Unsuck DC Metro: Employee Shows No Regard for Woodley Escalator Riders

Monday, November 1, 2010

Employee Shows No Regard for Woodley Escalator Riders

WaPo is reporting that people were injured at L'Enfant Saturday on a Metro escalator that suddenly sped up.

While no one was injured in the story below, it seems much more alarming because of the purposeful actions of a Metro employee who knowingly endangered riders.

From Sara:

On the morning of Oct. 26, when I entered the Woodley Park Metro, the long (204') escalators were not working. One broken side escalator was blocked off and the other two were completely stopped.

There was some sort of security officer standing at the top with a walkie-talkie, explaining to concerned tourists that yes, the stopped escalators were not working and they would have to walk.

I started jogging down the middle escalator.

Other people were hiking up both escalators.

Suddenly, a genius Metro employee who was standing at the bottom of the escalators --- without any warning --- pressed a button and the stopped escalators started moving.

Everyone was thrown off balance, but fortunately, no one fell. Several exiting passengers had made it part way up the middle escalator, which (surprise!) was now going down.

WHY wouldn't the Metro employee, as he watched people walk right past him up the middle escalator, remark, "I am about to turn this on; that escalator will be going down, please walk on the left"?

What is the role of the security officer if not to warn people that the escalator might start at any moment?

Comments (21)

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0 Vote up Vote down

Davin Peterson · 751 weeks ago

The Capitol South station has 3 100 step escalators and cement steps. When two of them go down, and they break frequently, they make us walk down and keep the one working going up.

+8 Vote up Vote down

matthewvb · 751 weeks ago

I witnessed the Saturday incident at L'enfant and it was freaky. I've never seen an escalator speed up and I would've thought a fail-safe would be in place to prevent this from ever happening. Really makes me think twice about escalators in general. People were running off the bottom trying to get out of the way -- then people started falling over and all I could do on the neighboring escalator was to yell to people to hit the emergency stop. I'm not sure if someone actually hit the button or if the thing just broke causing it to finally stop. Either way, I'm thankful no one died in the event and hope those were injured recover quickly.

Let me say this: I highly doubt this incident was caused by overcrowding. When the incident occurred, the escalator was no-more packed than a standard rush-hour in DC. Lots of people yes, but the escalator wasn't overly full. And if the amount of people was indeed the problem - I'd venture to say the entire Metro system is now in danger of similar problems.

Additionally, I've also experienced the "no-notice stopping" of an escalator. I just stepped on one of the shorter escalators at Archives when it jerked to a stop without notice. I almost went flying down (thankfully didn't and no one else did). You'd think there would be a warning sound or something -- but no, you just stop and hopefully not go flying.

Overall - I'm very concerned about the safety of the Metro escalators. After the Saturday incident at L'enfant, I'm thinking there needs to be a system-wide inspection to ensure this does not and will not happen again.

3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

+7 Vote up Vote down

John · 751 weeks ago

Unfortunately nobody seems to want to go after the incompetent moron in charge of Metro Escalators: David Lacosse.

+3 Vote up Vote down

dddddda · 751 weeks ago

I have also been on an escalator when it decided to suddenly die. Once at Union Station, when the thing just stopped suddenly. I'm lucky I have good balance and upper-body strength, because I was halfway down it walking quickly and still almost went flying. The other time at RI Ave, where it creaked, screamed, and stopped gently. We already have elevators, do we really need escalators, too? Nixing them for stairs would both reduce maintenance costs and eliminate the issue of people taking SUV-sized strollers on them.

+3 Vote up Vote down

@VeggieTart · 751 weeks ago

Yeah, but the Metro elevators are NASTY. I don't know how they do it, but the elevators are the grossest I've ever seen.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Always Anon · 751 weeks ago

I've been on several that stop mid-ride. However, each time it just started slowing down and eventually stopped gently. Guess I was lucky.

The actions of that fellow who started up the escalator without warning is so deplorable it is beyond description. Doesn't ANYone at Metro care at all?

+2 Vote up Vote down

John · 751 weeks ago

I've said it once and I'll say it again... Now people are getting injury because of this incompetent BS when it comes to escalators in Metro. Although this blog seems to shy away from condemning the idiot in charge of the escalators, I SURE AS HELL DONT!
FIRE
DAVID
LACOSSE
THE
INCOMPETENT
MORON
NOW!!!!!

3 replies · active less than 1 minute ago

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Anon · 751 weeks ago

If you feel this blog is not doing what it is meant to do, why not start your own blog? I for one feel Unsuck is doing an excellent job of providing a forum for all problems, including Lacrosse the Lame.

0 Vote up Vote down

John · 751 weeks ago

They haven't mentioned his name in a post ONCE, even though he is one of, if not the MOST INCOMPETENT PERSON IN METRO!

0 Vote up Vote down

Start · 750 weeks ago

your own blog!

+1 Vote up Vote down

GlenmontGirl · 751 weeks ago

The platform-to-mezzanine escalator at Rosslyn stopped without warning while I was on it last week. Fortunately we were going up, so if anyone had fallen they would probably have fallen forward instead of down the escalator. It was a bit of a jolt, but since I was holding onto the handrail I was able to catch myself. It might have been a different story if I had been walking, though.

There were no Metro employees around; in that case, I think the escalator just broke.

+6 Vote up Vote down

king friday 13 · 751 weeks ago

Metro employees are incredibly arrogant. I suppose they think that we should feel appreciative that they did anyting at all by turning them back on.

+16 Vote up Vote down

dan · 751 weeks ago

I've heard it before, but I am now utterly convinced of the following truths:

1) Metro only exists to get federal employees into and out of DC for work, Monday – Friday. Outside of that, WMATA fails even more-miserably at everything.

2) WMATA itself is a jobs program for the uneducated drop-outs that plague DC. It’s no wonder their union is so strong. They literally have no other options.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Anony · 751 weeks ago

The guy simply had run out of paid time off and was planning a two week trip to Europe. Problem solved.

+4 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 751 weeks ago

All of the issues mentioned above are factual. BUT - I will say that I see the nicest employee who works at the Bethesda stop and he is always helping people. He tries and obviously cares about the riders.
So - while we condemn many that work for Metro - let's remember there are always good people trying their best to do a good job.
Some of those folks happen to work at metro...

+2 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 751 weeks ago

The Metro employee who decided not to communicate with the people on the escalator? Typical. I've seen this passive-aggressive silence from bus drivers and Metrorail station attendants many, many times.

0 Vote up Vote down

Deval Dragon · 751 weeks ago

Give the employee a raise. He actually FIXED something...

+2 Vote up Vote down

quest · 751 weeks ago

This was against SOP. It should be reported, so the employee(s) involved can be disciplined for a safety violation.

-1 Vote up Vote down

anon · 751 weeks ago

You all are idiots that lack common sense,there are a lot of safety switches in place to protect you like switches at the comb plate so when you morons drop coins and it goes in to the comb it will shut the escalator off so what type of warning you like,it could be your foot so you would want it to stop as short as possible.

0 Vote up Vote down

guest · 750 weeks ago

THe problem happened again last night in CHina TOwn http://www.tbd.com/blogs/tbd-on-foot/2010/11/metr...

+3 Vote up Vote down

anon · 750 weeks ago

The over speeding of the escalators is proof that metro is not doing proper maintenance like checking and cleaning of the brakes,you use a torque wrench to check the brakes to make sure it will hold the load. GIVE IT BACK TO THE CONTRACTORS THE PEOPLE THAT INSTALLED THEM AND HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO DO THE PROPER MAINTENANCE AND SERIVCE.