From today’s Washington Post, “A Transit System That Feels Its Age“:
No amount of funding is going to change the limits imposed by Metro’s two-track system.
This aspect of Metro’s design has always been its Achilles’ Heel. Ridiculous delays – and frustration – ensue when trains have to single track anywhere.
Wired compiled a gallery featuring what they consider the world’s most impressive subways. No mention of D.C.’s system (outside of the comments, and it looks like most of those are unfavorable), but the subway in my hometown of New York City made the cut. I particularly enjoy the image accompanying the N.Y.C. subway’s blurb — it shows an M train moving on an elevated track past overhead wires with sneakers dangling from them.
Classic.
One of the niftiest videos I’ve seen in a long while: a commercial for Madrid’s Metro system.
In Seattle, you can ride the S.L.U.T. and get away with it. (It actually stands for South Lake Union Trolley.)
I’ve got a similar name for proposed streetcar lines in D.C.: the Tram Potomac, TramP for short.
On my way to the Metro after work on Friday, I saw a D6 Metrobus heading west on K Street NW. (The D6 is the bus line I usually take to and from work.) This isn’t unusual, but it was unusual to see an emoticon by the route number on the bus’ LED signage. I’m not sure if this was purposely done or just a glitch, but I was amused enough to get a snapshot of it.
Here’s one from the “Well It’s About Bloody Time” file. The Examiner reports, “Metro plans to give riders free SmarTrip cards next year.” The card will also be more widely available. Instead of trekking to Metro’s sales office at Metro Center or a station with a SmarTrip vending machine, one could pick up a card at the local megamart.
Metro aims to eliminate paper transfers with this move by requiring the card for bus-to-bus transfers. More people will be encouraged to pay their transit fare electronically and without scrounging for exact change. The number of people unprepared for bus travel — the ones who ask other passengers for change when they board (and it always seems to be the same people) — would go down. That makes me, a daily bus-rider whose route is often late, very happy.
SmarTrip cards currently cost $5 apiece and are required to pay for parking at Metro station lots.
I take the bus to work every morning. On a good day, the bus itself is a few minutes behind schedule (despite my stop’s proximity to the start of the westbound route) and the ride takes about 30 minutes.
Realistically, good days on that route are few and far between. My bus is often more than a few minutes late (Sometimes two busses come at once, with one being very late and the other being right on time or early.) and traffic extends the commute by 10 to 30 minutes. It doesn’t help that my route comes in close proximity to the Capitol and Union Station, two landmarks so thick with traffic they merge into each other. So help you if there’s an emergency at either location, or worse both.
Given the route’s reputation — which hasn’t improved much in my nearly six years of using it — many riders will chase after the bus or run to the stop when they see it approaching. (I’ve been known to do this myself, I imagine to the great amusement of my fellow passengers: “Lookit the fat boy run!”)
I spotted a public service ad inside the bus today which quoted a bus driver who supposedly logged over 3 million miles. He said,
Never try to run after a bus to catch it. You’ll be a lot better off waiting for the next one.
Better off in what way? We’ll be less sweaty? We won’t be mocked by the less mature passengers on the bus? We’ll have a valid-but-difficult-to-prove excuse for being late(r) to work?
If the route had a better on-time record, I might be willing to overlook this PSA. With the Metro bus route’s notorious track record of tardiness — including wait times of up to 25 minutes during rush hour, when busses are supposed to be more frequent — this PSA is nothing more than a printed slap in the face.
For the record, I didn’t have to run this morning; my bus was only 7 minutes late and the ride was about 30 minutes. Today’s was a good commute.
But I was still late to work — I overslept.
In a curious (and audacious) move, the DC Taxicab Commision (DCTC) canceled a community meeting slated for tonight. The topic: replacing the current taxicab zone system with a metered one. The reason for cancellation: a lack of parking. No, really, they did. They’re afraid they won’t be able to accommodate the large number of people that would surely show up to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Funny, they’ve never had a problem dealing with standing room only crowds before.
In lieu of the meeting, the DCTC will administer a phone survey this month to residents in all 8 wards. Additionally, DCTC will set up a phone and email hotline where others can leave comments.
The library, incidentally, is accessible by mass transit, a short walk from the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station.
While I firmly believe a metered system is the way to go, the DCTC’s move to cancel tonight’s meeting is a smack in the faces of cab drivers who want their say, especially given the venue’s proximity to alternate transportation. Granted, I’m sure cabbies are allowed to participate in the survey and hotlines as well.
But a lack of parking? Surely there was a better — and less suspicious — reason than that!
The Express’ Free Ride blog offers tips on getting to and from the H Street NE corridor (the so-called Atlas District), where a spate of bars and nightclubs sprang up in the last year or two. Hint: cabs aren’t necessarily your best option.
Then again, that’s true all over D.C.
(link via DCist)
