Unsuck DC Metro: This Morning

Marshall · 710 weeks ago

WMATA....always in decline....never hitting rock bottom....

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bullsumner · 710 weeks ago

Never received any Metro email alert, had no idea this was happening, and blissfully unaware boarded a 5:15 am train at Springfield only to be swallowed up in this major clusterf*ck. I understand that acts of god/natural disasters happen, but c'mon Metro...gimme a little help...communicate!!!!

2 replies · active 710 weeks ago

Don · 710 weeks ago

Ok, I just saw you left at 5:15a - guess the emails wouldn't have helped ya. I wonder when they knew about the flooding impacts...point taken.

Kara · 710 weeks ago

The emails went out about 6:30. Did they not know this could be a problem earlier? Like when the system opened? Or even sometime overnight since this is not the first time it has rained and they would know about potential problems.

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Matt G · 710 weeks ago

Aside from the misinformation about it being a track problem vs. flooding, Metro deserves a pass on this one. Once they got their act together, they're clearly doing the best they can.

3 replies · active 710 weeks ago

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Kara · 710 weeks ago

No, no pass. They know what can happen with flooding. They can hardly cry they had no time either as the system was closed for hours. At the worst they could have staged busses and issued a preemptive warning the previous night.

Metro - Preventive maintenanve and situation management is a Good Idea.

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varun · 710 weeks ago

Agreed it was a lot of rain in a short period of time, but weird they didn't notice last night and preemptively do something about it. Twitter was ablaze with rain totals - surely they know what happens when water falls on a world with gravity?

James · 710 weeks ago

Exactly. They're doing the best they can, and their best is clearly horrible. If I turned in the type of job performance as WMATA collectively at my job, I'd be fired, and rightly so.

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Don · 710 weeks ago

Really? I'm no Metro apologist, but I have 2 emails in my inbox right now at 5:49 and 6:25 about the flooding. To say nothing that it's been all over WTOP and the local TV news this morning. I planned around it, and was able to get to work w/a few minutes to spare using other means. ALWAYS have 2 or 3 backup plans with Metro...

3 replies · active 710 weeks ago

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Kara · 710 weeks ago

Since when does metro open at 5:49?

And are you sure about the timestamp? I got my message from them about 6:30.

steph · 710 weeks ago

"Since when does metro open at 5:49?"

What?

Kara · 710 weeks ago

The flooding (either already at that stage or imminent) would have been known about before the start of service. Why the delay between the system opening and telling people?

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BradK · 710 weeks ago

Why is metro not engaging VRE at King St or something? There are a number of good ways to get riders from this cluster to the core, why don't we use them???

Mike · 710 weeks ago

I'm sorry I don't see this as some overwhelming act of god - it rained last night. Metro's unreliability has becoming a serious safety and security problem. If that's all it takes to flood the Metro then we a serious resilience problem.

7 replies · active 710 weeks ago

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Matt G · 710 weeks ago

That's a very naive thing to say. I received over an inch of rain in 20 minutes at my house in Arlington last night. As a meteorologist, I can tell you that is an amazing number. The ensuing flash floods inundated the tracks. Yes, this is clearly metro's fault since this happens so often. Give me a break.

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The More You Know... · 710 weeks ago

Matt, it's not like that rain happened early this morning, it happened last night around 8 PM. Why didn't Metro take a look early this morning (BEFORE PEOPLE START GOING TO WORK) when their system was closed down? It's not like this should have been a surprise, I mean come on!

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Matt G · 710 weeks ago

I agree with you that their communication was poor, and they could have done a much better job. But the occurrence of the incident was not their fault. That's all I am saying.

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Callie · 710 weeks ago

It rained at different times around the area. I live maybe three miles from Braddock Rd. and didn't get significant rain until after 10:00 p.m. I don't understand why WMATA cannot coordinate communication and action. I'd hate to be a station manager and left twisting in the wind with NO information on what TPTB are planning and/or doing. Give them a break. It's so easy to forget hindsight is 20/20.

Mike · 710 weeks ago

You're right Matt - last night's rain was an epic event that readily explains why the transit system in one of the country's most important cities would be compromised during morning rush hour. What was I thinking.

@VeggieTart · 710 weeks ago

Nobody is blaming Metro for the rain. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that it was an act of nature. People are rightly blaming Metro for their piss-poor *response* to the rain and resultant flooding. If they know that there is heavy rain in an area that is vulnerable to flooding, they need to organize a response before it becomes a problem. Metro could have done this befroe the system opened at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning to mitigate the inconvenience people would face. And the shuttle bus system really sucks.

@davinpet · 710 weeks ago

Unfortunately, VRE had mechanical problems causing Train #306/308 to be 90 minutes late. Normally, when their is a huge delay VRE riders can take Metro for free, but obviously that wasn't possible today. VRE guartees it's on-time peformance and gives ridres a free ride if the train is 30 or minutes late or cancelled

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Charles · 710 weeks ago

Well, the Tea Baggers say they want less government... probably a lot of these people are feds.

1 reply · active 710 weeks ago

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JWC · 710 weeks ago

You are an idiot

Guest · 710 weeks ago

Part 1.

I offloaded at Ronald Regan airport along with the rest of my standing-room-only yellow line train. Past horrible experiences with promised “shuttle busses” left me anticipating major suckage, but after trudging down the non-working escalators, I was pleasantly surprised to see the promised busses arriving and departing more-or-less continuously. So, props to metro for getting that right. The major bottleneck in the process was waiting while the vast hoard of riders boarded the waiting busses one person at a time, which causes a significant delay. Confusingly, several metro police were running around telling people not to board the buses through the rear side doors, which were open on all the buses. The reasons why they were so determined to prevent this was unclear, since they weren’t charging anything to board and it could have greatly expedited the loading process. Most riders seemed to simply wait for the police to move on to another area, the boarded through the rear doors anyway.

2 replies · active 710 weeks ago

Guest · 710 weeks ago

Part 2.

After arriving at the Braddock Road station, everyone offloaded and trudged up the non-working escalators to the platform. Fortunately I was near the front of the pack, because the yellow line train to Huntington that was waiting at the platform closed the doors and departed almost immediately after I boarded, leaving behind a very large crowd of people who wanted to get on the train. I would estimate that the train was perhaps 1/4 full; most of the double seats had only a single occupant, and only a few people were standing. The whole process added about 40 minutes to my commute. So, major sucks for adding 40 minutes to my commute. Major props for having their act together with the shuttle buses. Minor sucks for trying to stop people from using the side doors on the buses to board, which probably added significantly to the waiting period. Major sucks for the mostly-empty train that left a large crowd of people behind on the platform (although it was pretty pleasant for me personally, since I actually got on the train). Minor sucks because I didn’t see a single working escalator during the entire ordeal (but of course, I’ve come to expect that…)

Red · 710 weeks ago

I think you would've had a vastly different experience at Braddock, where the shuttle bus experience was just as you remember.

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Radner · 710 weeks ago

MetroForward: A constant mission to redefine the word 'clusterf*ck".

@deafinthecity · 710 weeks ago

I heard about this morning at 6am on ABC7. I caught the Dash to Braddock and it was packed! I didn't think it was going to be so bad because I assumed folks had heard about the delays but apparently not.

All the buses that were arriving Braddock were put out of service to become shuttles. I was really annoyed because I usually catch either the 10A or 10E Pentagon. NONE of the Metro buses were going to pentagon. You had to catch the AT4 or AT3.

1 reply · active 710 weeks ago

@taureanb · 710 weeks ago

The shuttles were going to the Pentagon.

Kara · 710 weeks ago

Did metro charge 'peak' and 'peak of the peak' for this mess-up? Many employers will roll their eyes and sympathize if you explain a delay with the single word 'metro', but what if you needed to catch a flight/board a train and this caused you to miss it? Paying extra for it would be adding insult to injury.

5 replies · active 710 weeks ago

dcn8v · 710 weeks ago

Metro charged me peak fare to walk into the Metro station, go upstairs to the platform to hear a garbled announcement, and walk immediately back downstairs out the same gate that I'd just entered. Yeah, I'm steamed, but when I think about the time and effort I'd have to put in to get the money back, I think I'd be even more pissed. I'm just going to take the hit.

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Metro Ryder · 710 weeks ago

They were letting people out of King ST without paying, but of course when I go to enter the station this afternoon there will be issues because I don't have an exit swipe from this morning. Should be fun.

n2deep · 710 weeks ago

tell them you were caught up in the mess in the morning and they will override your card in this afternoon. you will not be charged for the morning...now saying that there a couple station managers that will try to screw that up for you.

Metro Ryder · 710 weeks ago

I hope you are right, it'll be nice to get a free ride.

Metro Ryder · 710 weeks ago

I didn't even have to talk to the station manager. My smart trip card let me in and I wasn't charged for the morning commute. Not being charged for my commute and the helpful station managers made the morning bearable. The people working outside the stations, not so much.

anon · 710 weeks ago

Metro's rigidity takes and act of god and turns it into an act of the devil.

Angry · 710 weeks ago

Metro was a complete clusterf*ck this morning. I got on the blue line at Franconia, where the personnel made no active effort to warn riders about the impending doom. At Braddock, we were offloaded and yelled at to keep moving outside to where the shuttle buses were picking people up.

This was an unorganized mess. There were at least a dozen Metro workers/transit policemen, all of whom were preoccupied with covering their asses with the media. It was the worst customer service I have ever witnessed on Metro, and I've seen a lot of terrible workers. Buses would pull up, and the unwashed masses would swarm them.

This morning's commute was total bullshit, and Metro proved completely incapable of handling the problem. With the system breaking down, I suspect this will be a reoccurring problem.

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KAB · 710 weeks ago

This gives new meaning to the phrase "metro rage"

1 reply · active 710 weeks ago

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SMB · 710 weeks ago

EXACTLY!! I've heard of road rage! But a non-driving friend of mine has metro rage! Tell me, KAB, do YOU have "metro rage"? I'd love to hear some stories! :) LOL!

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nometro · 710 weeks ago

Sarles: Hey Dave, that was a lot of rain. Think we ought to send some folks out there to see the state of the stations that might be susceptible to flooding?

Kubicek: Nah. Everything's fine.

Sarles: OK Good night, buddy. You're doing a great job.

1 reply · active 710 weeks ago

John · 710 weeks ago

Kubicek is also being paid 230 K + a 30K housing stipend...
I assume Bozo #2, David Lacosse, is getting close to 200K, which is just depressing....

@Hell_on_wheelz · 710 weeks ago

According to @atussWTOP:

Metro tells me preliminary investigation shows that pumps in a small tunnel between Braddock Rd and Natl Airport were not working this a.m.

The pumps did not have power, and were not working. Once power was turned back on and more pumps brought in, water level on tracks went down

...no word on WHY those pumps did not have power-but there you go, the morning mess on Blue/Yellow Lines basically caused by a power outage

I have an alarm clock with a battery backup. I know if the power is out Metro Access will NOT accept that as an excuse - WMATA will charge me with a No-Show ride.

Where are the consequences to WMATA for this morning's FAIL?

7 replies · active 710 weeks ago

Sam · 710 weeks ago

Is there anything that Metro owns that DOESN'T break? For Pete's sake, can Metro do anything effectively? PIDs, escalators, elevators, station clocks, train doors, fare gates, lights, and now water pumps... what will break next? Is there even anything left that still works?

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MadAsHeck · 710 weeks ago

It rains --> pumps start --> keeps raining --> power goes out --> pumps fail --> water level rises --> power cannot be restored

So they can't restore power with all the water there, but they can't get rid of the water without power. Everybody take a coffee break!

Makes perfect sense. Perfect METRO sense.

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n2deep · 710 weeks ago

yes it does make perfect sense. these are not built in sump pumps. these are basic water pumps that run off of 110v or possibly 220v. rapid water level rises for a short time faster than the pumps can remove it. the rising water levels then comes in contact with the power source and out it goes. pretty simple. happens all the the time all over the place .nothing unique to metro. plus this area where the flooding occurred is one i haven't heard happening before.

SoBa · 710 weeks ago

Consequences? There are no consequences for anything they do.

Passengers and employees have died because of Metro's negligence, and there were no consequences. Why should a little track flooding that takes out two lines merit any?

B.O. · 710 weeks ago

Oh, come on. You'd think they'd have an alarm at some dispatching tower for something like a drainage pump not working.

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n2deep · 710 weeks ago

do not confuse a simple drain pump with a sump pump system which this was not.

Cashcow · 710 weeks ago

The manager for that department will get a promotion, then a cost of living bonus, then oversee a department he knows nothing about!

For example they have a Bus Mechanic overseeing the department of rail! WOW!

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Reasonable chick · 710 weeks ago

Everyone here could really benefit from a tad of patience! :-O The only way they knew of the problem was likely when the first train this morning came to the submerged track and couldn't continue until the water was removed. It's hilarious, but also quite frightening how you people can post whiney complaint after complaint just because you were late getting to work one day. Boo hoo! Stuff happens so can we not all act like adults and get through it...and OVER it? Just a rational thought; use it as you wish! :-)

bet · 710 weeks ago

Hey Unsuck how about requesting the log on the frequency of pump testing for the last year and supply of back up pumps and how close in proximity to each underground station.

There is really no excuse.
Go to other Transit Companies and see if this "blub" ever occurs. Bet not!

anon · 710 weeks ago

Another flub bub of a day and it doesn't even faze me I NO LONGER ride metro!

BSG · 710 weeks ago

Anyone remember three or four years back when flooding paralyzed the NYC subway during the AM rush? I think they had it much worse there than we did this morning - same thing - their pumps could handle a certain amount of rain, but they got more rain and the pumps didn't work. This stuff happens...not saying Metro handled it as well as they should have, but the situation was an Act of God.

2 replies · active 710 weeks ago

guest · 710 weeks ago

yeah, but that was water in the track wells up to the platforms. kind of a lot. :-)

jkuchen · 710 weeks ago

I think that was the result of a tropical storm parking itself over Manhattan, not the smaller incident that happened overnight.

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Kat · 710 weeks ago

I only got caught up in this mess because the bus I normally take (11Y) decided to blow past the Slaters & Abingdon stop yesterday and not pick up the 15-20 passengers waiting there. Since that is the last bus on the route (8:29 am - and it was late) my only other option was to try to catch the Dash bus to Braddock Metro (I saw the alert on the way there). I needed to get to work so I just stayed on the AT4 until Pentagon. All the people at Braddock waiting on buses was insane. Needless to say, I was 40 minutes late because Pentagon was a bit swamped too.

Kathryn · 710 weeks ago

I found out something interesting just now -- if you accidentally type www.unsuckdcmetro.com into a browser, it reroutes you to the WMATA site.