Metro Does It Again
So I was looking to go out and enjoy the night. See some ladies, get a few drinks–you know, just have a good time. [This was the weekend before the train derailment] Of course my decision making must not have been too good to think that on a weekend, I could do this via the Washinton Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
I had gotten on the train earlier today and what takes 50 minutes to get to my destination (20 on good day) took 75 minutes. Of course I thought nothing about it because now it just happens so often.
I got on the rail system at my usual starting point and waited…and waited…and (WTF) waited some more. I waited for a train to be built, sent, and put on the damn rail is what it seemed like. Of course when the train came, it was as if it ran through every hood which made me think “I’M SO HOOD” and I don’t even like that song. I swear I could’ve read every newspaper there, soda cans, smelly urine in the air, yadda yadda yadda…
…it was just too gross!
Then I get to the metrorail hub, L’Enfant Plaza and it was like the Pope had pooped in someone’s hat there were so many people. People were angry and hot and ugly.
After being there for like 30 minutes watching the opposite platform’s light blink me into a headache, I decided to leave. I went downstairs and what did I find? A crowd larger than the crowd I had just left.
“Why God?” I thought to myself, “Why me? Why on a Saturday night?” It was hot, and muggy, and the air was funked up with body odors and colorfully profound curse words. It was everything a Metro experience has come to be.
I had no choice. After having watched the display board on the upper platform tell me every elevator outtage while slipping in the train times, the display board on the lower level said the orange line train would be arriving in 1 minute—the problem with that was I had been down there at that point for more than three minutes and it said the same thing for those three minutes. Damn it!
So, the train finally came. What a relief, although the train was hotter than the station (which only got worse when everyone and their mommas got on), and stayed on the L’Enfant platform for about five additional minutes. Eventually I got home. How happy could I have ever been to have not made it to my inital destination only to have had to turn right back around to go home.
My question is “Is this where all my Metro fair is going? Is this really what I’m paying for?”
Disregarding the most pleasantly sarcastic and uncaring attitudes of the employees, is this really where my two week $70 are going? I suppose the slogan “Thank you for riding metro as we continue to improve the metrorail system” is compensation for all those dollars. Yeah, right.
10 Responses to “Metro Does It Again”
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June 12th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Philpot would have been better off chillin in Dudetown.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Hope everyone’s fine. Cause Metro isn’t.
June 12th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Yeah! Good think that chick is gone out of Dudetown, Bro!
June 12th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I don’t have the time to translate this post. Huh? Did English change overnight?
Metro was doing switch work on the Green and Yellow for the last few weekends. It was repeatedly advertised in the Post, on their website, and on station boards. So if you got caught in the delays, really, it’s your fault for not paying attention.
June 12th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
This sounds like a typical complaint of that douche Rusty on whyihatedc. Only I think he knows the difference between “fair” and “fare.”
You do have editors over there, no?
June 13th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Actually, Bob, due to editorial dept cutbacks, blog posts aren’t edited. Whatever the poster posts gets posted. Thanks for noticing!
June 13th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Even if it was advertised, it was still really dumb for Metro to do work on the green line on the weekends–especially during Nationals home games. I went last weekend and Metro was a nightmare: delays, over crowding, and the inevitable stampede at Navy Yard.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Jason, when do you propose the work gets done? It can’t be done overnight, it certainly can’t be done during the week when people are trying to get to their jobs, and it can’t be done by magical high-speed maintenance elves.
The stadium is accessible by several bus lines, it’s walkable from Capitol South, and there’s a shuttle from RFK. Using the Green Line when there’s so many other options available is a failure of imagination, not of the Metro system itself.
Yeah, the Metro is very flawed. I rail against it from time to time. But in this case, it’s the poster’s own fault for not paying attention and figuring out an alternate route. I mean, really, take some responsibility. Or at least a course in basic English grammar.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
shannon:
maybe Metro could have had a little foresight and done the Green line work during the winter instead of doing Red line work then. then the track work wouldn’t have interfered with all the weekend home games and been an issue at all. Or, don’t tell people that the best way to get to the game is Metro.
i hardly think that defending Metro and railing against City Paper is the answer.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Sara.h - fair point, they could have done the work earlier. And I’m not railing against CityPaper in particular, I’m railing against the idea that every inconvenience in the universe is the fault of Metro. Roads get worked on, so you take a detour and the Earth keeps turning. Why is Metro held to such an impossible standard?
I’m the first to weigh in when Metro messes up, I just think it’s counterproductive to complain about everything, because there’s a point where it’s just noise. Choose your battles.