F*** metro it is always late, slow, expensive and the time estimates are never right

[Anonymous]

If I had to average it out, I'd say I deal with train delays once or twice a month. It's cheaper than parking downtown ($14/day) and the time estimates are spot on for me. Perhaps we're living in alternate universes.

For many of us, it is not cheaper. The problem is that Metro's service is both crappy AND overpriced. If you live close and can walk to a station, it may be cheaper than parking. But if you live in many areas of the suburbs (like where I live), you have to park at the station. Parking is $4.50/day, and the fare each way to get downtown & back is $5.00 at peak hours. So that's $14.50/day. On top of that, because of my childcare situation, I really cannot leave early enough to be sure I'll find a parking spot, which means I pay an addtitional $65/mo for a reserved parking permit so I know I will be able to find a parking space. When I factor that in, my total cost approaches $18/day or more, depending on how many workdays are in the month.

I support using public transportation for environmental reasons (there's one less car on the road if I'm using metro and that's a big reason why I put up with it), but the service has just gotten worse and worse while the prices keep going up. I'm probably going to start driving soon because it's not only cheaper but more comfortable. I'd rather be trapped in my own car in traffic than trapped in a tunnel in a train full of people & germs, like the guy this morning who was popping chloraseptic lozenges and coughing up a storm but apparently was too inconsiderate to drive or stay home and decided to share his germs with the whole train car. And the delays are certainly more than once or twice a month. I would say there's a "major" delay about once a month but there are delays on a weekly basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You guys should travel a bit and learn from other countries.

You would not be mad... you'd be embarrassed!

No we wouldn't. Born and raised in England here and the London subway shames DC. New York is better than London though. Less clean but runs all night and is more convenient. Boston is annoying because it doesn't have estimated times for when the train will come displayed at stations. You have to check online. But the trains generally run on time to their schedule. Both are much cheaper than DC. Paris is better and cheaper than all though. Most of Europe is amazing. Brussels was revelatory. Asia also rocks.

DC is crappy. Expensive, always late, always running single track and closes early. but that's supposed to be fine because it's clean?

The most annoying thing about DC is that when they are doing track repairs, instead of using the system used in London and Paris, which is where they reduce the frequency of trains (e.g. from 5 min to 30 min) to allow the work to be done but the train still runs exactly on time, in DC they just make every train late. So sometimes it will come in 5 min, or 20 min or 40 min. It's impossible to plan and becomes a joke if you change tracks. In London, you would just check the revised schedule and change your plans accordingly. Does the Red line ever stop single tracking?

Also DC attendants are ruder than the French ones and that is saying something. At the information booth, they can see where the trains are and when they will be coming, but ask for information and you will get a mouth full of abuse.

DC transit should not be judged against some podunk US town in no-one-gives-a-fuck-ville, USA. It's supposed to be an international city and it's fair to say that on those grounds, it is very inferior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Union scum

Confederate trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys should travel a bit and learn from other countries.

You would not be mad... you'd be embarrassed!

No we wouldn't. Born and raised in England here and the London subway shames DC. New York is better than London though. Less clean but runs all night and is more convenient. Boston is annoying because it doesn't have estimated times for when the train will come displayed at stations. You have to check online. But the trains generally run on time to their schedule. Both are much cheaper than DC. Paris is better and cheaper than all though. Most of Europe is amazing. Brussels was revelatory. Asia also rocks.

DC is crappy. Expensive, always late, always running single track and closes early. but that's supposed to be fine because it's clean?

The most annoying thing about DC is that when they are doing track repairs, instead of using the system used in London and Paris, which is where they reduce the frequency of trains (e.g. from 5 min to 30 min) to allow the work to be done but the train still runs exactly on time, in DC they just make every train late. So sometimes it will come in 5 min, or 20 min or 40 min. It's impossible to plan and becomes a joke if you change tracks. In London, you would just check the revised schedule and change your plans accordingly. Does the Red line ever stop single tracking?

Also DC attendants are ruder than the French ones and that is saying something. At the information booth, they can see where the trains are and when they will be coming, but ask for information and you will get a mouth full of abuse.

DC transit should not be judged against some podunk US town in no-one-gives-a-fuck-ville, USA. It's supposed to be an international city and it's fair to say that on those grounds, it is very inferior.

It's not 'DC". It's the regional transit system. I'd argue that this is at least part of the reason it's so shitty. Look at the difference between the Circulator (run by DC) and Metro. It's like night and day.

[Anonymous]

NYC is better because they have so many riders. When you are running that many trains tge wait is shorter and you can afford extra track on a line which avoids single tracking.

[Anonymous]

Also, there is no dedicated funded for Metro through the governments who pay in, and so they never receive enough in subsidies. I get on at King Street, and I like it. I take a bus to get to the Metro, and it costs me about $8 a day. So its cheaper too, and allows us to only have one car.

[Anonymous]

I've had this question forever:

Metro is the same system as BART in SFO -- why can the BART trains stop on a dime and Metro trains halt-and-go into every station?

People actually line up at designated spots on the platform to board BART trains, because the doors always open on those spots. Not the chaotic shoving and door blocking that happens here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had to average it out, I'd say I deal with train delays once or twice a month. It's cheaper than parking downtown ($14/day) and the time estimates are spot on for me. Perhaps we're living in alternate universes.

Agree. I've been riding the orange line daily for 13 years. It may not be perfect, but Metro is light-years better than driving and still substantially cheaper, even with the price of parking in a Metro lot. The daily costs of gas and vehicle depreciation alone exceed my daily Metro fare.

[Anonymous]

I'm with the "fuck metro" camp. $14.90/day for me (parking plus peak fair on orange line). I heard the other day they are considering raising fares again...

I like the idea of the metro stopping on a dime and people lining up for the doors. Why can't metro do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The subway system in Seoul is amazing, if anyone here's traveled on it. Clean, even though you can buy food on the platforms, on time, people save the seats for the disabled, etc.

A lot of this is cultural. Koreans are a more respectful people than Americans. & no, I'm not Korean but I have had the privilege of working with and befriending many.

I think they are often generally rude and aggressive by American standards. And that's saying a lot considering we're a country known abroad as ugly Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had this question forever:

Metro is the same system as BART in SFO -- why can the BART trains stop on a dime and Metro trains halt-and-go into every station?

People actually line up at designated spots on the platform to board BART trains, because the doors always open on those spots. Not the chaotic shoving and door blocking that happens here.

I commute daily and I know exactly where the train is going to stop every time. It may not be marked on the pavement but it's always the same place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had this question forever:

Metro is the same system as BART in SFO -- why can the BART trains stop on a dime and Metro trains halt-and-go into every station?

People actually line up at designated spots on the platform to board BART trains, because the doors always open on those spots. Not the chaotic shoving and door blocking that happens here.

I commute daily and I know exactly where the train is going to stop every time. It may not be marked on the pavement but it's always the same place.

This.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why there must be so much unexplained stop and go. It makes a trip that should be relatively quick take forever. I grew up in NYC, and the system there didn't have that problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union scum

Confederate trash.

That explains the cursing

[Anonymous]

11:04 - A voice of reason, I applaud you. No, standing ovation. D.C. has NOTHING on Boston, NYC OR London. No comparison. The attitude alone in D.C. is enough to make people drive, which is exactly what the Metro workers prefer, so they have to do even less (if that is possible). STFU if you don't know what you are talking about.