Unsuck DC Metro: Praiseworthy?

Monday, August 29, 2011

Praiseworthy?

From Tim:

I don't get all the people thanking Metro over its performance during the "disasters" in the past week. I pay them nearly $10 a day (plus my tax money), and I feel that's thanks enough for the service they provide. For the record, when I see a Metro worker performing above and beyond, I go out of my way to thank them.

The earthquake was nothing, and the hurricane was, pardon my pun, overblown." Metro did what they should have done, and we shouldn't have to be surprised by it.

From James:

I really think Metro has stepped up its game in the past week. Service was relatively unscathed, and the communication was great. Hats off to a newly unsucked Metro.

Through a relatively minor earthquake and over-hyped hurricane, the Metro hate was pretty minimal.

Not sure if that's because people opted not to take Metro at all, or if Metro stepped up their game.

Did Metro dodge a couple bullets and then make PR hay? Did Metro perform at praiseworthy levels? Did Metro provide the basic level of service we should have been expecting all along?

Curious to know what you think.

Comments (33)

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+7 Vote up Vote down

BradK · 708 weeks ago

If you dig through the tweets and the comments to the similar earthquake post, I think you will find people generally avoided the metro...

I braved the metro shortly after the earthquake, and all the staff behaved commendably, however the general attitude was that nobody wanted to use the service (even the people that were using it.) Weather or not metro performed admirably during the two natural disasters is only a small piece of the puzzle. I want that admirable service every time I use the metro, not when there is a random act of god.

Once again, I want to write my thanks to the officers and the employees that I interacted with on Tuesday afternoon, they did a great job fending the masses away from the platform edge in a polite manner. MTPD also did a great job of making sure the man in a wheelchair made it on to the train without everyone stampeding around him.

I just want that commendable level of service EVERY DAY; then we can put posts like these to bed and 'unsuck' the physical state of the system as well as the management of the system.

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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DCRider · 708 weeks ago

I think you're right in that most people avoided the system altogether because most commuters in the region know that taking the Metro on any given day is a roll of the dice.

I think the telling thing here is this:

During a week when ridership was down due to two different natural disasters, Metro provided for the most part the same level of service as usual.

So what that tells us is that the status quo for Metro is about on par with a post-natural disaster situation!

+8 Vote up Vote down

Dezlboy · 708 weeks ago

Metro did pretty well. Must have been the chainsaw welding operators.

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Ever and Anon · 708 weeks ago

I agree with the Metro comment but the line about an "over-hyped" hurricane is bogus. Check out the 100 yr old monster tree down in my neighbor's yard that took 2 other trees with it. Could have killed more than one household family had that one tree alone not landed in the yards... with few inches to spare. Lost several large limbs off my own trees. Over-hyped Metro might be but the hurricane was a very serious matter. If you experienced nothing but a minor rainstorm, good for you. But only you.

5 replies · active 708 weeks ago

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DCRider · 708 weeks ago

EXACTLY. I can't help but feel that some people's cavalier attitudes and sarcastic questions about "what hurricane?" in the areas that weren't hit hard by the storm are enormously disprespectful to the people who lost loved ones, or had their homes or businesses destroyed or damaged over the weekend. Just because our area didn't get hit particularly hard doesn't mean other areas were as lucky as we were.

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Kara · 708 weeks ago

The key words are 'our area'. We are talking about a local transportation system in the same area so saying we did not get it bad here is relevant.

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DCRider · 708 weeks ago

You're missing the point. All I'm saying is that some people in areas very close to us were severely affected by the storm and it's disrespectful and insensitive to talk flippantly about what was for some an incredibly destructive storm just because it didn't effect you in the same way. Show some basic human decency for crying out loud...

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KnowsAboutWMATA · 708 weeks ago

I can say that it's a miracle that Metro didn't flood when it experiences flooding problems in normal rainstorms. The hurricane probably cut through the **** at management and worker level that resulted in the water pumps finally being fixed.

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Airbalac · 708 weeks ago

THIS. Such a ridiculous attitude from here to NYC about this... and people died, to boot! I saw large trees down in a few block radius from my apartment in Arlington. So foolish. It's like they wanted to see mass destruction.

+6 Vote up Vote down

Radner · 708 weeks ago

In both "Disaster" situations I avoided Metro. During the mass evacuation of the District on Tuesday, I found that walking got me where I needed to be a lot faster than my co-workers that opted to take Metro.

+7 Vote up Vote down

HurricaneDC 76p · 708 weeks ago

Didn't take it on the day of the earthquake, took it Saturday morning. On Saturday it was fine, but it wasn't anything special. I still had to wait about 10 minutes for a train at College Park and then I had to do the Gallery Place Dash on the Red Line platform since these god damn trains still go all the way to the front of the platform. Metro won't be unsucked until that gets fixed.

+4 Vote up Vote down

Ryan S · 708 weeks ago

I think that they performed as we should expect them to. Since that level of service and communications have been lacking in the past, I've got no issue with praising WMATA as long as it's tempered with the fact that this is the job that we EXPECT on a daily basis.

As far as the "overblown" comment, I agree with "Ever and Anon" - it's impossible to predict the exact path and severity of a storm, so by definition some preparations turn out to be unnecessary. Still, the storm is causing record flooding up north and the death toll has increased to over 20 at last check, so while DC may not have been impacted as hard as it could have, it was still a serious storm.

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@VeggieTart · 708 weeks ago

I avoided Metro on Tuesday. I couldn't catch a bus, and that wouldn't have done me much good anyway, but I got a Georgetown shuttle across the river from my office in Rosslyn and walked all the way to Dupont. My boyfriend and I met for dinner, then I caught a bus home.

During the events before Irene, I pretty much stayed close to home. I did see tweets that Metro rideship was way down, probably because nobody was going anywhere.

+9 Vote up Vote down

dcn8v · 708 weeks ago

I think that on both days, earthquake and hurricane (whether or not you count them as major events) there was a fever pitch in the air like a crowd or mob mentality that could have been a serious issue if it hadn't been managed appropriately. I know that Metro personnel must have felt it too, and had the same instinct to get to our homes and check in with our families that the rest of us did. But I think they did pretty well in keeping the system (and themselves, and their ridership) put together. So for that, I think they deserve an attaboy. Yes, we pay them to provide this service, and yes, it rarely meets our expectations, but I think here we need to cut them a little slack and point out that it could easily have been much worse, if not for their added effort.

If only we could see that added effort more often- I think it would make a big difference. For the record, I didn't take Metro on either day because I feared the fallout of the events. I'd think about it next time, though, since they did all right with these two.

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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MoneyIsMyThankYou · 708 weeks ago

Also deserving of praise for managing situations that could have been much worse: every driver who hasn't hit something today. It could easily been much worse, and you weren't even getting paid.

-1 Vote up Vote down

Yeah Right. · 708 weeks ago

They can run during a Tropical Storm but they can't run during snowstorm? GTFOWTBS.

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@NoPants_McGee · 708 weeks ago

For pete's sake, 'overhyped' is not the same as 'less severe than expected IN OUR AREA.' Look at Vermont and the Catskills and then tell me it's overhyped.

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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James · 708 weeks ago

Right on. Some of us are at least a little concerned with things that happen beyond the boundaries of our own backyards.

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yankees fan · 708 weeks ago

At least Metro didn't overreact like MTA. Sheesh how embarassing.

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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Matt G · 708 weeks ago

Would you be saying this if MTA kept running, then the tunnels flooded, trapping people inside trains underground while they filled up with water? MTA made the right call being better safe than sorry, and you're a damn fool for saying otherwise.

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John · 708 weeks ago

Metro did much better than I expected, but I didn't set the bar very high.

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michael · 708 weeks ago

Metro's communication was awful during the earthquake... trains were still listed on their website as "On Time". When I later got home I found a note on their homepage, but you'd think they would have changed the train status for the obvious delays that result from moving 15 mph.

Fortunately I know never to trust the Metro status and chose to walk home instead...

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eed017 · 708 weeks ago

The last two weeks of August typically have lower ridership, especially toward the weekends, so I don't think Metro was given more than it could handle. They dealt with the situations fairly professionally and (on Tuesday) with the amount of disruption that would seem prudent. Would that they could operate at this level year-round.

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Brian · 708 weeks ago

I had no issues either day, because I did not expect anyone to cater to my needs. I had supplies to handle much worse than was predicted. A week without power and water is the bench mark and that is everyday readiness. Nothing fancy or crazy, I just overstock on basics. I keep a set of good boots and a bag with the basics in my office, and plan to walk the 25 miles home in the worst case senerio (assuming it doesn't kill me). The truly embarrasing aspect of Tuesday was how everyone assumed "there was an emergency, lets go home." I am sure metro got slammed with herds of workers taking the day off. My office reoccupied our building as soon as we verified there was no damage or fire, finished the day out and I have to say, my late "rush" trip home was a breeze and the Metro empty. It wasn't fast, but I suppose if the track was damaged and the train had an opps, fast is not a good thing.

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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DC worker · 708 weeks ago

Not all of us had the "luxury" of staying put and waiting out the crowds. I work in a government building downtown, and we were told that we were not allowed to return to work until the building had been inspected. In fact, most government buildings closed pending inspection. They sent us home- not optional. That "day off" you're accusing people of taking was a huge inconvenience and financial loss for some of us, since as a contractor I couldn't bill hours for the rest of the day.

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governmentbasement 70p · 708 weeks ago

Even though it was handled better then expected, its hard to commend them for doing their job. We can only hope this becomes the norm.

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frozen · 708 weeks ago

Saying the storm (stop calling it a hurricane, it was a tropical storm by the time it got here) was overhyped is not being insensitive. People were talking as if they were expecting widespread devastation. Yes, there were some very tragic events, but it didn't cause anywhere near the amount of damage the media practically declared inevitable. Hence, it was overhyped.

I'm a native Floridian, and I'm tired of people saying "omg, I've been through a hurricane." I'm sorry, but this was no hurricane. This was a severe storm, precautions needed to be taken, and there were some unfortunate incidents. Occasionally, trees fall on houses when lightning strikes, that doesn't mean we need to send the region into panic-mode whenever there's a thunderstorm.

As far as metro, I definitely give them props for the earthquake. They were in unknown territory there and it seemed like they proceeded with the right balance of safety and efficiency. For Irene, this is the kind of stuff they should be prepared for, so I think they met expectations (which doesn't happen as often as it should).

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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Matt G · 708 weeks ago

You're as bad as the Californians saying we didn't have an earthquake. Everything is relative. When something exceeds the normal threshold of experienced conditions, it's extreme for that area.

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James · 708 weeks ago

Just because this hurricane wasn't as severe as other hurricanes to hit other parts of the country doesn't mean that it was any less significant for those who lost loved ones, homes, or livelihoods. It made landfall as a hurricane and caused billions of dollars in damage. I'm pretty shocked that anyone would be so offensive as to say that just because Florida and the Gulf gets worse storms than this, it means that this disaster is somehow meaningless. I have family in North Carolina and I was legitimately worried for their safety. To so easily and casually dismiss the effects of Irene just because it didn't impact you personally is disgusting.

1 reply · active 708 weeks ago

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Matt G · 708 weeks ago

Amen, James.

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TehBorg · 708 weeks ago

Folks, it WAS a hurricane, and it had MAJOR impacts: killed at least 35 people, and will have caused (by some estimates) $7-10B in damage & insured losses by the time all is tallied. how you can "over hype" that is beyond comprehension. was the damage in destruction west of the Chesapeake, and in inside the Beltway major? no. but please, STOP calling it "over hyped." you do the work of our emergency preparedness enterprise a great disservice. IMO, a large part of the reason that the impacts were relatively minor in our area is that we were so well prepared (people stayed home; flights cancelled; power crews prepared; etc.) http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/frightening-hurric...

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frozen · 708 weeks ago

It's not relative. DC experienced TROPICAL STORM conditions (that is an objective measure). Much of the damage and flooding up north occurred once Irene was a TROPICAL STORM. I didn't say there weren't major impacts or that we shouldn't have been prepared. And I didn't "casually dismiss the effects of Irene." In fact, I flat out acknowledged them.

However, there is a very real risk with overhyping. If the media act like the world is coming to an end every time a storm approaches, people stop taking their warnings seriously. THAT can have disastrous consequences.