Another Communication Fail this Morning

From Todd C.

So, this morning I'm thinking, I should check the DC Metro website to see if there were any alerts, the weather being what it was . . . and Metro being what it is.

Of course, no alerts.

What was I thinking?

Although I signed up months ago for Red Line alerts, I've never gotten one . . . not one.

So I went to the Unsuckdcmetro blog . . . where I should have started. (Again, what was I thinking?) And there was "atomicyodel," bless his heart, advising that the Redline was FUBAR. And how.

I got to Tenleytown and saw a fire truck and four Metro Emergency "Management" trucks (you'll understand why the term "management" belongs in quotation marks when used in reference to DC Metro).

I didn't even want to go down to the kiosk to find out what was happening, much less to what I expected would be a crowded platform with angry commuters jostling to get on the infrequent and already crowded trains. (Could it be more dangerous?)

So I asked a Metro dude on the street by one of the Emergency "Management" trucks what the story was. An exposed wire down below, was the gist of his reply. (Wire or high voltage cable, I wondered.)

Trains were single-tracking, he said, although he couldn't say with what frequency. I asked why there was no alert posted on the Metro website. They'd just learned of the problem, he said.

Well, to his credit, he was candid, so that's to be appreciated.

But clearly, once again, Unsuckdcmetro and its faithful followers were ahead of the curve!

Oh, how did I get to work? Took a taxi -- an option that folks living further out the line wouldn't have, so I can't complain about that.