Prepare for Pain on the Metro this Morning

by Prince Of Petworth — March 14, 2016 at 7:02 am 23 Comments

orange
Photo by PoPville flickr user Jim Havard

From WMATA:

“Blue/Orange: Limited train service being restored with single tracking btwn Foggy Bottom & Federal Center SW. Expect delays of 30-60 min.”

“Blue/Orange: Westbound trains will skip Smithsonian & Fed Triangle to reduce delays. Use eastbound trains or bus service from L’Enfant”

“Blue/Orange: Eastbound trains will skip Farragut West & McPherson Sq to reduce delays. Use westbound trains or bus service from Foggy Bottom”

“BL/OR/SV: Likely damage on 1 of 2 tracks requiring repairs. Best case will be single tracking this AM. Significant delays expected. #wmata”

“Approximately 18 shuttle buses are currently in operation for OR/SV/BL line service. #wmata”

“MTPD update re: McPherson Sq: Currently clearing residual smoke from earlier burning cable in tunnel. No trains in area, no injuries. #wmata”

Anon

I’m on a train at the Roslyn station now. We’ve been holding here for going on 20mins. This is ridiculous.
phl2dc

I got to work a whole hour later than I usually do…which is typically 20-30 minutes early. The train I got on after 20+ minutes of waiting ended up skipping two stops and going out of service at Clarendon. The DC-bound platform at Ballston when I got there was full so they blocked access to the down escalator and the upper platform started filling up. Ridiculous.
jdre

In WMATA’s defense, there was a light rain.
Anonymous

<3 my bus commute every damn day.
- ***
  
  I used to feel the same way… that was before 16th street turned into a 4 mile long parking lot on a daily basis. I find I get worse road rage on the bus now than if I were to just drive instead.
  - justinbc
    
    I guess that would depend on whether I was sitting or standing. Since I usually get on early enough to almost always have a seat the bus ride gives me a chance to catch up on emails and news in the morning. I couldn’t do that if I were driving.
    - ***
      
      I can’t remember the last time there was a seat on the bus in the morning.
      - justinbc
        
        Yeah that would provide a good deal more of frustration then, especially if it’s a long ride, packed ride.
      - Nonna
        
        This is exactly why I get up early. I catch an S bus between 630-7 normally and it’s a breeze – usually half empty, downtown from Columbia Heights in less than 10 minutes. Wait a couple hours, however, and it’s a total nightmare. I really hate crowds though, so it’s worth it to me to wake up early!
      - ***
        
        Unfortunately getting to work early (before 8:30) just means working more hours then necessary since I would not be able to then leave early.
  - wdc
    
    Aren’t there any slug lines in MoCo for heading down 16th Street? When I’m waiting for the bus, almost ALL the cars that inch past me have a single passenger. So inefficient.
    - wdc
      
      By which I meant “occupant”. A single occupant, the driver.
    - MtP
      
      There’s no incentive for slugs b/c there is no HOV lane.
      - AMDCer
        
        The obvious incentive is fewer cars on the road, but that’s too logical an answer for those who want to drive their own car.
      - mtpresident
        
        Right, but the person driving doesn’t internalize that incentive. Fewer cars on the road does help everyone, but the single person who doesn’t drive isn’t better off for not doing so. That’s why tolls/HOV/HOT lanes help.
      - wdc
        
        I wonder what other incentives we could think of. And how much of an expensive headache they would be to implement. And how long it would take people to figure out how to abuse it. Like a program where environmentally minded drivers sign up, and receive $1 per passenger on a gas card. Maybe a phone app where passengers have to check in stating they got their ride.
      - justinbc
        
        You’re trusting the same agency who bungled the streetcar for a decade? If the concessions they gave for that were any indication, the smart phone app would wind up sharing all your public data, the gas card would actually deduct money from the account you link to it, and the special lane they build would be in the middle of the road and run both directions causing accidents all day.
      - elbeech
        
        Tolls into the city on 16th (and other roads) could be incentive.
stacksp

Sounds like the estimate that WMATA put out regarding the delays was accurate

“Blue/Orange: Limited train service being restored with single tracking btwn Foggy Bottom & Federal Center SW. Expect delays of 30-60 min.”
Trying2FindtheSilver(line)ing

This morning was an absolute mess. I got on the first silver line train toward Wielhle-Reston at 5:30am. Had to off-load at Federal Center SW, where we were told that a shuttle bus would service the rest of our trip. We wait outside of the station for a solid 20 minutes before anyone came up to tell us when shuttle buses would begin. We waited another 20 minutes for the first shuttle to arrive. I was 2 hours late for work this morning. There was such a lack of communication between MPD(who were outside of the station controlling the crowd/trying to answer questions) and Metro.
- phl2dc
  
  Holy crap it started that early? and it’s STILL a mess…
cwjCP

It sucked, but I will say metro was doing something at Metro Center that they’ve never done before: provided accurate, audible, and help announcements over both the PA system and on the platform from Metro employees. They were even making an effort to answer questions/be friendly/helpful.

I got to work an hour late but my blood wasn’t as boiling as it normally would be.
- anon
  
  I’m going to add a surprised second. I was offloaded at Fed Center SW and marched upstairs muttering, when I was approached by a Metro employee who asked where I was going, took me over to the map and showed me how to get to a bus alternative and then escorted me out through the emergency exit so i wouldn’t get charged for the interrupted ride. That has never happened to me before, and I hope it wasn’t just luck but perhaps a glimmer of hope that they are trying to change.

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