Fun on the Blue Line Tonight

With Twitter down, it's hard to get a feel for the commute, but one anonymous rider seems to be having a hell commute on the Blue Line.

"Offloaded at Arlington ... offloaded again at Pentagon City ... no lights at Pentagon City ... further travel doubtful."

Audio from the Blue Line here (.amr file)

UPDATE:

From Brigid:

I've been a loyal metro rider for 15 years and it had NEVER been this bad. I am so furious with the WMATA that I had to share with someone & I figured you and your readers would commiserate. I live in Crystal City & work in Herndon (soon to be working in Pentagon City...thank God), so my daily commute is as follows: In the AM, I metro to Rosslyn, 5A to Herndon-Monroe P&R, Ffx Connector 929 to my office; In the PM, Ffx Connector 929 to Herndon-Monroe P&R, Ffx Connector 950 to W. Falls Church (5A is too expensive now for multiple trips/day), metro to Crystal City.

Today, my commute home was one of my worst experiences with the WMATA. My trip to WFC was uneventful, and the Orange line to Rosslyn was slow & jerky, but that has become the norm. Once I got to Rosslyn & made it downstairs, the platform was stacked 6-8 people deep & the message board was totally empty. About 5 min later, three trains pop up on the board (blue, orange, orange), but no times are posted. Another 5 min & the board has changed to three "--- TRAIN" entries w/ times of 4, 8, and 15 min. Another 5 min & the board now says orange, blue, orange w/ times of 3, 5, and 8 respectively. 10 min later, the board showed 2, 4, and 7 min...still. The orange line showed up in 2 min, overcrowded (natch.) & the blue line ticked down to 2 min. About 5 min later, the blue line finally showed up & I was shoved (I am an aggressive metro rider, but this was excessive IMO) onto the train shortly before 5pm. I was home-free....or so I thought...

Halfway to Arlington Cemetery, stop & hold. Hold at Arlington w/ doors open. Doors close...Hold...still at Arlington. Stop & hold twice between Arlington & Pentagon. Stop at Pentagon (now 5:30ish). Hold at Pentagon. Leave Pentagon, stop & hold FOUR TIMES between Pentagon & Pentagon City. Driver announces on fourth stop & hold that we will be holding at Pentagon City until further notice from Central Command. Arrive at Pentagon City & hold with doors closed. Driver announces the train is being instructed to offload & turn around (now shortly before 6pm). I get off & walk 1.5 mi home in the pouring rain.

Thus concludes the story of my hour-long ride from Rosslyn to Pentagon City, after 30 min of waiting at Rosslyn, right smack in the middle of rush hour...so I hope I have your fullest support when I exclaim "F**K the WMATA"...not to mention the peak-of-the-peak fare that I paid for my double plus ungood commute home.

How was your commute tonight?