Metro Pooper

From Wes:

This past Friday, at 1:15 p.m., I encountered an unusual sight on the Farragut North Metro escalator.

As I was descending the second set of escalators to head down toward the trains, I noticed a station manager standing at the bottom of the escalator directing everyone to stay to the right. At the bottom of the moving escalator was what appeared to be human feces. It was moving.

The poo was caught between the steps and the comb plate, the poo was actually spinning due to the escalator's motion! It was strange looking, hilarious and stinky!! Anyway, I had to take a few photos of the spinning poo.

A few moments later the station manger stopped the escalator and placed an orange cone, marking the poo for any unaware travelers.

My train arrived shortly thereafter, so I do not know outcome of any of this crap!

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Doors Close with No Warning, Trap, Injure Rider

From Erica:

Last Thursday, May 2nd, at about 11:30 a.m. (Not rush hour),  I was waiting for a train to U Street at L'Enfant Plaza.  The platform was almost empty, and there were three others standing with me when the train stopped.

The doors opened, and they were open for about 30 seconds, just long enough for the three others to walk on (no one got off).

Then, as I was walking on, the doors slammed SHUT.  WITHOUT WARNING! No warning chimes.  No warning recording.

I couldn't get out. I was scared the train was going to start moving. Both my hand and leg were jammed and being squeezed so hard, I couldn't walk for a couple of minutes after the doors opened.

I have bruises on my hand and leg, and my hand was actually bleeding.

Of course, the guy driving the train didn't care. He yelled me.

The station manager didn't care, and merely threw a piece of paper at me and said, "If you have a complaint, fill this out and send it it."  He wouldn't event talk to me.  He walked away and shut the door of his cubicle.

Is there a reason why Metro employees are so miserable and surly?  And what is Metro's responsibility in this situation?  I want to know who that conductor was, and I want to see that he has been punished in some way.

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Frustration Calling Metro Transit Cops

From Josh:

This past Friday morning, while passing the Naylor Road station, I noticed something was up.

 Four, twenty-something ladies had another twenty-something lady encircled.  It appeared they all knew each other, and their discussion was becoming more volatile. 

As I passed the group, it became more physical with the women pulling each others' hair.  Since Metro is always saying "see something, say something," I called the WMATA police on (202) 962-2121.

After 30 seconds of ringing, I hung up and checked the number.

I called again and waited for another minute before the operator finally took my call and sent an officer.

In the normal world, if you need help, you can call the police by dialing the universally easy to remember number--911.  By calling 911 from your cell phone, the police can locate you using the enhanced 911 service.

In the WMATA world, you call a number that is difficult to remember.  If WMATA bothers to answer the phone in time, they would not have access to your GPS coordinates because your phone does not know the number you dialed belongs to the police.

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Copping Zs on the Job

Via @smclean84: @unsuckdcmetro: @wmata employee sleeping on the job at Woodley Park Metro. pic.twitter.com/4mQZJkTXXp

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Unspinning Metro's Escalator Issues

1. 480 out of 588 (81.6%) escalators had an unexpected outage in April. #WMATA
— MetroEscalators (@MetroEscalators) May 2, 2013

@metroescalators is an interesting Twitter account that uses Metro's escalator/elevator API to provide insight into just how poorly run Metro's vertical transportation system really is.

The stat above is simply astounding.

Remember what ol' Danny boy told WUSA:

Dan Stessel says his statistics don't lie, "I can tell you that escalator reliability has improved 10 points in the last 18 months and it has, but if your escalator is out of service at your station, you don't care about that."  

For the WUSA reporter "10 points" was apparently good enough, and then she launched into regurgitating Metro PR.

Oh, and remember that the guy formerly in charge of the elevator/escalator department is now in charge of the track department!

Come on DC. Offer Your Seat to a Pregnant Woman

From Laurie:

As a professional (and human being) in both Washington, D.C. and New York, I have abided by many rules and adhered to unspoken etiquette.  A portion of the latter being: yield/hold doors for/give up your public transit seat to the elderly, parents with strollers or small children, and pregnant women.

You’d think that it would pay forward one day? Apparently, 50 percent of Metro riders need a refresher lesson from Miss Manners. It took quite a while for my now-seven months pregnant belly to look more than a post-Chipotle food baby, but the jig is up. I know I’m pregnant, you know I’m pregnant, I know you know I’m pregnant, and my stomach is actually heavy, so I can please have your seat?

I do my best to avoid crowded trains. I don’t like being stuck in some guy’s armpit on a normal day, so why subject my unborn child to inevitable elbowing? However, there are some days that you just gotta do it. Take the morning of May 1 for example. The Red Line was a mess due to a cracked rail, and there were no ghost trains running from Grosvenor, my home base. A woman (I’d put her in the 40-45 age bracket) standing on the platform right next to me, who very clearly looked at my belly (apparently no one has seen a pregnant person before, because everyone seems to stare at me), hightailed it onto the train and took the one empty seat. Really? Since I hadn’t quite woken up yet, I chose not to call her out, so I silently hoped she would burn her tongue on a cup of coffee. Thankfully, a very nice gentleman immediately got up. I wanted to ask for his wife’s phone number so I could tell her what a polite husband she has.

Those types are hard to find, however.  On the afternoon of the 30th, after letting one Red Line train pass by, I boarded the second. The lone empty seat was taken by an elderly man (age tromps pregnancy in my book). However, there was a very willing and able man sitting in priority seating, pretending that I didn’t exist. The woman next to him glared at him in horror, mumbled obscenities and two minutes later, told me to take her seat. In her honor, I loudly rustled my newspaper in his ear.

I’d like to thank the lady on an Orange Line train on Monday the 29th who told me that she remembers being pregnant on the train and would give up her seat in a heartbeat; and the guy on the Grosvenor-bound Red Line train on Thursday afternoon the 25th who looked around the train for a seat for me and body-blocked it until I got there.

For the chick who pushed her way in front of me to get on the escalator at Dupont Circle, and the guy on Orange Line who looked up from his book, saw my belly and then went back to reading…do you believe in karma?

I’m not pulling an entitlement card here. I’ve taken great care of myself, am in good shape, but my feet blow up like an allergic reaction gone wrong when on them for stretches of time. Think of last summer’s 100+ degree weather plus walking around the National Mall all day with your family and thousands of your closest friends during the Cherry Blossom Festival. Unpleasant, right? Besides, you’d be upset if an able-bodied person ignored your standing 7 months pregnant wife/sister/best friend/daughter/cousin, wouldn’t you? I’d do it for them.

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Cracked Third Rail Open Thread

Via @urbanbohemian

Another spectacular Metro commute. This time, it was reportedly a cracked third rail north of the NOMA station.

Scarily, Metro was working on the third rail in this area this past weekend. It's starting to seem like the more "rebuilding" Metro does, the more Metro breaks.

What was your experience this morning?

Is MetroForward Making Any Difference?

We're coming up on two years of enduring MetroForward, Metro's "rebuilding" project. The self-congratulatory PR (look we fixed some tiles)  has been constant, but what about the results? There's no doubt Metro needed serious work, but have Metro managers, in their zeal to spend capital funds, lost track of Metro's mission?

We've tolerated weekend closures, bus bridges, endless single tracking, weeknight track work, mid-day trackwork, single tracking on Columbus Day and Veteran's Day when a lot of people still have to work. A lot of people I know have simply given up on Metro and are likely never to go back.

Metro has spent hundreds of millions on MetroForward, but is it paying off? Are they just placing new equipment on top of a rotten foundation--namely a completely ineffectual board of directors? Is there ever going to be an "ah-ha" moment when things suddenly get better?

By the looks of the daily disruption reports,  number of derailments, train malfunctions and switch malfunctions along with numerous cases of trapped riders, it's hard to see much, if any, improvement.

One Metro source explained that trying to maintain Metro is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Once you finish, you have to go back and start painting again. Metro itself admits that there are likely at least several more years of these kinds of service cuts, particularly on the weekends. Is this the new norm? No one is talking about that.

What do you think?

In Tough Economic Times, it's Important to Cherish Your Job

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