Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Metro... Oh, Metro

After work tonight, I planned on meeting co-workers at the Nationals Phillies game, for my last regular season opportunity to see the Phightins (even though we started mostly our B Squad) and the last Nats home game.  I knew my SmarTrip was still in the negative from taking Rachel and Michelle to Georgetown Cupcake over the weekend so I glanced at the screen for train arrivals, which indicated the next train to Glenmont would arrive in four minutes. With no lines at the kiosks, that was more than enough time to bring my SmarTrip back to the positive side.

When I reached the platform however, I heard the familiar chime of the doors closing and I darted for the closest door but didn't make it. I watched the train pull away and again checked out the screen for next arrivals. It said that more trains would be there in 1, 6, and 11 minutes, but that soon changed to one singular Glenmont train arriving in 4 minutes. After an actual wait of about 8 minutes, the next train pulled in.

If I had known the next train was either "1" or "ARR" I would have taken the escalator stairs two at a time and made the train. As Greater Greater Washington's David Alpert writes, this latest malfunction isn't a safety issue but it sure doesn't make using Metro more pleasant either.

Metro has got enormous problems that require enormous fixes. But this seems, to me at least, like something Metro should be able to get right.

2 comments:

  1. Ok, ok, I try to be understanding when DC people complain about the metro, because it's far from perfect, and it's all most of you know, but I just want to say: come to Baltimore some time and see if you ever want to complain about DC's transit again.

    Maybe some day I'll be able to give you a tour.

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  2. Hey Alex,

    I actually rode the Baltimore metro system this past year for the Preakness and thought it was quite efficient. Of course, that was one isolated experience and I understand that the system as a whole is not expansive enough to really serve a wide range of residents. I'm sure it's plagued with the same problems as WMATA if not worse.

    Governor O'Malley is a supporter of Baltimore's proposed Red Line (and Montgomery and PG County's Purple Line) so I do hope that he returns for another term to see those projects closer to completion.

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