Tuesday, January 5, 2010

What if Metro Used its Whole Ass?



From an anonymous reader:

Approximately 10 days ago (Dec. 20), a large glass pane that is mounted behind a bench at the Vienna station bus stop was completely shattered. The broken glass remained there for several days, exactly where it fell.

On Dec. 30, I noticed that most of the glass pieces had been swept a few feet across the sidewalk and onto the grass.

I told a Metro employee that the broken glass was still there, and he said this incident had been reported to 'Maintenance.'

I replied that it wasn't safe to leave the glass on the ground like that, and I didn't understand why Metro employees didn't use a dust pan to pick up the pieces when they apparently used a broom.

I told him it was a "half-ass clean-up job."

He agreed and said that everything Metro does is "half-ass."

Not that it really matters much, but the glass pane has not been replaced.

Jan. 4 Update: Someone did move the remaining pieces of glass off the sidewalk and onto the grass with the rest of the pile, but that's it. My guess is a rider, not a Metro employee, did that with his or her foot.

Other items:
A taste of things to come? (WaPo)
Another Metrocide attempt? (WMATA)
It could be worse (NYT)
Metro's ranking would slide (GGW)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seriously though, I notice things like this all the time here in DC. I'm actively trying to move the heck out of here. I've never seen such (not to take the title of your piece) an ass-backwards city in my life.

Anonymous said...

Safety first? Not on your life when it comes to Metro. It'll get worse when they shorten the trains and extend times between trains and busses. That quote at the top needs adjusting. Remove "and improve every day." How sad, too, that the employees buy into the half-assed service style with such ease.

Anonymous said...

the transit death spiral has begun.

Anonymous said...

@8:47 To be fair, this is at the Vienna Metro, not in DC.

However, there was a shattered glass pane on the corner at 7th St and Florida Ave a while back. I called 311 to report it and the opeartor said they would take care of it. The next day, the glass had been cleaned up and a few days later a new pane had been installed.

Most of the problem with bus shelters is that very few of them are actually owned/maintained by WMATA. In DC, for example, they're mostly built and maintained in a public-private partnership with Clear Channel (the advertising company). Clear Channel builds and maintains the shelters in exchange for the right to advertise in them. When I called 311, I'm pretty sure the call center just handed the info over to Clear Channel, which is just fine with me. However, I can't say how this works in Fairfax, or on bus shelters on Metro property.

Anonymous said...

In regards to the Metrocide link, I think it would be great if the Onion made a video saying that WMATA was so bad riders started committed mass suicides from the resulting delays

Would make my day

Aaron B. Pryor said...

"Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm."

Did Kennedy know about Metro?

Anonymous said...

DC's finest jobs program at work.

And just think, in a few years, Metro's courteous and efficient staff will be managing your health care.

Anonymous said...

Is there room on that NASA Mars mission? Time for a change...

Anonymous said...

good thing you had your shoes on or that glass would have hurt.

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