Green Line Meltdown Open Thread

Photo via Ryan

The Green Line delivered another oh-so-Metro commute this morning. It was so bad Metro even issued an apology!

What do folks make of that?

What were your experiences out there today?

Here's a classic tweet from this morning:

@sosarahsays Green line is a disaster. Station manager told me "we have no idea where the trains are." Great. #walking @unsuckdcmetro

And here are some questions Ryan has for Metro about the delays:

• I waited 30 minutes for a southbound train. I kept hearing announcements to be patient, a train is coming soon, etc. If WMATA knows a train won’t be coming for the foreseeable future, why not just announce it? I could have taken a bus or cab. Above is a photo of the helpful information provided to riders about the delay.
• The trains were single tracking. During my 30-minute wait for a southbound train to downtown, there were four northbound trains. This seems weird. When trains are single-tracked during morning rush hour, shouldn't Metro focus on getting people downtown instead of to the suburbs?
• When the southbound train finally came, it was packed. That's no surprise, given the wait. As the conductor closes the doors, he announced with a loud sigh: “Here we go again. I keep telling y’all --watch the doors, watch your personal items. It's an eight car train people." Etc. Why would the conductor chide people who just waited for half an hour? Surely he realizes the train would be unusually crowded due to the long wait, right?

Confront or Not?

From Michelle:

I saw these girls eating Chipotle on the Red Line going toward Shady Grove during rush hour.

A woman standing near me told them they shouldn't be eating.

They replied, "says who?"

I replied that is was a rule.

They snickered and laughed.

I brought out the camera phone to take this picture.

The girls mocked and threatened me from Metro Center until they got off at Rhode Island Avenue.

Their choice words included:

"I'm going to take that cheap a** flip phone and beat the sh*t out of ya."

"You can't wear f**ing red dresses at the Metro."

"She's texting the f***in Pope."

I was far more troubled by their choice in cuisine than their threats.

Michelle went on to say that she confronted the girls "for everyone's comfort. It's hot outside. It's hot inside the Metro car. Metro cars are smelly in general. We don't want to smell your food. We also don't want bugs in the Metro. I also assure you that people don't want to hear the sucking sound you made when you we're licking your fingers. We just wanted to make everyone's ride a little more comfortable."

Do you confront people you see on the Metro who are breaking the rules? Do you ignore it? Do you just move away?

Other items:
Metro doesn't make the top 10 (Businessinsider.com)
Trimming $500 million from Dulles rail (Examiner)
Street cars on track for 2013 (WaPo)

Return to Sender

Many of us have written letters to officials or companies expressing a concern with one thing or another.

Most of the time, we expect to get a canned response or no response at all. At least maybe someone read it, right? Maybe.

But how would you feel if you'd taken the time to write a real, physical letter (they do pack a little more gravitas), bought a stamp and mailed it only to have your letter returned unopened and marked "return to sender?"

That's apparently how Metro handles many of the letters it receives.

For readers who've been around a while, you may be familiar with the Officer Ludwig case. If you're not, you can read the details here and here.

Not much news on the legal front, but the case appears headed for a decision, after much delay, this July.

In talking with the Ludwigs, however, they told me about something I found absolutely appalling.

Toward the end of last year, the Ludwigs asked their Facebook friends to send snail mail letters supporting the family to Metro.

Many did, but to everyone's shock and amazement, a lot of them were sent back marked "return to sender" as seen above.

Mark Ludwig, officer Ludwig's son said he didn't think many of the letter writers expected a personal response from Metro, and they probably expected the letters to be tossed in the garbage, but they wanted to at least let Metro see there were people out there concerned enough about the case to take the trouble to write.

Despite that, he was shocked at the callousness displayed by Metro take the extra step and actually return the letters unopened.

"What if one of those letters contained something really important not related to my father's case?" asked Ludwig. "Someone at Metro got paid to mark those letters 'return to sender.'"

Ludwig added "It just makes you feel like they don't care at all, like they don't have a heart."

Other items:
Metro police force has grown with ridership (WTOP)

Metro Worker won't Take No for an Answer

From Meredith:

Last night, I was at the CVS on Columbia Pike in Arlington near the Drafthouse at about 7:30.

While I was there, I noticed a WMATA employee wearing one of those bright yellow/orange vests staring at the woman in the checkout line in front of me.

I didn't pay much attention at the time.

After I checked out, I walked out to the parking lot, and saw his WMATA vehicle was parked next to her car.

My car was parked right behind the WMATA vehicle, so I had to walk past them to get to it.

I heard a snippet of their conversation. It went something like this:

Him: "Yeah, but can I get your number and call you sometime?"
Her: (trying to be polite) "I'm sorry, no."
Him: "Come on girl, you like like you need a man."
Her: "Actually, I have one." (Shows him her wedding band)
Him: "Oh. Well, if you ever want a man on the side, you know who to call."

The whole time, he was standing so close to her car that she couldn't close her door without hitting him with it.

He finally stepped back, and she closed her door, but her window was cracked open, and he kept trying to talk to her even as she drove off.

She handled it well, but looked a bit flustered.

I wish I'd stepped in and said something, but I admittedly didn't want him to turn his attention to me.

I did manage to get the numbers off his car, though and will be reporting it to Metro Transit Police. Here's hoping they do something about it, but I won't get my hopes up.

Rider Hall of Shame: Escaheftor

From "Pacific"

Not completely happy with the name of this shameful rider. Other suggestions?

Complete Hall of Shame

Other items:
MetroAccess riders exposed to tuberculosis sue (Examiner)
MBTA extends "quiet car" program (Boston.com)
"Railspeak" should be terminated (Guardian)

Full Metal Flacking?

From Rob:

I don't know why I haven't seen any discussion of Metro's "new approach" to weekend maintenance in any of the mainstream media, and why I haven't seen it on this blog.

I know Metro sucks on weekends. I gave up taking it on the weekends long ago.

I know why they suck on the weekends. For decades they flushed our money down a toilet and didn't keep the trains and tracks "in a state of good repair."

That pisses me off to no end, but I get it.

What I really don't get is how the new approach is going to "inconvenience fewer customers?"

Instead of single tracking, now, Metro is going to close clusters of stations where work is to be done and provide shuttle bus service around the closed stations.

So let me get this straight. Entire trains are going to offload at a station, all those people are going to leave the station at once, catch a bus, ride to the next station that's open, disembark at once and then re-board Metro at once?

Right.

And Metro adds an extra layer of BS, saying the rest of the system will operate at "near normal weekend service." Do they mean weekend service now or before all of this started?

What a joke.

To provide normal weekend service around the unaffected areas, you'd have to have a precision outfit, and anyone who rides Metro knows it's anything but. They can't even space trains right in their core business hours--rush hour.

But what really chafes me most about this whole thing is the dishonesty of it. I think it's probably true that the new approach will be safer for Metro track workers, which is great. I'm less sure it will "fix" Metro sooner. But c'mon Metro, don't try to con me into thinking you're going to be safer, faster AND inconvenience me less. I'd respect you much more if you just told me the truth.

In the military, we have a saying that you can build something that's two out of the following three: fast, cheap or good.

Metro's plan reminds me of a famous quote in the movie Full Metal Jacket that's probably too lewd to print here.

But I will be watching you, Metro.

Other items:
Metro's hybrid buses flawed (Examiner)
Does Metro expansion make sense? (WaPo)
How Europe stifles driving (NYTimes)

Metro Forward ... FAST!

I've posted numerous stories involving reckless bus operation, and there have been several embarrassing pictures of booted Metro vehicles. Reports of poorly driven buses are a near daily occurrence on Twitter.

In 2010, Metro vehicles, including MetroAccess, accumulated 733 traffic violations for a total of $65,500 in fines. Almost 500 of the citations are for speeding, according to data provided to Unsuck DC Metro through a freedom of information request.

The majority of the citations are marked as unpaid, but many are marked as "forwarded," which a letter accompanying the data says "means that the ticket was sent to the operator's supervisor."

Eight tickets are for $300 or more, all in DC. Some of these are labelled speeding and others as "traffic signal." According to the MPD website, the highest speeding fine listed, 26-30 miles per hour over the speed limit, is $250. Wonder what speed brought down a $350 fine. All of these are marked "not paid."

Based on the tag numbers, some vehicles have up 3, 4, 5 and up to 6 violations each.

So here's the question: Is this actually a relative few citations given Metro runs hundreds of buses and other vehicles every day, or is this just the tip of the iceberg proving Metro has a lot of renegade drivers out on the streets?

Other items:
Metro Board passes budget (Examiner/WaPo)
Metro may curb workers' hours (Examiner)
Bomb scares twice a day (Examiner)

Making the Tenleytown Escalator Problem Worse

Via @TheTalmidian @unsuckdcmetro @wmata Officially ZERO working escalators at Tenleytown. #wmata http://t.co/CUBAamF

Winston, a "15-year Red Line rider," was disgusted by the situation this morning at Tenleytown where two of the three extremely long escalators were out of service, and the remaining one was a "walker" (stairs) for both entering and exiting riders. He adds that the two out of service escalators have been that way for over six weeks.

It must have been 90 degrees in the escalator tunnel, and several older passengers had to stop to rest on the way up, clogging the escalator and creating unsafe jams of people stuck behind while others were descending past them.

I asked the station manager why they couldn't open one of the downed escalators so people could at least rest on the way up, and he said "see that [escalator] tech over there, it's up to him."

I did not talk to the tech because he was working somewhere inside the escalator, and I was so disgusted with the station manager's response that I needed to walk away.

Naturally, at the platform level there were no signs or warnings to passengers that all three long escalators were out of service. The elevator for this station is only accessible from the platform and riders cannot even see the long escalators until they pass through the ticket gates.

It is pathetic that Metro has ignored the two very long malfunctioning escalators for over six weeks.

At least one of these has been rebuilt in the last five years.

It is even more pathetic that the station manager made no effort to inform riders that the escalators were out of service and completely exculpated himself from any responsibility for rider convenience or safety.

Thanks Metro, for another great commute.

Professionalism

From Eric:

Unsuck spends a lot of time (justifiably) pointing out Metro's flaws, but I wanted to relay a recent positive experience.

Traveling on the Orange Line at rush hour through the city, it seems someone had "vandalized" the first car in the train, so it had to be locked down.

Obviously, during rush hour this created a problem, but the driver of the train handled it incredibly well.

At each stop, as we rolled into the station, he announced to the platform that the first car was out of service and asked people to please move down to the second, third, or fourth cars.

What really went the extra mile though was that at each stop he assured the riders that he wasn't going to leave them, and that they had time to move down to another car.

So often "please move to another car" means that you better haul ass down the platform and hope you make it in the doors before they close, but this driver actually took the extra 15 seconds or so to let people move down and reduce congestion.

Of course, as we got to Metro Center, the cars got even more crowded, and he had trouble with people cramming into the doors (honestly people, if you can't fit on the train just wait for the next one; it sucks but breaking a door isn't going to help you either), but he still maintained his cool, asked people to please not block the doors, and we got on our way.

Ultimately, the driver made the best of a bad situation, and while people stuck on the platform or crammed into the second car probably didn't appreciate the experience, I think this is an example of how every now and then Metro does provide the best service they can.

From Stacy:

Since you publish a lot of stories of Metro employees acting poorly, I wanted to share a counter-example.

The other morning, I got on a 71 bus heading north.

An old man got on at Archives and started yelling racist things at passengers and the driver.

The driver didn't take the bait, and calmly said "sir," in a way that acknowledged the man and let him know his behavior wasn't acceptable, and continued driving.

I don't know what else the driver could've done (ranting is not really a calling-the-police offense), but I'm glad he didn't let the situation escalate.

Other items:
6/22 memorial ceremony gets emotional (Examiner)
Bus drivers concerned about safety (WaPo)

Submit Your Security Questions and Concerns

As we mentioned before, this Friday, Metro officials will be giving testimony before the Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives entitled “WMATA: Is There a Security Gap?”

Hill staffers who read this blog are interested in hearing your questions about Metro security and safety. We hear that if there are particularly good questions, with information to support them, those questions will likely make their way to Committee members, so ask away.

The hearing will examine current policies regarding coordination between the jurisdictions that oversee the system and will examine any security gaps that might exist.

Other matters of discussion will include safety and outages.

Sorry, but that's about as specific as we've got.

Witnesses will include Richard Sarles, GM and CEO of WMATA, Chief Michael Taborn of the Metro Transit Police Department, Chief Cathy Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department and Anthony Griffin, County Executive, Fairfax County Government.

The hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. in room 2247 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Pepper Spray Incident at Capitol South

From a reader:

A belligerent passenger exited Capitol South and disregarded a police order to not walk away outside the ticket gates.

The cop (maybe MTPD, maybe not) pepper sprayed the guy and emptied the canister.

They also managed to spray everybody on the escalators and in the concourse in a huge cloud of spray.

There was panic, with people running away and coughing.

Chaos.

We're on a Road to Nowhere

Via @bgriffler http://twitpic.com/5eoqzz So which route of WTF? @unsuckdcmetro @fixWMATA

Union Town Hall Update

Last night's union "town hall," seemed more like a regular union meeting as most of the speakers were union members, but there were a few fireworks.

The crowd was noticeably excited when two speakers, one of whom was former union president Mike Golash, mentioned the possibility of a strike to bring closure to an ongoing battle between Metro and the union for a new contract, which would include a pay raise.

Current union president Jackie Jeter was quick to downplay the likelihood of a strike. Metro workers haven't been on strike since 1978, and their current contract contains a no-strike clause.

Some of the concerns raised by union members were as follows:

Union workers seemed dismayed by Metro's unwillingness to listen to their concerns, even when they involved safety. One union official complained that Metro hires consultants to tell them about problems employees could tell them about for free.

Along the same lines, one bus operator said the new buses were "garbage" and hard to drive in the city. They also said it was a bad idea to allow riders to add to their SmarTrip cards on the buses. He said this puts the buses behind schedule.

There seemed to be general agreement that Metro doesn't seem interested in protecting bus operators. Jeter, citing several recent assaults of bus operators, said there are only 10 Metro police cops for 2,100 bus operators, a situation she called "unsafe."

She said Metro cops should increase their presence on the buses both for the safety of the operators and the riding public.

There was a lot of head nodding when one union official said Metro has set "unrealistic" bus schedules that buses have a hard time meeting even without a bathroom break.

Many union members complained that taking a bathroom break along the routes was also made more difficult because Metro has been lax in recruiting local establishments for them to take bathroom breaks.

Bus drivers seemed to share the concern brought up by one speaker that bus stops were too close together.

One union official said he'd "rather make less money and have a smooth day than more money and all these headaches."

When asked about rude bus operators at Anacostia, Jeter said there was "no excuse for rudeness."

Other items:
MetroAccess drivers caught napping (Examiner)

Station Manager Hurls Insults at Riders

Via an anonymous Tumblr:

The other day, I was on my way to Reagan National Airport from work to pick up my family who were coming to visit.

When I got off, I couldn't help but notice a girl having trouble with her SmartTrip card.

She looked around and, not noticing anyone to help her, walked through the gates.

A few moments later, I saw a rather hefty woman, who was clearly a WMATA worker, come out of nowhere, screaming at the top of her lungs at this girl.

The girl turned around in surprise and approached the manager. She tried to ask for help, but the station manager put her hand up in the girl's face and called her a little bitch and walked off!

The girl started yelling at the station manager, saying she didn't appreciate the attitude, adding that she should be helping her, not insulting her.

The station manager continued to walk away.

So the passenger called her a bitch back and walked off.

After meeting my family, we walked back to the Metro station to head home.

To my surprise, we met the same girl back at the station. She was in line to buy tickets with her family or friends.

Her card would not work again.

She approached the same station manager who was now in her kiosk, and the station manager refused to help her again.

She mentioned something about the girl having a sh*tty attitude, and the girl started to scream and curse at her through the microphone.

Then, out of nowhere, another woman (who I am guessing was the girl's mother) started punching the kiosk glass, asking the station manager to come out.

Despite a growing line of customers also needing help, the station manager came out and got up in the woman's face and started screaming “You don't know the story!”

The girl asked for the station manager's name so she could complain, and the manager threw her tag at her.

After that, she pleaded with her mom to just forget about it.

They walked away, but the station manager followed them to the escalator, all the while blowing kisses and calling them “haters.”

This was the most unprofessional behavior I have ever seen in a WMATA worker, and this woman should absolutely be fired.

Has anyone else had a problem with this woman? She has gray hair and is rather hefty and maybe in her early 60s?

Other items:
ATU Local 689 Meeting tonight

Weekends

Metro's New PR Campaign

Big signs.



Guy who appears to be holding up a wide screen TV


Post-It notes

Metro launched a new PR campaign yesterday in an effort to re-brand itself with a friendlier, more Post-itier image and explain its "6-year action plan that is designed to make your life better by making your commuting experience more reliable, more comfortable and more enjoyable."

It certainly got attention, since all the media, including this blog, are covering it.

Above are a few samples of the elements in the new campaign. You can click over to metroforward.com (or metroopensdoors.com or wmata.com ) to see it all.

The launch was not without a few hiccups. Metro relaunched its long-hibernating Facebook page only to be bombarded by Officer Ludwig fans. Metro immediately deleted all the wall comments, completely shut down the wall and blocked/defriended users. Here's a screengrab provided by the Ludwig family. There were dozens of posts and comments deleted. The wall now has content, but users appear unable to post.

And on the Twitter front, things are awfully confusing. First off, many, if not most people still think @wmata is the official Metro feed. It's not. That honor belongs to @metroopensdoors and now, thanks to the campaign, @metroforward.

According to the Examiner, Metro hired an outside consultant to come up with the campaign. A dollar amount was not yet available.

On Twitter, the reaction ranged from great job to fix the trains and escalators and let the service speak for itself.

What's your verdict? Good move? Nice design? Convincing? Befuddlement?

"Substantial Improvement"

Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski has been characterized as one of Metro's toughest critics, but she may be changing her tune.

Yesterday, during a meeting of local Democratic leaders and Metro officials to discuss safety, she said Metro has made "substantial improvement."

She added that a culture of denial and cover up was "changing" and she now sees the will among Metro leadership to turn the system around.

She told the Post:

“There’s a will. Now we need to find a wallet, and we need to stay the course.”

Not sure if Mikulski is a regular Metro rider, but here's your chance to weigh in. What do you think about Metro's progress over the past months, which are highlighted here in GM Sarles' prepared remarks for the meeting.

Has Metro gotten better? Worse? Has the free-fall been slowed? What do you think?

Other items:
Operator closes doors, separates mother and child (Examiner)

Metro to Face Congressional Questioning on Security

Metro security will be the focus of a congressional hearing next week, entitled "Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority: Is there a Security Gap?"

On June 24, Metro officials will be asked to testify, under oath, before the Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives, which is under the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

What instigated the hearing and what the focus will be are still unclear, but we'll update with details as/if they become available.

The hearing will start at 9:30 a.m. and will be held in room 2247 of Rayburn Building. It is open to the public.

Yippee-Ki ... iPad?

From Sarah: Spotted on the Blue Line yesterday morning ... iPad cowboy!

Other items:
Metro studies more lines (Examiner)
No charges filed against "bomber" (WaPo)
Bomb response was "full scale" says Metro (FFX Times)
DC has poor access to public transit for aging baby boomers (WaPo)

Rider says Woman Never Made Threat to Train, was Apparent within 10 Minutes there was no Bomb

Photo: nevermindtheend

From Duane:

I was on the train car with the woman who was screaming into her cell phone. She said she was going to blow up someone in their office building because they killed her family, she went on and on screaming at the top of lungs--a bunch of nonsense.

She didn't say "praise Allah" or throw anything. I was 15 feet or so away, and I didn't see her praying. I just noticed her when she started screaming. She looked Indian and was dressed as such.

She was pissed at someone about a bombing in India or something. She said "you killed my father you killed my mother, I'm coming to your office to kill you and blow it up."

Then she said she was at Rockville and was going to visit the Rockville station tomb. She never said she was going to blow up the train, nor did she threaten anyone on the train.

When we pulled up to the Rockville platform, she got off and all hell broke loose.

She walked off the train, and I didn't see her say anything, but when the doors closed and the train moved, some idiot said there was a bomb on the train and that someone should pull the emergency door lever.

He was screaming like a maniac, and I asked him if he saw a bomb. He just kept screaming that there was a bomb and to stop the train.

I started to pull the lever by the doors, and others said "don't pull it, don't pull it," so I hesitated, and someone else pulled it in the panic.

When the train stopped, everyone rushed to the doors at the end of the car to go to the next car. Everyone wanted to go toward the front of the train.

I have never seen a bunch of adults act so selfishly and foolishly in my whole life. They should all be ashamed of their actions.

They were pushing women, and one lady fell down, so I stopped to help her, and someone pushed me, so I pushed back and screamed "everybody calm down."

When we got to the next car everyone there was shocked because another fool went running through the car yelling "BOMB."

I tried to stay calm and tell the people to just go to the front of the train, but they weren't listening, and the stampede started again.

People left their belongings in the seats and started jumping over the seats and people to get out.

By the time I got to the third car, I figured if there was a bomb, it would have gone off, so I stopped and sat down.

People opened the side door and were jumping out onto the tracks and walking toward Twinbrook.

The operator came through at that time and asked where the bomb was. We told her, and she looked and saw there was nothing.

Now the crazy part is we sat on the train for an hour with no message from Metro.

No one told those people to exit the train and get onto the tracks, they told us nothing until they said to walk to the back of the train and get off because the last door was still at the platform.

When I left the train, I only saw a few Metro police. When I exited the station, the bomb dogs had just arrived--an hour later.

They then told us there would be shuttles to Twinbrook. There were no shuttles.

I caught a Ride On.

I received an alert email saying Metro was closed from Shady Grove to Grosvenor.

I asked the station attendant at Rockville, and she said Twinbrook was open.

BS.

They don't know anything.

The Ride On driver called Twinbrook, and they told him it was closed.

To make a long story short, it wasn't Metro's fault that someone yelled bomb and stopped the train, but they did nothing and told us nothing.

They don't seem to have any emergency plans in place at all.

Within 10 minutes, they knew there was not a bomb on the train, but it took me almost 3 hours to get to Metro Center from Shady Grove today.

If there was ever a real bomb on Metro everyone would be screwed because they don't seem equipped to handle any emergency.

They are a joke.

Other items:
Washington Post version
Examiner version

Red Line Blues

Via @craigcyoung People walking down track toward twinbrook @DCist_Updates @unsuckdcmetro http://lockerz.com/s/110340523

Train Up for Grabs?

From an anonymous reader:

I got on the last car of the train, 6063, at about 7:25 a.m. Friday in Crystal City. I took the last seat in the back of the car, the section that's part of the operator's cab but usually left open when the operator is not in the car. What do I see but that the operator of the car left his or her Metro keys in the lock in the window!

Yep, this key chain appeared to have all the keys you'd need to get in a Metro car, unlock the operator's compartment and start up a Metro train. Real secure.

Just outside Chinatown, a man with a hand-held radio came through the car looking for the keys. He spotted them and took them from the lock, saying to me, "The operator wondered where he'd left these."

It appears the operator's name is on the key chain: Shuler, D.

No idea how long the keys had been in the back of the train before someone decided they should probably retrieve them.

What with Metro's security theater, perhaps we should start by reminding the operators to take their keys WITH them when they leave.

Other items:
MetroAccess increases shift length, union cries foul (Examiner)

Creeps

A reader sent the following via Twitter:

An African American teenager put his hand up my dress at the Huntington-bound platform at Chinatown around 8 p.m. on Monday.

I was vocal in calling him out, but when I confronted him, no one else intervened.

He said "I enjoyed it."

I left to report him to Metro as he laughed at me.

He had a medium complexion, with a slim build. He was 16-18 years old. He was 5'7"-5'10", with a pastel polo shirt and short curly hair.

The police were great. Let's hope for the best.

Last night, I saw another creepy dude.

As I was reading email on my phone at Rosslyn on the Vienna-bound platform around 9:30, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what appeared to be two friends saying goodbye for the night with a friendly hug.

I had my headphones in, so I couldn't hear what was said between them, but after the embrace, the woman came up to me with a nervous look on her face.

I took out my earbuds, and she told me "I have no idea who that was."

A Blue Line train was coming, and as it was pulling in, she came back to me and, with a nervous laugh, said "if I end up in the missing persons report, please remember my face."

It was hard to tell if she was joking or not.

Anyway, the guy had disappeared, so I smiled and said "Sure. OK" and explained that it had looked to me like they knew each other.

She shrugged her shoulders, shook her head and boarded the train.

I made sure she wasn't followed.

I scanned the platform toward my left, in the direction he'd walked and didn't see him. But as I turned my head back around, I saw the same guy on my right "playfully" try to grab another young woman as he passed her rounding the corner to hop on the down escalator, which he marched up.

I asked her what happened, and she told me it was pretty much the same as I'd seen. She remarked how brazen the guy was, but she didn't seem too concerned as she had a male friend with her.

Then, two other guys joined the discussion. They had seen the guy acting strangely toward women upstairs.

He seemed to be circulating around the station.

I called Metro Transit Police who took down my description: African American male, mid-to-late 20s, shortish (5'7"-5'8"), average build, with short hair, a receding hairline, glasses, a dark polo shirt and dark slacks.

Anyone else out there seen either one of these creeps?

Other items:
Metro's "new approach" to track work (WMATA)
This weekend's work (WMATA)

D'oh

I don't know what station or what time. The video was posted June 7.

via Youtube user famercado123

It was rush hour, and the Metro was crowded as hell. Then it stopped in a station and a voice over the speakers said we should get out because there was a "medical emergency" with a passenger. Additionally, they told us to go upstairs. Around 500 people over crowded the "never working properly" escalators. When almost everyone was upstairs, an announcement said that the problem was "resolved" and that the train was going to return to service.

An then what is shown in the video happened. The majority of people went to the escalators that were going down, but a group of people decided to "outsmart" the others and go back faster by turning around and going down in the escalators that were going up. This could go wrong in so many ways, just imagine that somebody fell in the middle of the way...

Station Manager's Shocking Indifference

From Jon:

At approximately 6:10 p.m. yesterday, I was on the Orange Line heading toward Vienna.

At the Court House stop, someone yelled that we needed to hit the emergency button, and I looked behind me to see a young man had passed out.

His eyes were open, but he was initially unresponsive to communication.

I jumped off the train and sprinted up to the station manager and hit the "talk here button" explaining there was a medical emergency and asked her to contact the appropriate authorities.

This is when things went from unusual, to downright insane.

The woman was helping someone out with a farecard, she came over to me, snapped at me and said "you have to wait your turn to talk to me, I heard you the first time." Then, she went back to helping with the farecard situation.

I told her it was a medical emergency again, and that it could be a serious situation.

Her next quote blew me away.

"The train already moved on, it's not my problem anymore," she said.

The lack of concern for human life on this woman's face was absurd.

Then, she berated me, saying it wasn't her job to call or notify anyone.

I said she was being negligent.

She then told me if I didn't like the way Metro was run, tough, I should find another way to work.

I really wish I had this all on videotape. It was such an absurd lack of care for another human. It's scary.

Jon added that he ran into another, very professional and helpful Metro worker who'd been on a break and conveyed what had happened. That worker said the inaction on the part of the station manager was wrong and that she'd only been a station manager for a couple of months. He said she should have dropped what she was doing and called Clarendon immediately to let them know what was going on.

Two other readers witnessed the man passing out. They said the train stopped at Clarendon, and the operator came to the car. At this point, the man said he was OK, and the train went on.

Other items:

• Board member says he's looking into contracting out escalator work (WaPo)
• @MaryHynesArl #WMATA finance cmte to forward FY12 budget to full board. Looks like all jurisdictions will meet subsidy, avoiding rail headway increases! (tweet)
• Post story on budget
• Guns in Metro (Examiner)
  

Excessive or Not?

Metro Rider's Video Shows Metro Police Officers Punching Man on Ground During Arrest: MyFoxDC.com

Will an Additional $6.8 Million Make the Escalators Work?

via @TrentTheArtist: How you have a line to get on the escalator @unsuckdcmetro #unionstation #redline #wmata http://t.co/uHKUPaZ

Probably not.

Why?

Because Metro pays handsomely for outside, expert consultants to make solid recommendations and then doesn't listen to them.

We all remember how Metro was warned, last fall, by an outside consultant about worn brake pads on the escalators, but Metro didn't do anything about it until the collapse at L'Enfant.

The same report warned of the problems with the pick system.

Now, according to the Examiner, Metro wants to hire up to 55 more escalator/elevator workers at a cost of $6.8 million of your money, but that's not the whole story.

The same comprehensive report about the worn brakes and pick system explicitly warns Metro that hiring more workers will not solve their deep-rooted problems.

"The field staffing appears to be at an acceptable level."

and

"It is VTX’s [the outside consultant] opinion that just adding field personnel will not solve or minimize the issues of concern."

According to the report, "WMATA is currently budgeted for 142 mechanic positions. At the time of the performance of equipment assessments, only 137 mechanics were on staff."

Sounds like Metro needs 5, not 55.

Clerical error?

We all know how sloppy Metro is with the details.

The real problem?

"Many of Metro's escalator workers don't know what they're doing," said a retired escalator tech who worked for Metro. "They can't keep up, and they never will under the current arrangement. We used to maintain those escalators with just over 60 workers."

They pointed to a lack of ongoing training for Metro's escalator repair staff, a shortfall also cited in the report as a major obstacle to Metro getting its vertical transportation act together.

Other items:
Adding money to SmarTrip via computer? (WaPo)
Metro employee encourages harassment (Hollaback DC)
Memo to DC Metro (Tao of the Original Tracy Tran)
Let's hope this doesn't happen here (NBC Chicago)

The New Openness

A couple of weeks ago, Metro's new chief spokesman, Dan Stessel, guest blogged here. It seemed to usher in a new era of openness, and Stessel ended his post with a promising "let the conversation begin."

In a subsequent City Paper interview, Stessel said he'll try to make Metro employees available to reporters.

Amazing, right? Sounds great!

But is there any substance?

Take a look for yourself.

The below is a verbatim email exchange between Stessel and Unsuck. I was following up on an interview request with a Metro employee. Stessel initially replied that my questions could be handled "through Kubicek," (Metro's #2) which is usually flackspeak for "send me your questions, and we'll make sure to respond with platitudes," but we wanted to make sure.

Unsuck: Face to face? [With Kubicek]
Stessel: No.
Unsuck: Why not?
Stessel: Because he has a railroad to run. (This statement doesn't even rise to the level of "truthiness," as the Examiner appears to have been granted an interview with Kubicek, but I didn't know this.)
Unsuck: He's #2 at Metro. He testified before Congress, the NTSB, the Board etc. He should be available from time to time. The GM is made available from time to time.
Stessel: Not gonna debate.
Unsuck: So much for the new openness, I guess.
Stessel: I’m still on the fence on whether you’re trying to help or just love the attention.
Unsuck: Wow. Totally uncalled for.
Stessel: Openness.

Other items:
Metro needs more escalator workers (Examiner)

First Aid?

Metro says all operators are trained in first aid.

From Jacquelyn:

I was on the train the other day, and another rider passed out for 5-10 seconds and hit his head hard.

I was the first responder, and when he came to, I asked him to remain on the floor until help arrived.

This happened between the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery.

When we reached Arlington Cemetery, the operator came, saw that the passenger was awake, and didn't seem to understand why he was on the floor, even after I told him that he had passed out and hit his head.

The conductor had him get up and walk off the train and called for help.

Soon after, the passenger passed out again.

When the paramedic came, the conductor only told him that he had passed out twice. I then went up to the paramedic and told him the full story.

My complaint is that the conductor was not trained in the very basics of first aid.

First of all, I realize that it is rush hour, but if a passenger hits his or her head from a fall, you DO NOT move them. Even if they are awake and can move their legs.

They can have a concussion, or develop bleeding. Are those small possibilities? Yes, but all head injuries should be treated as serious.

Second, when the passenger passed out again, the conductor did panic a little. Again, because he wasn't trained.

I hope this complaint is taken seriously.

I do not fully blame the conductor for his actions, as I understand that when he first saw the passenger, the rider was conscious.

What I am angry about is that he did not listen to me and then didn't understand the potential significance of a head injury, most likely because he was not trained in the basics of first aid.

I hope the passenger is OK and that he was sent to a hospital, because I got the impression he wasn't, even after all that happened.

Other items:
More railyard woes (Examiner)
Bus driver ignores detour goes wrong way down street (ARLnow)
Re-designing the Metro map (WaPo)

Another Metro Dancer (Soundtrack NSFW)

Not exactly sure what the last bit's all about, but a pretty funny clip.

Other items:
Heads up Metro: Hot cars and stations are dangerous (NY Post)
Manual mode here for a while (Examiner)
Another red light run, another derailment (Examiner)
CSX tracks stolen, causing derailment (Taunton Daily Gazette)

Her Name Is???

From an anonymous reader. This was submitted to WMATA as well.

There is a female driver of the D6 bus who is unfailingly rude and difficult to deal with.

About a week ago, the front sign on the bus was inoperable, and I asked if the bus was the D6. The driver would not answer, and just looked at me like I was offending her.

I repeated my question, and she pointed in the direction of the front sign. I indicated that it was not displaying the information, and repeated my question.

Finally a passenger said that it was the D6.

The other morning, the woman in line in front of me asked if the bus went near a specific intersection (24th and P, I think) and again, the driver just looked at the woman and refused to answer.

After the woman repeated her question a few times, the driver responded "I guess. We go to P."

I realize that a bus driver has to deal with abrasive and unpleasant people on a regular basis, but that is no excuse for a lack of common courtesy.

If our questions had been presented improperly, or in a less than polite fashion, perhaps her response would have been warranted. However, both the lady the other morning and I excused ourselves, and addressed the driver as "ma'am."

Additionally, in the course of driving the route, this driver will creep into intersections when making a right turn, and honk at pedestrians who have a walk signal, if they don't move fast enough for her. She cuts off bicyclists and drives very close to them.

I attempted to get the name of the driver, but she has electrical tape over the center of her name tag. The first part says "Ms." and the last part is "liams"

Other items:
Metro can't get grip on escalator problems (Examiner)
Officials try to reduce cost of Dulles rail (WaPo)
Purple Line gets boost (WaPo)

50 Cars Short for Rush Hour!

If you're wondering why there are still so many "hotcars," it may be that Metro doesn't have a choice but to send potentially dangerous cars out for revenue.

From an HVAC source in Metro:

Metro is 50 cars short of their revenue numbers for [this] evening rush hour. Most of the failures are for bad compressor motors (for the AC). And guess what? There are none in the system! Wouldn't you think if they actually had an "Operation Cool Breeze" one of the priorities would have been to have sufficient spare parts on hand.

Oh, Poop!

From Casey: On the 52 bus. McDonald's grilled chicken and a dirty diaper. Had to open the window for the smell.

First there was the Red Line sunflower seed eater, then there was the Red Line chicken wing eater. Now, it would appear people think it's acceptable to leave dirty diapers on Metrorail and Metrobus.

Protip: Don't do this.

From Ken:

To the woman who felt the need to change her 2 1/2 year old son's diaper the other afternoon on the Red Line, thank you.

And the rest of the riders especially thank you for leaving the dirty diaper on the train seat, even after your friend told you that there was a trash can right outside the train car in Gallery Place.

Unbelievable!

This was also viewed by @ShelbyinDC, who tweeted the following:

@unsuckdcmetro just off a red line train towards Shadygrove where a woman changed her toddlers diaper & then left it on the train #Gross

Other items:
Ray LaHood steps into Dulles rail row (WaPo)
Transit hub gets second chance (NYTimes via @emilyhaha)
Can a flack unsuck DC Metro? (City Paper)