Feeling the Fail

From Patrick:

Apparently, Metro is still a little groggy from the holidays, or at least it seems that way judging by the sleepy maintenance personnel, frustrated drivers, and central control that would appear to be run by a crack team of flustered 16 year-old maitre’d.

Leaving work at 5:10 yesterday evening, I encountered a massive crowd at Metro Center, we waited for about 6 minutes for an Orange line train to arrive while more people poured in from the Red Line. A sense of impending fail set in.

Upon arrival, the train was already packed to the gills. Squeezing my way on, I received: one “We can’t fit anymore,” two elbow jabs, and three dagger stares of contempt for daring to move away from the doors.

At McPherson, Farragut and Foggy the car slowly transformed into a Spinoza-esque mass of undulating bodies, unified in its discontent and emboldened by the sage announcements of the driver which included: “There is another train just a few minutes behind” (lie), “Please don’t lean on the door” (warning), “We will have to take the train out of service” (threat). His admonishments fell on deaf ears.

At Rosslyn we finally achieved critical mass, which was accompanied by an acrid stew-like smell – the combination of Metro electrical stink, brake pads and anger.

After fourteen attempts to close the doors, we offloaded. Some passengers resolutely refused, especially in the rear of train, traveling out of the station to the seventh layer of Hell where all offloaded trains go.

Meanwhile, the crowd on the Rosslyn platform was backed up to the turnstiles on the second floor; apparently BOTH directions on the Orange Line had been foiled by cantankerous door malfunctions.

Sensing another two-hour Orange Line commute, I took the next Blue Line train out of Rosslyn, pushing my way through the determined crowd of Orange Line riders. I eventually pleaded with a family member to pick me up at Pentagon City. After a 40-minute ride, I was back home.

Déjà vu! Arriving at East Falls Church this morning at 8:20, I was greeted by my friends from last night, a crowd five or six people deep was waiting anxiously to board trains that were already sardine-can level.

I think I have lost my will to deal with this system. I am seriously thinking of investing in cold weather clothing so I can bike to work. I may end up with nasal icicles, but anything is better than the Orange Line.

Just for fun, next time you are stuck on a platform, play a game of “Would you rather” with your fellow riders, you might be surprised.

In conclusion, go to hell Metro.

Auditions for Metro Air Band Drummer are CLOSED

NyxoLyno Could you PLEASE bang on your imaginary drum a little quieter please? http://yfrog.us/0to1vz

Other items:
Lock up your catalytic converters (Fox)
Fox picks up Photoshop story

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)

Little Photoshop of Horrors

Updated from WMATA Jan. 6 below

"Our operators (and Photoshop technicians) go a long way to give you a better fake image ... errr ... ride."

From Mike:

Have you seen the new Metrobus ads? I just saw one in the Archives. It seems Metro thought it would be a good idea to hire a company to do a promotional ad for "the New Metrobus." Not only did they spend money on creating the ad, but they also placed it in one of the prime advertising kiosks that could have gone to a paying customer like ... anyone but themselves.

They did save money in one area. The ad has a picture of about maybe 60 Metrobus drivers. There are a few women down front and four white guys interspersed through the picture. Actually, there are only three white guys because they used one white guy twice.

Yes, they actually took the white guy at the top of the ad and cropped him into the right of the ad, or vice versa. And good Photoshopping, too. I know what you're thinking - they must be twins. You would be wrong my friend. That is unless they are identical twins with the exact same half-grimace. I cracked up when I saw it.

You've got to check it out.

We did, Mike, and thanks to Metro's headways, we had time to find out there's more to it.

Either Metrobus drivers are populated by an inordinate number of twins--and one set of triplets--or there's less than meets the eye, as is so often the case with Metro PR. The ad states:

"These are just some of the Metrobus operators who know what it means to go farther. They've driven more than one million, accident-free miles. They loyalty of our million-milers and their dedication to the safety is setting the standard for the new and improved Metrobus."

Yet there aren't as many million milers as Metro would like you to believe. Check out the pics below. Why would Metro pull a stunt like this? The size of the group would have been impressive without the gimmickry. Guess those high-priced communications consultants will stop at nothing to "improve" Metro's image, even taking us for fools.


This guy is on the far right and the top. Notice Photoshop halo at bottom of left pic.


Notice the blur around the head on the right pic.


Not a copy, but looks like the same guy.


And here, the triplets. On the left pic, he's magically floating over a 999,999 miler and then again above.

UPDATE from WMATA: Metro currently has (at last count had) 115 operators with One Million Miles, 13 operators with Two Million Miles and three operators with Three Million Miles. We are extremely proud of each and every one of them.

The Metrobus operators shown in the picture did so voluntarily and on their own time. The picture was not intended to show each of the 131 million+ milers but refers to the group collectively. As is the case in advertising, the picture was edited, not in an attempt to inflate any numbers, there are more than twice the awardees shown, but to fill in gaps in the photo to make it more visually appealing.

It takes an average Metrobus operator between 12 and 15 years to achieve one million miles and receiving an award for safe service at one, two or three million miles should not be taken to mean that these are the only safe bus operators we have. Still, we decided to pull the ad because we did not want anyone to dismiss the value of what these hard-working super-safe bus operators do day in and day out on our congested roadways—some of the most congested in the country.

Mini Makeovers

Metro announced today (twice in the same release! ha! h/t dcvoterboy) that it would be giving mini and major makeovers to 42 stations as part of a $7.5 million station enhancement program.

Included in the makeover is "the cleaning of masonry surfaces, painting interior surfaces, repairing interior masonry surfaces, painting exterior surfaces, fabricating, installing or repairing signs, refinishing bus and station platform shelter benches and spot finishing bronze surfaces such as railings. A major station enhancement includes all responsibilities under a mini enhancement but also includes pressure washing the ceilings and walls, and painting interior surfaces."

Does your station need it?

1. Medical Center (major)
2. Bethesda
3. Wheaton (major)
4. Forest Glen (major)
5. Potomac Avenue (major)
6. Friendship Heights
7. Woodley Park-Zoo Adams Morgan
8. Smithsonian
9. Foggy Bottom
10. U Street (major)
11. Ballston-MU
12. Court House
13. Virginia Square-GMU
14. White Flint (major)
15. Franconia-Springfield
16. Brookland-CUA
17. West Falls Church (major)
18. East Falls Church (major)
19. Shady Grove
20. Rockville
21. Twinbrook (major)
22. Rhode Island Avenue
23. Fort Totten
24. West Hyattsville
25. Prince George’s Plaza
26. College Park (major)
27. Addison Road
28. Congress Heights
29. Southern Avenue
30. Pentagon
31. Glenmont (major)
32. Union Station (major)
33. Judiciary Square (major)
34. Gallery Place (major)
35. Metro Center (major)
36. Farragut North (major)
37. Dupont Circle (major)
38. Tenleytown (major)
39. Naylor Road
40. Suitland
41. Branch Avenue
42. Deanwood (major)

Happy Holidays from Metro

Thanks to Stacey Viera (StaceyViera.com)

He might be better off with reindeer! Thanks to Matt!

Wow. This is the booth at the Friendship Heights Metro stop... (original photo here)

Friendship Heights Metro, near elevators to street... (original photo here) Thanks to @oknox for sharing!

davidrutledge The best snowman I've seen yet. Notice the metro employee hat on top. http://yfrog.com/4fwy4cj

And last, but not least ...

outtacontext Silly people wearing silly hats on Metro. If we could be so nutty rest of yr would make riding on #wmata bearable. http://twitpic.com/u2o2k

"- - -" Trains and Fail Tools

It sucks to get to a Metro station only to realize you just missed a train and are going to be waiting there for 15 minutes or more. It sucks even more when that station is outside, and it's a cold night. It takes suck to a whole new level when you took all the measures you could so this scenario would not happen.

Metro's budget woes have been sliced and diced, analyzed and pored over, and there's a lot of talk about service cuts, including fewer trains at night (PDF). But we see something missing from all the discussion, particularly from Metro's side:

Are there any plans to make the subway run on a reliable schedule?

Imagine the delight in arriving at a station at the same time as the train you want! Imagine! It's not rocket science--other countries have done this for decades.

Sadly, the fundamental task of running trains on time and according to a published schedule seems like pie in the sky here in DC. If Metro could accomplish this seemingly simple, cheap objective, the bitter pill of longer times between trains would go down a lot more easily.

Now to be fair, Metro recently began utilizing NextBus, which helps riders know when to head out to the bus stop, and although we still hear a lot about unreliability, it's a big step in the right direction, and a lot of people seem very happy with the service.

However, on the train side, we have been giving WMATA's schedules and riders' tools a test.

Over the past few months, we've taken Metro at night (between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m.) 21 times. For 10 of those times we used Metro's published schedules (yes, they really do have these!) and eleven times we used the online next train tool. The accuracy rate of both tools to within 5 minutes? Four out of 21 times!

That's not even 25 percent, and usually, the train was early, which is even more of a nuisance because it often leads to more wait time at the station. More than a few times, the next train tool showed "-- -" trains as the next train, which hardly inspired confidence.

The other night is a perfect example. We were heading into Rosslyn. It was very cold, and we didn't particularly want to wait outside at East Falls Church for a long time, so we logged onto WMATA.com and saw that a train was arriving in three minutes. That wasn't enough time, so when the next train appeared to be 10 minutes away, we headed out.

Now, we've timed the walk. It takes no longer than 6 minutes at a moderate pace, but we were moving pretty fast, and got to the perimeter of the station in under 5 minutes.

As we got near the entrance, we realized a train was on the platform, we bolted as fast as we could but didn't quite make it. Sixteen minutes until the next one.

Thanks WMATA. You're going to engender a lot of goodwill and even fewer riders when those seemingly random headways are 30 minutes or more.

After basic safety, running trains according to a schedule should be task #1. It's sad that even has to be pointed out.

Other items:
Bathroom "galore" on Silver Line (WaPo)
Metro learned from 2003 storm (Examiner)
Catoe's year in review (Examiner)
How to get out of the transit death spiral (Examiner)
Look! A WMATA cookie. (GGW)

snoWMATA

It's a strange day. A lot of people are off due to the snow, but a lot of you had to brave a hobbled Metro to get to work.
A surprising amount of you rode Metro over the past couple of days.
How'd WMATA handle things given the record amount of snow that fell?
From the anecdotes we've heard, it would seem Metro suffered mostly from--big surprise--a lack of communication.
What are your thoughts and experiences?
We tried to find some examples of what other mass transit systems had done in a huge snow. London, for example, shut down much of its mass transit early this year when it was walloped with a huge snowfall.
Reports from New York were that the MTA was running fairly normally, despite the snowfall, which was several inches less than here.
What feedback would you give WMATA?
If you don't feel like writing about your experiences, at least vote in the poll over there to the left.

Photo: daveweigel

Other items:
"Crazy" woman on the Green Line (YouTube)
Metro employee goes off (YouTube)

Club Metro

From P. Tatiana:

Red Line from Friendship Heights to Silver Spring on the morning of Dec. 17.

New service helps morning commuters ease into the day.

Does Metro roll out the dance floor and drinks at night?

Either that, or Metro's going green, cutting down on unnecessary lights. Looks like the formula is five working lights per train car, spread out randomly.

It couldn't possibly be that Metro inspectors and supervisors neglected basic safety and maintenance issues--again.

Other items:

• Is anyone buying the "war on ____" line anymore? With regard to the war on safety, Metro GM John Catoe said "nothing, not even money, will hinder our efforts to make this system as safe as possible." A few hours later, in a press release outlining some pretty dramatic service cuts, one item stood out: "deferring $10 million for preventive maintenance" Hope none of those deferrals are safety-related, but the sound of it makes us a little queasy. On June 26, Catoe said "we have a safe system." (WMATA)
• Oy! Service cuts. No more 8-car trains? There were 8-car trains? (WMATA)
• SmartTrip changes promised--again. (WaPo)

Doors Yet Again!

From reader Charles:

I was in the back car of an inbound Red Line train that arrived at Gallery Place around 8:35 a.m. on Nov. 24, right at the height of rush hour. The platform was packed with people transferring from the Green and Yellow Lines. The train was full, but not packed.

The operator opened the doors briefly, long enough to allow about half of us who wanted to exit to get off. As the doors closed prematurely, people on the train threw themselves, their bags and their extremities between the doors in an effort to hold them open. This did not work, of course.

The operator opened the doors long enough to let people remove their arms and legs, but not long enough to exit.

There was no way that I could make it off the train, so I went to the intercom at the back of the car. I pushed the red button and said, “I’m in the last car and people are trying to get out. Please open the doors.” There was no response, so I called again with more urgency.

Me: Open the doors! People are stuck in the back car.

Operator: I don’t copy you.

Me: People are stuck in the doors and trying to get out. Open the doors.

Operator: I don’t copy you.

Me: Well, I ‘copy’ you, and I’m telling you to open these doors.

By now, the doors were presumably closed and the train was rolling out of the station toward Metro Center. I got back on the intercom.

Me: What is your name? I’d like to follow up with your supervisor.

Operator: This is the operator.

Me: I understand that. I’d like to know your name.

Operator: Just ‘Operator.’

I exited the train at Metro Center and made my way to the kiosk. Another passenger from this train was already complaining to the station manager. I asked the station manager if he could help me identify the train operator. I told him that I was in car 5125 on the train that had just left Metro Center for Farragut North.

The station manager said, “That car number helps tremendously.” He spun his chair around and looked at the kiosk computer, which shows a live picture of all trains in the system. The station manager told me that the train operator was one Mr. Willy Love and that the Train ID was 208. The station manager suggested I call in my complaint to 202-637-7000.

That’s exactly what I did when I got to my office. I waited on hold for 17 minutes before someone transferred me to voicemail. I left an incensed message and demanded that somebody call me back immediately.

I then started to fish around for any Metro phone number that would be answered by a human. After a few dead ends, I found the hotline for the Metro Office of Inspector General (OIG). I called the OIG on 202-962-2400. A human answered the phone and took a detailed report on the incident.

As I finished up with the OIG, a Metro customer service person called me back. She apologized about my 17 minutes on hold. She told me that there are only two people who take these complaints. I told this woman I had already filed a report with the OIG, but I would be happy to file it again with her.

In both of my reports I emphasized that this is a safety issue. Either the intercom was genuinely broken, or the train operator showed poor judgment by choosing to ignore a passenger’s attempt to contact him. I also expressed concern that this train operator declined to give his name.

The Metro customer service person agreed this was a problem and told me she would do two things: First, she would ask maintenance personnel to test the intercom on this train. Second, she would forward my report to the train operator’s supervisor.

I requested that the supervisor follow up with me so that I could be sure that this was being taken seriously. The customer service rep said that supervisors generally do not follow up with passengers. I said, “That’s the problem with Metro. You are not accountable to the passengers and you need to be.”

The rep promised to make a note of my concerns.

Nobody has followed up with me.

Original photo: charliepinto

Related posts:
Doors ... again
Doors closing
This will bite Metro in the last car one day
Mixed messages on non-working intercoms
Another emergency call goes unanswered
Anyone home?

Other items:
Metro whistle-blower honored (WaPo)