Unsuck DC Metro: We Can Put a Man on the Moon, but ...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

We Can Put a Man on the Moon, but ...

@unsuckdcmetro THIS is how far Vienna stairs have come in half a yr? Hilarious. yfrog.com/h3fcszpj
— Cuppa Joe (@Fuhgeddabowdit) January 11, 2012

From CS:

On Metro's western frontier, at Vienna station, is a small construction project that once again shows how calcified the transit system has become.

To ease platform crowding, Metro is adding a stairway to supplement the existing escalators. Good idea. But here's the catch -- workers began the project last summer. It has now dragged into its seventh month, and only in recent days has it begun to resemble something looking like a staircase.

For a long while, nothing happened, and then progress halted for another long stretch after support piers finally got installed. At this rate, it looks like it'll be a year-plus before things wrap up.

By contrast, consider:

-- In New York City, workers have been adding an entire floor per week to the new World Trade Center tower.

-- In Vermont, the state recently took only four months to repair 500 miles of roadways damaged after flooding from Hurricane Irene last year.

-- In DC (DC?!), the school system recently rebuilt in a year an entire school destroyed by fire. (With three stories, the school presumably has a number of stairways.)

This tale is also more than just yucks about another display of Metro ineptitude -- it's about safety, too. With construction fencing surrounding the work site, passengers are forced to walk uncomfortably close to the platform edge. When trains come rushing in, it feels like it wouldn't be hard to get sucked over the edge.

Metro's not-so-transformative general manager, Richard "Dick" Sarles, likes to talk about how years of neglect mean that fixing Metro's problems won't be free. Well, as the Vienna saga shows, it's about more than money, too. It's about management.

In the grand scheme of things, maybe this job isn't such a big deal. But it just shouldn't take a year to build a set of stairs.

(P.S. The other thing that's nice? When workers do show up, they park oh-so-Metro -- on the sidewalk in front of the station.)

Other items:
Arrest sparks lawsuit (WTOP)
Va. considering limiting forced use of union labor to curb Dulles rail costs (WTOP)

Comments (45)

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+2 Vote up Vote down

@davinpet · 688 weeks ago

Metro is so slowing doing work. It takes them over a month to fix a broken escalator at Capitol South. Most of time I walk by, I see no one working on the escalator, it just sits there broken. Does Metro not have enough staff?

4 replies · active 688 weeks ago

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Soylent Green Line · 688 weeks ago

Well, isn't it reassuring to know that of the 1,000 new workers Metro plans to hire less than 100 are escalator technicians?

+14 Vote up Vote down

@VeggieTart · 688 weeks ago

Of course not. They spend all that money on PR, making you feel better about their ineptitude.

+4 Vote up Vote down

RGG · 688 weeks ago

I believe a large part of the problem is parts availability. I don't think the manufacturers of the original escalators are still in business so most of the parts have to be manufactured "in-house" or ordered from overseas. With Metro's (and our) luck, they would decide to replace every escalator in the system, for much dinero, and that company, too, would go under!

+14 Vote up Vote down

jenster8dc · 688 weeks ago

I have a friend who works for the firm that is replacing the ceiling tiles in various stations. She told me that her companies' employees are only allowed to do work between midnight and 4:00 AM, and only when there is a Metro "chaperone" there. You can probably guess where this is going. She said they can almost never find a chaperone -- they're either sleeping, or smoking, or just nowhere to be found.

If this is the case for ceiling tile replacement, I can only imagine what the situation is for staircase construction or escalator repair.

+30 Vote up Vote down

Jackie Jeter 689 · 688 weeks ago

If you expect this project to be completed in a reasonable amount of time, you obviously believe in slavery.

+15 Vote up Vote down

Vienna Bound · 688 weeks ago

Has it really been 7 months? I guess I've just numbed to the whole experience. I desperately try to avoid the portion of the platform that is dangerously close to the tracks. The worst being when I'm in the last car rolling into the station on a night of a Caps game with nonregular riders trying to board in the train in that 3' space while others are trying to exit.

I wonder if the delay has been caused by trying to match the looks of a stationary esclator. There is precision required in spacing the grooves just so.

-16 Vote up Vote down

deedub · 688 weeks ago

can we retire the slavery meme already? it was funny in its time (pun intended).

surely Jeter has said something even more ridiculous since.

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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John · 688 weeks ago

Jeter's remark is a microcosm of whats wrong with Metro, particularly its low level employees and union. That meme shouldn't go anywhere.

+21 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 688 weeks ago

LOL!! The sign on the concrete post pretty much says it all!

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John · 688 weeks ago

Can anyone tell me what the expected completion date is when this first started? You know, the little yellow sign they put up on the wooden construction fencing? Its probably gone, replaced with those little metro forward posters with cute song lyric catchphrases...

3 replies · active 687 weeks ago

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jkuchen · 688 weeks ago

That sign was never there.

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@ChrisHowdy · 687 weeks ago

The construction area was actually originally closed off to repair the elevator (which sits behind the new stairs, as you can see in the picture). There were "elevator out of service until [date]" signs up, where, in typical Metro fashion, the dates were crossed out and replaced with a later, handwritten dates after the original deadline had passed. Twice.

I don't recall ever seeing an estimated completion date for the staircase. Just the construction barriers sitting up for well over a month after the elevator reopened, before a sign saying "oh yeah, we're making stairs, too" showed up.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is another case of Metro's total lack of project management leading to contractors dragging out construction to inflate labor costs. Wouldn't be surprised a bit.

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jkuchen · 687 weeks ago

Correct on all counts--I had forgotten about the elevator repair.

Of course my favorite sign is the current one that has the correction for the misspelling of "por favor"....

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DC Denizen · 688 weeks ago

Clearly the solution is to flesh out our org chart with a new General Manager of Stair Engineering and Construction, who will need two reporting Assistant General Managers.

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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Matt G · 688 weeks ago

I hear David Lacosse got the job

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Josh · 688 weeks ago

Metro construction projects are as slow as their escalators!

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YTK · 688 weeks ago

Y'all's in the SLOOW SOUTH, ya heah? This AINT Manhattan by no means, Lonzo.....

+3 Vote up Vote down

Homer J. Fong · 688 weeks ago

A month at Capital South? How about FIVE months to fix the escalator at Metro Center (METRO CENTER!!!!) on the 13th and G Street side?

3 replies · active 687 weeks ago

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Anon · 688 weeks ago

And it's still broken!

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Homer J. Fong · 687 weeks ago

Actually, the one they were working on is fixed. It's the OTHER one on the same side that they're "fixing" now.

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annie · 687 weeks ago

Or the street escalator at Huntington south? Lack of adequate cover + lack of progress = increasingly rusty innards. Can't imagine it's going to be up anytime soon, and it's been down for so many months, I can't even remember the last time it worked.

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horseydeucey · 688 weeks ago

If you think that's bad, consider the fact that It's scheduled to take 2.5 YEARS to build a parking garage at Dunn Loring.

2.5.

Years.

With a temporary Kiss and Ride lot that holds maybe 15 spots.

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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Kara · 688 weeks ago

How many of them are used for metro employees getting free parking?

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metroescalator -62p · 688 weeks ago

Stop defending these WMATA idiots on the escalator issue. They could get it done. They just choose not to.
http://metroescalator.wordpress.com

3 replies · active 688 weeks ago

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Soylent Green Line · 688 weeks ago

Who's brave enough to defend Metro on this blog?

-2 Vote up Vote down

John · 688 weeks ago

I've seen a few plants come in from time to time...

There's one guy who says that Metro always fixes escalators in 6 weeks or less, and is in complete denial of any instance where an escalator work area is unattended....

So, theres THAT...

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John · 688 weeks ago

Just FYI, I'm not praising them or anything, I think those Metro Plants are a bunch of tools. The point I was making was that they are here from time to time and make absurd arguments.... (in response to the negatives that last post seemed to get)

+9 Vote up Vote down

Stan Dessel · 688 weeks ago

We're being extra, extra extra, extra,extra, extra extra, extra,extra, extra extra, extra,extra, extra extra, extra safe on this project. You're welcome!

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Yellow Line · 688 weeks ago

It has been well over a year since the outdoor escalator at Huntington South has worked. They keep delaying it 3 or more months at a time. Sometimes they have a little sign out saying when it will be back in service, most of the time not. I have gone through the station at all hours and have never seen a single person working. You can't even walk up and down it, but have to use the stairway with the ridiculously short steps.

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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metroescalator -62p · 688 weeks ago

All that service for just $29 million a year on escalators. Stop whining. http://metroescalator.wordpress.com

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pianodwarf · 688 weeks ago

The long delays with the construction are bad enough. What's even more annoying is when you see the workers on the job blithely smoking cigarettes while they work. That takes some serious cojones.

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Satan · 688 weeks ago

Ladies and Gents, simmer down now!

Due to a recent agreement between Metro and yours truly, based on the fact that Metro is leasing space "technically" considered the Gates of Hell, all stairs, escalators, elevators, and slides must be built from the top down. That way, it is clear that these "luxuries" are being built for a soul (haha!) purpose, and once completed, will be strickly intended to lead you to the Gates of Hell, rather than that other place up there we do not speak of.

Hey, atleast when theyre finished, you can't complain about stairs that dont work!!

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Kevin · 688 weeks ago

Judging from the picture, it seems like the width of that staircase is barely sufficient to accommodate someone who is the width of a narrow ladder. I'm thrilled that Metro had the foresight to build a staircase that can two people walking side by side at a time.

2 replies · active 688 weeks ago

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Sam · 688 weeks ago

The staircase is definitely several times wider than a ladder. The perspective is throwing it off a little. But that staircase can easily hold at least 4-5 ladders side by side. Look at the bottom of the ladder and follow that across to the left. There is plenty of space.

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Another Anon · 688 weeks ago

They built those stairs at the north entrance to King Street. I haven't whipped out the measuring tape, but they can't be more than 4 feet wide. No escalator at that entrance, so everyone entering or exiting is crammed onto the stairs.

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· 688 weeks ago

This is our generation's Manhattan Project.

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yaknuts · 688 weeks ago

Speaking of escalators . . . the escalators from the platform to the mezzanine at Farragut North were recently completely renovated and yet several mornings within the last week they have both been "off" and used in stair mode.

Although I thought it would have been a better idea to built stairs for the 10 feet from the platform to the mezz, I guess in light of the slow progress of the Vienna stairs, rebuilding the escalators may have been quicker than building stairs.

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UnSuck Fan · 688 weeks ago

You know that if they're having problems repairing escalators then it's probably a guarantee that they'll also having problems with stairs even though they're not fixing stairs, but building them. From one of my previous posts:

"No, what's really sad is I just realized that I used to work in the Dupont Circle area in the early 90's. I distinctly remember one of my co-workers telling me on a daily basis that I should call Metro and complain that the escalators were out on the 19th Street side. So basically, 20 years and they're STILL NOT fixed!! Now THAT'S a cluster!"

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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n2deep · 688 weeks ago

the one thing i want to bring to your attention is the metro management mentality. many new employees but mostly managers. they feel they are more important than workers. the easiest way to show this is the signs on the trains. you have seen them,"metro fact #37" yada yada. well if you would please open your text books to "metro fact #6". it tells how metro is overhauling 153 escalators and elevators. now what might you ask is wrong with this picture? notice there are 6 people in the picture representing those involved with overhauling these escalators. 2 mechanics and 4 "suits". this best shows metro's management superiority complex. possibly a subliminal message? as was stated yesterday, too many chiefs and not enough indians.

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CFord · 688 weeks ago

I ride from Vienna every day and I know placing the stairs must have been difficult with the platform layout, but look at the picture. The stairs terminate literally about three feet from the elevator shaft with the escalator on one side. That's a human traffic jam built right into the design/.

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meg3n 0p · 687 weeks ago

The escalator at Wheaton has been broken for ages (they're redoing all three of them) and I have yet to see anyone working on it since the holidays and no progress is being made. The sign says it'll be operational in February, but seeing as there are no actual steps on this escalator and there haven't been for three months, I am skeptical.

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EZC · 687 weeks ago

This goes right along with the idea that it has taken close to a year to replace the escalators at Foggy Bottom. Most of the time there is no one even working. They just shut down one set of escalators from the platform to the mezzanine at Potomac Avenue with an expected return time of March. How can they justify it taking a month to redo a escalator that size?