And by here, I meant hear.

Anonymous wrote:

Perfect! So next time this happens like this morning's irritating commute, it will go something like this?
Boss: "You're late."
Me: "Yeah, but not to worry! I had my Nook. I had a small vacation!"
Boss: "You missed the breakfast meeting."
Me: "Not to worry again! I had a candy bar with me."
OK.

Because driving would never make you late, amirite?

Here that whooshing sound over your head? It was the point being made.

People in the US are too cheap to pay for a good, reliable public transit system, and the govt is too afraid to charge high enough prices for gas. Of course the London Underground is great--it costs a lot more to use than the Metro does. The Underground is still cheaper than driving into the city, though.

Perfect! So next time this happens like this morning's irritating commute, it will go something like this?
Boss: "You're late."
Me: "Yeah, but not to worry! I had my Nook. I had a small vacation!"
Boss: "You missed the breakfast meeting."
Me: "Not to worry again! I had a candy bar with me."
OK.

Because driving would never make you late, amirite?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Carry a book with you. And a candy bar.

Make that inconvenience a small vacation.

Unless I have somewhere urgent to be (which honestly, isn't often), I'm with this poster. I don't leave home without my Nook, so I have no problem with a little delay. I've never been stuck more than 15 minutes or so and I've been using the DC Metro system since I was 14.

Perfect! So next time this happens like this morning's irritating commute, it will go something like this?
Boss: "You're late."
Me: "Yeah, but not to worry! I had my Nook. I had a small vacation!"
Boss: "You missed the breakfast meeting."
Me: "Not to worry again! I had a candy bar with me."
OK.

LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Did I say I didn't know how it worked?

I've seen plenty of people standing by the exitfare asking others for change for a $20 or just if someone could give them 50 cents.
You know what happens if there are two systems, one in which you can never be wrong about how much the fare is or whether you still have that $5 in your pocket, and one in which you could use a $20 or a credit card or even (gasp) put in another paper card to add the two values together? The second system would have more users. That's competition.

Competition? In your world, people think, "You know, I'd like to use metrorail today, but I may forget to check to see how much I have left on my paper card, and I might not have any small bills on me, so I'll be stuck on the system - forever. Like Charlie on the MTA. Better not risk it. I'll drive instead."

You're right. Those fare machines are the only thing keeping Metro from breaking ridership records. They're really the system's albatross.

Alrighty then.

The competition I was describing doesn't exist - that's my point.

But, yeah, if you think people don't drive because they don't want to deal with the cumulative annoyances of metro, you're wrong. Exitfare annoys me but there are lots of problems with the system that add up to small problems that bug people all the more because it shouldn't be that hard to fix them.

Did you design the Exitfare machines?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Carry a book with you. And a candy bar.

Make that inconvenience a small vacation.

Unless I have somewhere urgent to be (which honestly, isn't often), I'm with this poster. I don't leave home without my Nook, so I have no problem with a little delay. I've never been stuck more than 15 minutes or so and I've been using the DC Metro system since I was 14.

Perfect! So next time this happens like this morning's irritating commute, it will go something like this?
Boss: "You're late."
Me: "Yeah, but not to worry! I had my Nook. I had a small vacation!"
Boss: "You missed the breakfast meeting."
Me: "Not to worry again! I had a candy bar with me."
OK.

The system may not be perfect but it's a hell of a lot better (and cheaper) than driving to work. I've been commuting to the District for 13 years now and I can count the number of times I've driven to work on one hand.

Did I say I didn't know how it worked?

I've seen plenty of people standing by the exitfare asking others for change for a $20 or just if someone could give them 50 cents.
You know what happens if there are two systems, one in which you can never be wrong about how much the fare is or whether you still have that $5 in your pocket, and one in which you could use a $20 or a credit card or even (gasp) put in another paper card to add the two values together? The second system would have more users. That's competition.

Competition? In your world, people think, "You know, I'd like to use metrorail today, but I may forget to check to see how much I have left on my paper card, and I might not have any small bills on me, so I'll be stuck on the system - forever. Like Charlie on the MTA. Better not risk it. I'll drive instead."

You're right. Those fare machines are the only thing keeping Metro from breaking ridership records. They're really the system's albatross.

Alrighty then.

I think you pps are being too hard on the person who complained about the exit fare problem. This happened to me once when I lost my smartrip card and it's annoying! Really how hard it is to fix the change problem?

- a dedicated metro lover who uses Smartrip all the time

Anonymous wrote:

Precisely my point. It's not a problem for people who ride daily. But a lot of people ride once a week. We're not like you but there are a good number of us.

So 40-50 times a year? Hardly a casual user. Do you really not know how the system works?

Here's the thing - Metro need not cater to the criminally lazy among us. For example, those that can't be bothered to check the fare on their antiquated paper cards (fares that are, I might add, printed right on the danged thing), and see if they have enough on the card to complete their trip. It ain't rocket science. Short version - pay a modicum of attention, and you'll be fine.

Did I say I didn't know how it worked?

I've seen plenty of people standing by the exitfare asking others for change for a $20 or just if someone could give them 50 cents.
You know what happens if there are two systems, one in which you can never be wrong about how much the fare is or whether you still have that $5 in your pocket, and one in which you could use a $20 or a credit card or even (gasp) put in another paper card to add the two values together? The second system would have more users. That's competition.

Precisely my point. It's not a problem for people who ride daily. But a lot of people ride once a week. We're not like you but there are a good number of us.

So 40-50 times a year? Hardly a casual user. Do you really not know how the system works?

Here's the thing - Metro need not cater to the criminally lazy among us. For example, those that can't be bothered to check the fare on their antiquated paper cards (fares that are, I might add, printed right on the danged thing), and see if they have enough on the card to complete their trip. It ain't rocket science. Short version - pay a modicum of attention, and you'll be fine.