Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:05:40 -0500
From: Eva Whitley <eva.whitley at gmail.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Metro is 30
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> The Metro system turned 30 today.  It opened to the public on 3/27/76.
>
> It has not aged gracefully.  There were minor delays on the way to
> work this morning, and major delays on the way home.  And it was
> standing room only both ways.  None of which is unusual.
>
> They claim to have eight-car trains on the Orange line in the morning.
> I've never seen one.  Instead, I've seen increasing numbers of four-
> car trains, which are already packed when they reach Dunn Loring, the
> second station on the line.
>
> Their main plan for dealing with the crowding isn't to run more or
> longer trains, nor to build more lines, but to *remove* seats, so that
> more people can be packed in like sardines.
>
> And they've just posted their track maintenance schedule for spring.
> The first time they said they'd single-track several lines during
> the next several evenings and weekends, I figured that's only to be
> expected, and after those few weeks, the system would be good to
> go for another three decades.  But that's not how it turned out.
> Instead, it's apparently going to be in a perpetual state of
> maintenance and disrepair, as if to ensure that the experience of
> Metro is always as slow and unpleasant during evenings and weekends
> as it is during rush hours.
>

But as bad as it is, it's still better than the Baltimore Metro. (And
whose idea was it to have *no* connection between Light Rail and
Baltimore Metro? If I could easily transfer, I could drive 5 minutes to
the Owings Mills station of Metro, transfer to Light Right, and walk to
my job at Airport Plaza in Linthicum...mutter, mutter, groan. Almost
makes me miss Philly, where I didn't have a car, didn't need one.) --Eva
Whitley