Unsuck DC Metro: Who Gives Delay Estimates?

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Who Gives Delay Estimates?

Metro rarely advertises delays of longer than 15-20 minutes, but a lot of the time the delays are, in fact, much longer.

Red Line trains are experiencing delays up to 20 minutes in both directions due to a switch problem at Grosvenor.
— @wmata (@wmata) June 27, 2012

I asked one source, a front line employee, about where those estimates come from.

No one out here gives estimates. I really do not have a clue whose ass those numbers come from. They are coming from people who are not working on the line in any capacity. Not us, not OCC. I am guessing PR.

Another source agreed with this, adding "the gap between what's really going on and what the downtown people think is going on is huge."

What were the actual delays on the Red Line last night? Twitter traffic indicated they were significantly longer than 20 minutes.

In general, are the delays you experience significantly longer than what Metro advertises? I know they are for me.

Other items:
Interesting WMATA debate (CSPAN)
Group plans to protest fare hikes today (Facebook)

Comments (29)

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0 Vote up Vote down

anon · 664 weeks ago

Easily double that last night on the Red Line.

+29 Vote up Vote down

Metro Sucks · 664 weeks ago

Makes sense. If they advertise delays longer than 20 minutes, people might avoid the system and that's lost revenue. I'm sure it's intentional.

2 replies · active 664 weeks ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

OL Rider · 664 weeks ago

Even if you enter and leave, they get some money out of you.

+1 Vote up Vote down

DCRider · 664 weeks ago

I always get it back though. Every time they charge me for walking into a station just to have to turn around and because the platform is full, I just make a note to tailgate in and out at a later date. It's bad enough they charge what they do for the piss-poor service they provide, I'm sure as hell not going to pay for walking in and out of the same station. I'm guessing they monitor this blog on a daily basis, hence the metro employees who are sitting on their asses at all the fair gates recently (which by the way is classic metro...they care very much about getting money from people, but they can't be bothered to discourage thugs from harassing people on the lower platforms or on the trains). But it doesn't matter how much they care about trying to stop it, I WILL get my money back.

+8 Vote up Vote down

Matt G · 664 weeks ago

Asshattery.

1 reply · active 664 weeks ago

+6 Vote up Vote down

Kris G · 664 weeks ago

DoucheBaggery.

+32 Vote up Vote down

@wmata · 664 weeks ago

"Honey, I pushed our reservation back."

+22 Vote up Vote down

@Hell_on_wheelz · 664 weeks ago

Metro operates in its own time zone and on its own time scale.

One Metro minute is more or less equivalent to three standard minutes. Apply this conversion rate to any Metro delay (residual delay, "add x minutes to your travel for track work" delays, etc) and you'll experience a whole lot less frustration.

2 replies · active 664 weeks ago

+13 Vote up Vote down

Amy · 664 weeks ago

Agreed. My standard assumption has been "minor delays" = 20 minutes, "delays" = 30-60 minutes, "major delays" (rarely reported) = abandon all hope of getting to your destination on Metro.

+4 Vote up Vote down

guest · 664 weeks ago

exactly! it's SO effing annoying when they don't tell you that a line has essentially stopped running, like the red line last week or whenever that was. if all trains are stopped for 40 minutes, then it's BASICALLY CLOSED. just *report* that, and we'll find other ways to get in-! gahh! -headdesk-

+4 Vote up Vote down

SammyDC · 664 weeks ago

From Metro PR flack Dan S.: "Better late than never!"

+4 Vote up Vote down

@VeggieTart · 664 weeks ago

It's got to be a combination of wishful thinking and pulling numbers out of their backsides.

+12 Vote up Vote down

UnSuck Fan · 664 weeks ago

My guesses are:

(a) Coin flipping
(b) Rock, paper, scissors
(c) Drawing straws

2 replies · active 664 weeks ago

+20 Vote up Vote down

jkuchen · 664 weeks ago

(d) random number generator
(e) when in doubt, say 20

+12 Vote up Vote down

ObserverDC · 664 weeks ago

Nah, they hired the guy who writes the progress bars for Microsoft products.

+23 Vote up Vote down

Stan Dessel · 664 weeks ago

You got there, didn't you?

-You're welcome

+4 Vote up Vote down

Frequent red liner · 664 weeks ago

Easily more. My coworker left work 15 minutes before me. When I got to the platform at Twinbrook, he was still standing there. The platform had many more people than usual. I don't even know how long others were waiting there. We waited a while longer before a train arrived, and announced that it would be skipping white flint. We also skipped woodley park downtown. Whenever a metro delay is posted with 20 minutes, I automatically think double. Many of the delays I encounter aren't even announced by metro. Real minute < microwave minute < metro minute.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Nick · 664 weeks ago

I've never found those estimated delays to be accurate. Usually they don't even bother posting a time... just "expect delays".

+4 Vote up Vote down

bullsumner · 664 weeks ago

Posted travel time from Cap. South to Franconia, via a Lenfant transfer to Yellow: 43 minutes.
Actual travel time, with no announced delays: 56 minutes.

And as of Monday morning, I get to pay even more for this "service."

+3 Vote up Vote down

RTS · 664 weeks ago

I typically get home from work at 6:20. Last night I got home at 7:50. So that "20 minute" delay translated into a 90 minute delay for me.

+3 Vote up Vote down

RV · 664 weeks ago

On my way to Cleveland Park around 5:45pm last night, it took me 30 minutes to get from Union Station to Dupont. I bolted and walked the remaining 2 miles. Fortunately it wasn't as hot as it's supposed to be these next couple of days.

+21 Vote up Vote down

John · 664 weeks ago

Absolutely convinced that Sarles never rides metro...

Stessel said he takes the yellow line...

OH, wait! Now I get it! He added all those yellow line trains because he was sick of the shitty service he was getting!

+1 Vote up Vote down

guest · 664 weeks ago

OT: silver line is the cover story in this week's city paper:
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/42920...

+14 Vote up Vote down

Ever n Anon · 664 weeks ago

Now now... we all know Metro cannot do math nor use technology. 20 is as high as they can go. After all, when you count on your fingers and toes... ;)

1 reply · active 664 weeks ago

+2 Vote up Vote down

eed017 · 664 weeks ago

Given Metro's safety record, I doubt they have all fingers and toes. I seem to recal that they made one of their guys one leg lighter last month.

0 Vote up Vote down

am3 · 664 weeks ago

While it seemed like a lot longer, I checked my Smartrip account and confirmed that my trip was only 30 minutes longer last night than it was this morning... shocking...

+3 Vote up Vote down

eed017 · 664 weeks ago

My delay was 25 minutes. Metro was not only lying about the estimated delay; they lied about the cause for that delay. I was stuck on a train on the fly-over bridge south of Grosvenor. The train operator left the channel open between himself and Central. A little before 6pm, Central announced to the operators, "We are still experiencing delays at Grosvenor due to a disbaled train in the pcket at Grosvenor. You are to tell your customers that this is a switch delay." When we finally got moving at 6:10, the disabled train was still sitting in the pocket track.

+2 Vote up Vote down

MRig · 664 weeks ago

"We are still experiencing delays at Grosvenor due to a disbaled train in the pcket at Grosvenor. You are to tell your customers that this is a switch delay."

Wow; just wow. The more I read the more problems come full circle to OCC.