It's easy to see why DC's subway has its proponents. It's so freaking clean and its considerably cheaper than Boston and New York. It's still a relatively young system, too. There are less maintenance issues than what you'll find elsewhere.
But something is always not quite right. Perhaps it's that it's never something. It's always everything.
I almost never travel on the Blue/Orange lines, thank Christ. Check this out.
A line is shut down because a train's brakes fail. Of course it's during rush hour. And of course it's a major problem that forces the WMATA to resort to using one track. And of course it's at one of the busiest stops on the Metro. And of course they don't get the word out warning people not to take the fucking subway.
The subway is a joke. The scary part is that it's still way more reliable than taking the bus. You know how people say "I don't know what the point of having a car in the city"? Well, I'm the opposite. How can you not have a car here?
8.03.2007
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So true. I stoped taking metro, started driving to work, and I've never looked back. Fuck Metro.
ReplyDeleteSurely it's time to fuck off for good Rusty. Your blog is shite. I hope you die of AIDS.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I would drive to work if a) there was any parking anywhere (even the pay-through-the-nose lots get full), b) I didn't work in a bermuda triangle of tourist attractions where "driving" means darting between behemoth tour busses and minivans from Kansas.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I could walk the 2.3 miles to work, but that'd be unamerican.
Anon, I think a kinder, more 90's girlgroup way of saying that would be "I hope 'three letters take you to your final resting place.'"
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have anything nice to say, at least say it with girlgroup sass.
I moved here from a city where you truly cannot live without a car (L.A.). I'm going on a year now and I've been doing fine w/ public transportation. Of course it's shitty sometimes, but all I have to do is look at how people drive here, and I thank god I don't have to deal with someone honking at me a half second after the light turns green.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of things to hate in this town. I don't think Metro should be at or near the top that list.
"considerably cheaper than New York"
ReplyDeleteUmmm, you do know that you can take the NYC subway from Coney Island to the Bronx for $2, right?
I'm betting people travel a few stops more often than take the 30-mile sojourn from Bronx to Coney.
ReplyDeleteC'mon -- obviously things are most likely to break during rush hour, when the system is getting its heaviest use. Metro consistently gets rated at or near the top of subway systems worldwide.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've gotta say, the bus system *is* extremely reliable. The worst case is generally that you wait for the next one. It's usually a matter of 10 minutes or less. No, the reason people don't like the bus is because they think they're above it. That's dumb.
All you need to get around this town easily is a SmarTrip card, a bike and maybe a ZipCar membership. It's not all that big of a city.
I can't even comprehend how people can defend the buses here. The bus schedule on the WMATA website and at the stops is pure fiction. They travel in packs making them incredibly inefficient. I spend a lot of time on the S, N, and 30 lines and they're all jokes. The H4 is the only consistent bus I use.
ReplyDeleteKILL EM' ALL
ReplyDeleteLET GOD SORT EM' OUT
I like to talk about stool.
ReplyDelete"It's usually a matter of 10 minutes or less. No, the reason people don't like the bus is because they think they're above it. That's dumb."
ReplyDeleteReally? Which magic school bus do you ride? Please let me know so that I can ride it, too!
You may think that I am making this up, but I am not. Bur I always found that riding the X2 waa more convenient than ridein the subway. X2 2o minutes, Metro 35.
ReplyDeleteOK, another point about NYC's subway. It is an actual subway, not like DC's cute little "metro". That's not my point, actually.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to $2 flat fare, you may also buy an unlimited monthly pass good for EVERY possible trip on subway or bus.
I think it's typically DC that people wouldn't want a flat rate, because everyone thinks they'd be the one paying a dime too much.
Also, although the NYC subway isn't perfect, most tunnels have express tracks: if something goes wrong, it's easy to route trains onto the express tracks. This is also why the subway is a 24/7 system.
DONT GET MAD
ReplyDeleteNUKE THE BASTARDS
STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE METRO. NOBODY CARES ANYMORE. IT'S NO LONGER INTERESTING.
ReplyDeleteIf metro cancells late night service on the weekends lots of us whiteys are gonna be seriously fucked. Riding on a bus through NE after 1 AM is not something i recommend doing.
ReplyDeleteThe Subway in New York is MUCH cheaper than DC, dude. They have a YEARLy pass unlimited for only $500. Not only that, but you can travel rush hour and any distance for the same $2. To add to that, there is a 2 hour transfer period so you can go and come back and the bus is INCLUDED, not 35 cent tranfer fee.
ReplyDeleteDC Metro SUCKS in every way.
The buses run more like 20 minutes apart when I ride them. They usually are delayed and then about three of them come right in a row.
ReplyDeleteIt was like that in Arlington and now in D.C. too.
When I rode the orange and blue Metro lines, I got off-loaded a number of times.
There were a lot of door or brake problems and the trains crept through the Arlington corridor so that riding my bike would have been faster.
I think the system is going under.
Rusty is a douche
ReplyDeletelots of us whiteys are gonna be seriously fucked. Riding on a bus through NE after 1 AM
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I was on that metro that broke down.
ReplyDeletehttp://susanpetheridge.com/blog/2007/08/i-spent-230-and-all-i-got-was-2-12-hour.html
It's funny, I actually was inconvenienced by this delay, and the whole time I couldn't help thinking "You know, Rusty is so going to bitch about this." But it actually wasn't much of an inconvenience for me. Driving to work still would have been worse.
ReplyDeleteI was in NYC very recently too. Roasting in the subway station as I waited for a train gave me time to reflect on the Metro and the whole taking-it-for-granted thing.