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From UnsuckMetro Blog- Is Rush+ Over on the Orange Line?From Brian: Just an open question from an Orange Line rider (East Falls Church station). Over the past few months, it seems like the frequency of trains going into DC has slowed. I get on around 7:30 a.m. each day, and lately I've gotten onto an already crowded train that's 5-6 minutes after the preceding train, and the monitor shows another 5-7 […]
- Dating Via Emergency Intercom? Photo via @nevermindtheend From Jim: I saw the STRANGEST thing this morning! I was at the back of the very last car on a train from Silver Spring to downtown. At one of the next stops, a guy gets on, presses the emergency intercom button at the back of the car and starts chatting up the train driver. "Hey, baby, this is Cooper. Remember Cooper? Yeah, s […]
- Does the Transit Subsidy Make Metro Worse?From Steve: I live in Arlington and commute to DC on Metro daily. So does my roommate. I pay every cent of my Metro costs out of my pocket. No pretax discount, and my employer doesn't chip in a dime. My roommate, on the other hand, is a federal worker and doesn't have to pay a single cent of his own money for his daily commute on Metro. Our levels […]
- Is Rush+ Over on the Orange Line?
- Greater Washington
- Focus transportation on downtown or neighborhoods?by David Alpert and Rahul Mereand-Sinha Should the design of major roads and our big transit projects favor moving large numbers of people in and out of downtown? Or should DC focus on making streets feel more like neighborhood streets, and transportation investments that help people travel within and between neighborhoods? Photo by Roger Wollstadt on Flickr […]
- Community supports bike lanes around H Streetby Tony Goodman DC transportation officials would like to help cyclists avoid the streetcar tracks, heavy car traffic, and pedestrians along H Street NE. Yesterday, the transportation committees of both Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) along H Street supported a plan to let cyclists ride in both directions on G and I Streets, while keeping car traffi […]
- Breakfast links: Stereotypesby David Alpert Photo by Michael Hänsch on Flickr."Gentrifiers" aren't all white: A new report identifies "gentrifying" neighborhoods based on trends in property values. New residents are more affluent and often younger, but in several neighborhoods, they're same race as longtime residents. (WBJ) Bad apples lead to viral videos […]
- Focus transportation on downtown or neighborhoods?
Tag Archives: Waste of money
Metro Admits Liability for June 22, 2009 Wreck
I’m glad to see that after over 2 1/2 years Metro has finally done the right thing and admitted liability for the June 22, 2009 wreck — even if it was for legal expediency. It is unclear to me why … Continue reading
Posted in Inadequate Training, Malfunctions, Management Follies, Public Opinion, Safety Incidents, The Metro Hall of Shame
Tagged automatic train control, backup alarm, gross negligence, metro employees, ntsb accident reports, rail trucks, Reliability, Safety hazard, The 51st State, Waste of money
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Cembre Connectors, Part 2
Back in January, I posted about the Cembre connectors Metro has been using for the past few years. A member of Metro management (who I knew casually the entire 27 years I was at Metro) recently discovered that post and … Continue reading
Metro Medical
About a year ago, a few months before I retired, I had surgery that prevented me from working for several weeks. I was told (for the first time in 27 years) that I would have to report to Metro Medical … Continue reading
Emergency Response Training
About two (2) years ago I received the following email from a coworker: “Today we attended an Emergency Response Training class at Metro. We learned many things. For example, abortion rights groups are domestic terrorists. Malcontents who don’t like the … Continue reading
Lack of Quick Access to Parts Causes Unneccessary Delays
One problem that never seemed to get resolved was the proper distribution and storage of parts. For example, one relatively common failure that would cause delays was a bad impedance bond, or ‘bond’. Every rail yard has a storeroom. The … Continue reading
Here a derailment, there a derailment…
There are derailments at Metro on a regular basis, they just aren’t reported in the media. They can get away with it because there’s no oversight and because there typically aren’t any passengers on board. Most of these derailments happen … Continue reading
Double Derailment at Bethesda was Completely Avoidable
Almost exactly two years ago, on March 27, 2009, at approximately 4:30 pm a train derailed on the inbound track (track #1) between Bethesda (A09) and Friendship Heights (A08). In response, Metro dispatched a “rescue train” (train #204) from Shady … Continue reading
Posted in Management Follies, Safety Incidents, Uncategorized
Tagged Safety hazard, The 51st State, Waste of money
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Rearranging the Deck Chairs
One of the things that remained constant during my 27 years at Metro was that management — typically middle management — would periodically become hyper-focused on something that was inconsequential, while the system continued to fall apart around them. This … Continue reading
Dragging Equipment
Fairly often, parts of rail cars or track department equipment will come loose and be dragged along the tracks. This often results in extensive damage to wayside Automatic Train Control (ATC) equipment. Usually, this causes substantial delays — particularly if … Continue reading
Posted in Malfunctions, Management Follies, Safety Incidents
Tagged Reliability, Safety hazard, Waste of money
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Sidewalk hazard
The storm drain in the photo below is located just east of the intersection of Route 355 and the entrance to Shady Grove station (A15): This is what was left of the top after it kept getting run over by … Continue reading
