutes (among other places).

This video, also, is ridic.

Hates Plagiarists said...

Whoa! I just realized my mistake! I hadn't realized we had changed topics. I thought we were talking about what caused the bus crash! I, too, am suffering from malfunctioning! Guess I’ve been riding Metro too long! Sorry for the confusion!!

Anonymous said...

Re: the orange and blue line problems this morning - I may have been on the same train as anon @2:28, because our driver also gave us pretty good updates about how many trains were broken and how many passengers were sick. Some of the "metro makes people sick" comments are meant jokingly, but I think there is some truth in them - when mechanical breakdowns cause overcrowded trains to become even more overcrowded and to sit in tunnels for long periods of time, it makes it more likely that people will pass out, throw up, experience claustrophobic panic attacks, etc. When a ride that normally takes 15 minutes turns into an hour or more of standing in the aisle of a hot, stuffy, overcrowded train, it is not surprising that otherwise reasonably healthy people, like the trains, start to break down.

Anonymous said...

NewsCHannel 8 had ripped this story off. FYI

Anonymous said...

Anon@5:20 is correct. Regarding people vomiting on metro, there is a compounding effect. When metro has delays, it much more jerky of a ride too, and more crowded means less likely to get a seat which means that you suffer from the jerkiness. This causes people to be more likely to vomit in addition to the other factors anon@5:20 mentions.

Anonymous said...

That "parked vehicle" was illegally parked in a bus stop.

Metrobuses should have the god-given right to ram anything parked in a bus stop. Otherwise they have to unload passengers one lane, or two lanes removed in the sidewalk. That's what we saw happening before the crash.

Kara said...

I agree too about healthy people getting sick on metro. I got sick on metro once and I felt perfectly fine when I left. In fact, I was on my way to a food festival .... NOT somewhere I would have gone if my stomach was bothering me before I left.

Anonymous said...

I place part of the blame on Metro for people getting sick. Several times I have been stopped in the tunnel approaching Union Station towards Glenmont, and the train driver pulls up a little and then lets the train slide back before jerking it to a stop. Don't know if they're being told to do this or just getting bored sitting there, but, as someone who has never had a motion sickness problem in their life, it makes me a little nauseous. I can only imagine what people who are sensitive to motion are feeling.

Anonymous said...

I guess we need a seperate topicl "Have you ever barfed on Metro? Tell us your story!"

Anonymous said...

It does make me sick to see carelessness like this and furhtermore that through fare hikes, i'll have to pay for the broken bus and this drivers salary

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 9:37: I've been barfed ON, on Metro....

Anonymous said...

@Anon 1:20: Really - they have to remove the car? Regardless of the situation? Because (ahem) suffice to say I know that is not always the case. Damn morning sickness!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to get my own car! :)

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