Of course Metro’s involvement meant things were bound to go poorly. I have to go about eight or nine stops along the old Orange Line, and after sitting at the westernmost platform for what seemed like slightly too long, the train didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to make up the time between stations. The train stopped several times on empty stretches between stations, with no explanation from the conductor except for “Tenshuncustmers, traybeemoomomterly.” (Translation: “Attention customers, this train will be moving momentarily.” Because otherwise I might assume the train will NEVER MOVE AGAIN, right?) I tend to tune out the in-train announcements most of the time, but as our mushmouth operator kept repeating the same message every time we slowed down, it got actively aggravating. No explanations, no elaborations, not even the oft-used excuse of “Trayhedvusonnaplaffom.” (“There is a train ahead of us on the platform.”)
So slow going, and unhelpful information-sharing, all of which would be irksome enough. Then, just before the fourth stop, we got a much longer announcement from the operator, explaining that the entire train would be offloading at the next station and taken out of service due to mechanical problems. Of course the platform at that station was pretty crowded, because our beleaguered six-car had been running at a slow drag and delaying the schedule. In morning rush hour, the trains are close to full by the fourth stop, so it was basically an entire trainload of people that were added to the large platform crowd. (And of course it goes without saying that the people on the platform by and large each considered the spots they were standing in to be staked-out territory which they weren’t about to give up, so they barely moved as we came off the train, because they were going to be good and god damned if they weren’t standing right where the doors were lined up when the next in-service train came along.) I pushed my way through to the opposite side of the platform and waited for two more trains to come and go and carry away the majority of the mob, then finally got on the third train through. Obviously I did not get to work as early as I had hoped to.
Apologies if I’m repeating myself here, but the WMATA system has always struck me as relatively modest. Five train lines serving something like fifty stations, maybe fewer. And yet it is so poorly managed on every level. Not a day goes by when there isn’t some kind of delay reported due to mechanical problems, and I’m just stupidly lucky to only have been on the exact train that breaks down two or three times in the past couple years. But every day, hundreds of people curse Metro for crappy service. And the system is constantly running in the red, financially. Where does all the fare money from all those people crammed shoulder to shoulder on the morning rush hour go? Not to keeping the trains (and card-reader turnstiles and escalators and such) in good repair, clearly. Not to buying additional cars to run longer, more frequent trains during rush hour.
Metro’s been in the news again lately because the director announced his resignation, and the board is considering either reducing service or raising fares, all of which is generally tied together under the banner of the usual budget woes. It’s just galling, that the system is so dinky and yet run so indifferently and yet also hemorrhaging money and constantly looking for federal assistance. I half expect some day to find out about a huge embezzling scandal because, as I say, I can’t see where the revenues could be going right now other than a numbered account in the Caymans. I don’t even know if I’d be outraged by the report or just slightly satisfied that I knew it all along.
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