After 31 years of service, Metro finally rolled out rail cars with bench-like seating and carpetless flooring the other day. The carpetless cars are part of the 6000 series, while the car with bench seating is in the 3000 series. The cars were unveiled at the National Airport station, which sits on the Blue and Yellow lines. Akin to other subway systems in the country — New York City’s immediately comes to mind, natch — both designs feature stainless steel straps.
Even though these are just test cars, these changes were a long time coming in my mind, particularly the non-carpeted floors. After a spell of foul weather, and particularly in winter, the carpets get filthy and musty. I’m convinced that the mildew that develops contributes significantly to DC’s wintertime ailments. And considering the cost of upkeep, carpets are just not an economical option.
The bench seating looks a little half-assed, though. Those seats don’t match the originals, in fact they look like they’d be more appropriate on a bus, and it’s pretty obvious. As a proof of concept, though, it seems to work.
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,
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.