Can of worms...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that NYC's system is much worse, and even the Tube in London is no great shakes anymore.

It's ridiculous to complain about service at the same time you're slamming unions and high metro fares. Sure, maybe some part of the problem is bad management. But a whole lot more is bad training of metro employees and another biggie: lack of investment in infrastructure. The system is 30 years old now and a lot of maintenance is overdue. Guess what, geniuses: better training, better trained metro personnel, and infrastructure investment all mean more money!

The unions and especially pensions ARE the problems. Drain money from the system and ask more from the riders. Still can't afford to pay for basic repairs.

+1 the biggest expenditures are union labor demanded pensions and benefits

Damn those Metro workers, they got health and pension benefits!!! Don't they know their place is at the bottom of the economic heap?! Now (wrings hands and snickers), if we only get the Supreme Court to roll back Obamacare, that'll really show those Metro workers!

Why shouldn't lazy slackers with attitude and a false sense of entitlement be at the bottom of the economic heap? Why should they have all the great benefits with little comparable education?

You suck. That's the first take-away.

But why don't you tell us all about your pension/401(k)/IRA? And your health benefits?

[Anonymous]

Is this you, demonstrating similar hypocrisy at the post at @22:17 here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/237643.page

Slamming MCPS teacher salaries and MCPS teacher unions and then writing, "You bet my kids are in private school. I wouldn't send my dog to public school."

If that's you, then yeah, you really are a total HYPOCRITE.

[Anonymous]

Wow! Ad hominems must be a new Tea Bagger talking point in the whole Tea Bagging strategy of blaming the working class for the deeds of Wall Street.

To recap, you've called Metro workers "awful," "nasty," "shits from hell," and "lazy slackers." Yet I haven't met a mean Metro worker in 20 years. The ones I've interacted with have been pleasant and helpful.

Sort of -- exactly -- like the DCUM poster who keeps saying teachers have low SATs and this is why their wages are too high and their unions should be broken up.

You guys are despicable, awful human beings. Fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this you, demonstrating similar hypocrisy at the post at @22:17 here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/237643.page

Slamming MCPS teacher salaries and MCPS teacher unions and then writing, "You bet my kids are in private school. I wouldn't send my dog to public school."

If that's you, then yeah, you really are a total HYPOCRITE.

No, that is not me. This is my first visit to this post and I simply wanted to say I think our Metro is quite nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this you, demonstrating similar hypocrisy at the post at @22:17 here: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/60/237643.page

Slamming MCPS teacher salaries and MCPS teacher unions and then writing, "You bet my kids are in private school. I wouldn't send my dog to public school."

If that's you, then yeah, you really are a total HYPOCRITE.

No, that is not me. This is my first visit to this post and I simply wanted to say I think our Metro is quite nice.

Hi, I definitely wasn't talking to you because I agree with you. I myself have had nice experiences with Metro staff. I simply don't understand the mentality of posters who make personal attacks on hard-working Metro employees as part of some obsessive campaign against unions.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I definitely see the points some of you are making, and I'm curious about the safety violations. I will do some research on that because I take my kids on the Metro all the time.

I have never traveled to Europe. I'm thinking of the Metro compared to other US cities. I guess I feel that other countries are sort of a different playing field.

We mostly travel on the orange line. But since we are new here, we have been all over the area for sight seeing and traveled all the lines. The only one that felt bad to me was the red line. Kind of rickity or something.

We have had attendants help us out A LOT! When we were new and learning, they were always right there helping us pay. We have had issues with cards being demagnetized and other little things like that. They always just seem happy to help. I constantly see them helping other people too. they always say hi or smile at my kids too.

As for the escalators, I was annoyed with this too until we were the reason it stopped one time. My daughter had flip flops on and one got caught in the escalator. It stopped immediately, and she was not hurt at all. I realized that it is likely that most of the times it is stopped, it's for a similar circumstance.

[Anonymous]

I'm generally pro-union, but previous Metro management gave sweetheart deals to the union, like pensions being figured based on the top three years of earnings INCLUDING overtime, which is pretty unusual. The bus drivers who earn $100,000+ through overtime then get a really great pension.

However, Metro still treats its workers like crap, starting with its terrible safety record that includes employee deaths. Then there are indignities like not setting up bus service to include bathroom breaks for drivers--a while ago the Metro IG had a report about drivers peeing in cups, etc. because they couldn't take a bathroom break.

[Anonymous]

I think what bothers me most about metro is the inexplicably bad parts - like escalators out of service for months, meaning that the only way to get in and out is a single stalled escalator. My biggest pet peeve is the signage and announcements - you can NEVER hear the conductor, and the stations are so dark that you can't always see what station it is. How hard would it be to make sure you can hear the freakin conductor? I would prefer silence to their bullshit mumbling.

And dc metro in no ways compares to nyc!

[Anonymous]

Why should uneducated , manual labor get full ride benefits while the money to improve revived is greatly needed. I have counted 2 days a week where there isn't delays and issues

This sums it up

http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what bothers me most about metro is the inexplicably bad parts - like escalators out of service for months, meaning that the only way to get in and out is a single stalled escalator. My biggest pet peeve is the signage and announcements - you can NEVER hear the conductor, and the stations are so dark that you can't always see what station it is. How hard would it be to make sure you can hear the freakin conductor? I would prefer silence to their bullshit mumbling.

And dc metro in no ways compares to nyc!

Try to take a stroller through the NYC subway system. And man, some of those stops are like the inside of a trash dumpster. And the conductors aren't very intelligible there, either, not to mention the joy of getting stuck in a tunnel under the river with the AC off because it doesn't work when the train isn't moving. NYC has more stops and more frequent trains, but maintenance and signage is not its strong suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think our system is particularly horrible all of the time. I do think it's overpriced and the $1 fee just for a farecard bothers me (and I do have smartcard now). BUT I have had the pleasure of riding the trains during rush hour when fires have broken out on the tracks and have had to fight 10,000 ppl for a bus ride to the next station (once a man pulled me off the steps of a bus b/c he wanted a seat. He threw me to the ground and some other ppl fought him off the bus so I could get on). I remember 5+ hours attempting to get home from my downtown job on several occasions.

That made me laugh. Sorry. But anyway, OP where have you been that "the attendants are very helpful and friendly"? Some of them are okay but a lot of them are shits from hell.

I am laughing like a hyena in my kitchen at the moment because of the bolded comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what bothers me most about metro is the inexplicably bad parts - like escalators out of service for months, meaning that the only way to get in and out is a single stalled escalator. My biggest pet peeve is the signage and announcements - you can NEVER hear the conductor, and the stations are so dark that you can't always see what station it is. How hard would it be to make sure you can hear the freakin conductor? I would prefer silence to their bullshit mumbling.

And dc metro in no ways compares to nyc!

Try to take a stroller through the NYC subway system. And man, some of those stops are like the inside of a trash dumpster. And the conductors aren't very intelligible there, either, not to mention the joy of getting stuck in a tunnel under the river with the AC off because it doesn't work when the train isn't moving. NYC has more stops and more frequent trains, but maintenance and signage is not its strong suit.

This video is from the train in NYC:

People who complain about DC trains and street life need to get a sense of proportion.

[Anonymous]

Of course the Metro crash from 2 years ago still is so haunting. Many people were killed and maimed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think our system is particularly horrible all of the time. I do think it's overpriced and the $1 fee just for a farecard bothers me (and I do have smartcard now). BUT I have had the pleasure of riding the trains during rush hour when fires have broken out on the tracks and have had to fight 10,000 ppl for a bus ride to the next station (once a man pulled me off the steps of a bus b/c he wanted a seat. He threw me to the ground and some other ppl fought him off the bus so I could get on). I remember 5+ hours attempting to get home from my downtown job on several occasions.

That made me laugh. Sorry. But anyway, OP where have you been that "the attendants are very helpful and friendly"? Some of them are okay but a lot of them are shits from hell.[/quote]

THIS times INFINITY!

[Anonymous]

OP you sound like a SAHM. And I'm not saying that your opinion isn't warranted (though, you mostly go on the orange line - what about red line? green line? you need to experience more stations, farther out, not just the ones in NOVA).

But the biggest problem people have is the cost and reliability. If you have every RELIED on the metro to get you someplace by a certain time, it's awful. I used to commute, and I can't tell you how often:
1) trains ran late
2) trains skipped stops because they were running late with little to no notice
3) I've walked the 2 miles home since it was faster than taking the trains when they were backed up
4) when things get backed up, it is SO crowded that sometimes it is better walking. And the pushing and rudeness grates on you (there are an equal number of nice people, but dear god, the A-holes are a-plenty).
5) Metrobuses are rarely on time. You simply can't rely on them. When I commuted train-to-bus and vice versa, I literally had 4 different bus schedules so I could have options so that if one ran late and the other wasn't, then I knew to get on the other so I could get where I was going. It was a game of strategy where and when to wait for the bus TO the metro station so that I could make it there without relying on just one route.

For the cost, it is a wash when you consider the price of parking/car wear and tear vs. metro and its unreliability. I'll tell you, when I had kids and had to be home by a certain time, I drove a lot more often.