Unsuck DC Metro: Irony

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Irony

Via @MeisnereCMP: New escalators at DuPont south not working. @wmata @unsuckdcmetro #fail pic.twitter.com/gLetYUe3

Update 2: @MeisnereCMP reports there were no fire trucks of any kind around Dupont when the photo was taken. They also said Metro employees in the kiosk were chatting normally.

Update: Metro says the escalator was out of service because of a false fire alarm.

As Metro GM Dick Sarles gave his report to the Metro board, his first self congratulatory comment was about the reopening of Dupont South. The room erupted in applause.

At the same time, at least one of the new escalators was already out of service, not even a week after the grand reopening ribbon cutting, which Sarles announced Metro had streamed online.

If you're interested in the root causes for Metro's escalator woes, and why throwing money at the problem won't help, check out this post from a while back.

Comments (31)

Logging you in...

Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout

Logged in as

+12 Vote up Vote down

ANONYMOUS · 648 weeks ago

I was there when they stopped. No fire alarm heard.

+10 Vote up Vote down

ANONYMOUS · 648 weeks ago

And no responders of any kind.

+13 Vote up Vote down

Ever Unsurprised · 648 weeks ago

Wow. That was even less "durability time" than the Ballston ones. LOL! How "Metro" indeed. My family now uses the word "Metro" to mean anything that went wrong.

+15 Vote up Vote down

Jared · 648 weeks ago

If there was a fire alarm, why is there a woman entering the station?

+9 Vote up Vote down

jimlcunningham 80p · 648 weeks ago

The plot thickens.

+7 Vote up Vote down

GeorgeBerkeley · 648 weeks ago

If someone shouts "fire!" and there's no one around to hear it, did it happen?
Yes, as evidenced by a stopped escalator.
Metro: proving philosophy.

4 replies · active 648 weeks ago

+9 Vote up Vote down

TheyKilledMyF'nCar · 648 weeks ago

Metro's philosophy is Safety Nihilism.

+3 Vote up Vote down

jenster8dc · 648 weeks ago

Safety Nihilism would make an excellent name for a rock band.

+10 Vote up Vote down

ChrisHowdy · 648 weeks ago

Schrödinger's Metro Escalator, assumed to be out of service until an observation is made.

+3 Vote up Vote down

LiveDeadCat · 648 weeks ago

Metro's escalators: simultaneously alive and dead.

+7 Vote up Vote down

rj.coller.jr · 648 weeks ago

Zen Applause for Metro: the sound of one hand clapping [against my forehead]

+11 Vote up Vote down

Dr. Gridlock · 648 weeks ago

In an exclusive interview for the Washington Post, I asked my friend Dan Stessel for comment on this escalator phenomenon.

He kindly replied, "One persons broken escalator is another persons set of stairs. You're welcome!"

0 Vote up Vote down

Jin · 648 weeks ago

Dang, that was faster than I expected. I thought they'd last at least a month.

Off topic: Has anyone else had trouble putting money onto a second SmarTrip card online? I just got a second one for guests, and even though I've put $20 on it twice, the card still says it has -$0.75 on it (I put the first twenty on it before I used it, and if the money had gone onto the card, it wouldn't have a negative balance). Both times I also put money on my card, and it work. The $40 that should've gone onto the second card were charged and taken from my checking account, but didn't make it to either card. Anyone else had a similar problem?

2 replies · active 648 weeks ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

anon · 648 weeks ago

Depends on which purse it's in, right? I think if you do it online, it goes into that third purse, the one that's tapped into only if the first two (parking/transit) are tapped out.

Still doesn't make sense, now that I think about it. If transit is at -0.75, it should then pull from the $40 in the third purse..

+1 Vote up Vote down

Jin · 648 weeks ago

Just talked to them. They didn't put the first $20 on it because there was no ride history (I put the $20 before we used it, because the $5 that was on it doesn't get you anywhere on metro). They didn't put the second $20 on it because there wasn't enough ride history, just one ride from Shady Grove to Union station. They said my friend has to put money on it (at a machine, CVS, etc.) use it, and then the $40 will be put on the card. I was trying to put money on the card because she's, you know, a GUEST, and so she wouldn't have to deal with this. The representative said the online system is really only for people who use their cards all the time, not guests.

Granted, the lady I spoke to was VERY nice, patient, and overall wonderful. It's not her fault that system sucks.

+6 Vote up Vote down

swester · 648 weeks ago

I took those escalators last night, and they were ALREADY making those godawful crunching noises of the about-to-break "non transit-grade" escalators; you know, the ones that regularly fall out of service in the rest of metro.

This is going to be just the beginning of a whole new saga in Metro: FUBAR.

9 replies · active 647 weeks ago

-17 Vote up Vote down

anon · 648 weeks ago

You are full of shit the escalators sound fine and running fine. Somebody jumped on the combplate and that's why it was not running in this picture.

You people are idiots get a life

+3 Vote up Vote down

swester · 648 weeks ago

So, a transit agency spends over half a year rebuilding 3 escalators that are already making loud grinding noises after one week of operation.

And yet we're the idiots?

0 Vote up Vote down

S.O.P. · 648 weeks ago

"running fine": not running.

-2 Vote up Vote down

anon · 648 weeks ago

they are not making noises moron.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Kara · 648 weeks ago

A "transit grade" escalator has an exposed part that breaks that easily?

-4 Vote up Vote down

anon · 648 weeks ago

They are called comb plate impact switches and are designed for your safety, they are not made for you maggots to run down the escalator and jump on. So don't make comments on shit you no nothing about.

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

+2 Vote up Vote down

SirWilliamHamilton · 648 weeks ago

... if we don't know and aren't informed, what are we to assume?

If I witness something not operating when it normally should (i.e. an unlit "open" sign when a store is open or a car that does not start when the key is turned) I assume that it's either broken or the operator/owner has been negligent (either the "open" sign is broken or the owner hasn't turned it on, either the car is broken or the owner, for example, left a light on and allowed the battery to die). I believe these are reasonable assumptions based on observation.

Additionally, an example of Occam's razor: we could pose two situations 1) the escalator is broken 2) the escalator is operating normally and a situation occurred where something triggered a correctly operating safety device and caused it to shut off.
Which is the simpler explanation?

Regardless, for all intents and purposes, an escalator is broken when it's not running.
That is to say, it might as well be broken when it's not running because it's not doing its job.

-3 Vote up Vote down

anon · 647 weeks ago

You are showing your lack of common sense.

-1 Vote up Vote down

theoryOfConstraints · 647 weeks ago

You are proving my stance that "common sense" is a misnomer.

+4 Vote up Vote down

anony-moose · 648 weeks ago

I think irony is one of the main materials used to construct the new escalators, right? Or is it constructed from Alimonyum, in reference to Metro's legal requirement to support the escalators - which they can never seem to fulfill in a timely manner.

0 Vote up Vote down

Purple Line · 648 weeks ago

Alright! I think I won my office pool as to how long the revamped Dupont South escalator was going to be running before it inevitably broke down again.

I guessed that it wouldn't even turn on in the first place. Go me!

3 replies · active 648 weeks ago

-4 Vote up Vote down

anon · 648 weeks ago

Did not break down idiot there are safety switches that shut the escalator off when you people with the lack of common sense do things to cause a shut down.

0 Vote up Vote down

Duh · 648 weeks ago

If something's not operating, blame the customer.

-6 Vote up Vote down

anon · 648 weeks ago

In most cases regarding metro escalators shutting off that is a true statement.

0 Vote up Vote down

hardcase · 647 weeks ago

You want 70% of escalator shut downs not to occur? Ride the escalator down and hold your suitcases off the stairs,and stop spilling change. Guess what 7 out of 10 shut downs would be avoided. Simple its up to every rider to do his/her part. Like it our not your fellow riders are almost without fail the cause of shut downs.