WMATA Metro train sucks what can I do? (Franconia, Springfield: transfer, bankruptcy)

[cheriex333]

Been riding the WMATA metro train since 2008 and things have progressively gotten worse over time, at times even dangerous.

Yesterday and today, the Blue line offloaded and there was a swarm of people, crowding, pushing, etc.

A recurring issue is the door not closing. Which WMATA blames on passengers by broadcasting that we are leaning on the doors.
I have SEEN the doors and sometimes the doors do not open, sometimes the doors do not close, or sometimes only one door open, there is NOBODY LEANING ON THE DOOR and it has nothing to do with the passengers and everything to do with their inability to keep the trains functioning.

Why is metro so incompetent and broke-down? What can I...what can WE, do about this?

[slaminjamin87]

There is a separate thread on this forum illustrating Metro's incompetence.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/north...-bankrupt.html

[cheriex333]

Thanks slamming, I read through that thread as well and agree with most everyone's complaint.

I want to know, what can be done about it? I've signed the change.org petition for the Blue line, and will vote when there's an opportunity. But what else can be done? Do we the people not have a voice?
There are thousands of metro riders who deal with this b...s...every day, forking over more money for less value.

[slaminjamin87]

Originally Posted by cheriex333

Thanks slamming, I read through that thread as well and agree with most everyone's complaint.

I want to know, what can be done about it? I've signed the change.org petition for the Blue line, and will vote when there's an opportunity. But what else can be done? Do we the people not have a voice?
There are thousands of metro riders who deal with this b...s...every day, forking over more money for less value.

My best advice to drive to work if you can. Not sure if you work in DC or in Northern Virginia, but Metro is not a reliable, safe, and clean transportation system. The management who work for Metro have done very little at all to improve their subway system, and not fix their own issues.

Then WMATA management will complain to elected officials in VA, MD, and DC about why metro is losing customers and ask for increase funding or even increasing fares. The problem is that VA, MD, and DC don't have enough money to increase funding for rails. Governor Larry Hogan from MD is already trying to cut funding for the purple line, and increase funding for roads instead. Terry Mcauliffe will try to give more money to metro since the sliver line is expanding to Loudon County. DC is a joke. Mayor Muriel Bowser was on the metro board for many years, and did nothing to solve metro's issues.

Bottom line, the cause of the poor service, safety issues, constant, every-day, significant delays--planned AND unplanned, constant track work which makes taking Metro on the weekends absurdly inconvenient and time-consuming leads to the general sense that Metro really doesn't care how bad the problems are, and has no real desire to try to make things right with the public.

When people lose faith in an institution, and that institution has become far more unpleasant and unreliable than its alternatives? It's on a steady path to obscurity, barring a sea change of strategy and effort on the part of Metro.

So unless Metro gets it's act together, bankruptcy could be an unfortunate reality.

[airjay75]

I wish I had a good answer for you. I think part of the reason it is so frustrating is that there really is little any of us can do individually that will make much difference. I mentioned on the bankrupt thread that I think this area really needs an organization to represent riders and lobby our elected officials for results. To my knowledge, no such organization really exists. If one did and it got big enough, I think it could help effect real change.

Really, all you can do is move with your feet. You can choose another way to commute. As of late, I have more frequently been using Pentagon express buses for the majority of my commute. I still drive and park at Metro on some days, but I have been switching it up depending on my schedule. You could check out the Fairfax Connector 394/395 buses that service the Backlick Park and Ride just across 95 from the Franconia-Springfield Metro. But, they will only get you out of part of the Metro commute - you'll still have to deal with Metro from Pentagon to your final destination. And, as I recall, you live within walking distance of the Metro station, so it may not be any better for you. And, alas, that's another reason Metro can continue it's dismal service - many riders are simply stuck with it and don't have better commuting options unless they want to spend significantly more money.

I'll also add another plug for using the Yellow Line rush plus instead of the Blue Line - I know it involves transfers, but I find that the Yellow Line rush plus trains do not suffer the same crowding issues that the Blue Line trains do. I almost always have a seat both ways and, while it can have its issues, for sure, I actually do find it to be fairly reliable for me.

[gomason]

Whenever WMATA gets around to bringing the new 7000 series rail cars into service, the trains should become more reliable hopefully. 4000 series cars are pieces of crap.

[stateofnature]

Even with its problems, the Metro is still overall faster and more reliable for me than driving because of traffic, and it is substantially cheaper because of the cost of parking at my office. I know my experience is not universal but I think many many people are in the same boat as me.
I'm not saying that justifies Metro's problems and I would love for them to improve, but I don't see them having a very big incentive to improve because they are essentially a monopoly. Until the traffic situation improves (unlikely) and/or more employers start subsidizing parking (possible on the individual level but I don't see any movements in this direction on the macro scale), the Metro will still be the least bad option for a substantial number of commuters who will have no choice but to just put up with their service because the alternative is even worse.

[cat1116]

Originally Posted by cheriex333

Been riding the WMATA metro train since 2008 and things have progressively gotten worse over time, at times even dangerous.

Yesterday and today, the Blue line offloaded and there was a swarm of people, crowding, pushing, etc.

A recurring issue is the door not closing. Which WMATA blames on passengers by broadcasting that we are leaning on the doors.
I have SEEN the doors and sometimes the doors do not open, sometimes the doors do not close, or sometimes only one door open, there is NOBODY LEANING ON THE DOOR and it has nothing to do with the passengers and everything to do with their inability to keep the trains functioning.

Why is metro so incompetent and broke-down? What can I...what can WE, do about this?

Maybe not in the car/section you are currently in but can you really see what is going on in all the cars on that train? If you can, then you must have superb visual abilities. If my particular area I'm sitting/standing in is not super crowded, I might be able to see one or two cars up or down from me. If I'm way in the back, I doubt that I would be able to see anyone that is in the front.

I don't disagree that the doors malfunction from time to time. I have seen them try to close even on a non-busy day, where one side opens and closes or sometimes doesn't close fully. If the operational Metro conductor gets a flashing light from the controls, they may not always know what is causing it without stopping the train for a considerable amount of time by coming through each car to check out the situation. I've seen that happen too. It's happened on almost all the lines I've ever rode on. I have been on all but most of the time, I do ride the Red.

I've been riding the Metro system since late 1986.

[Old Guard]

I am curious. Do people find that Metro is useful and efficient most of the time but that bad experiences really stick with you and turn you off, or are the bad experiences the norm?

I rarely take metro any more. I notice it is dirtier but I have always felt it had more to do when I did take it, rush hour/right after school where kids were blatantly eating on there. The last time I took it in the morning there was a young professional looking woman on there drinking her coffee which I found odd.

[Lilac110]

Originally Posted by cheriex333

Been riding the WMATA metro train since 2008 and things have progressively gotten worse over time, at times even dangerous.

Yesterday and today, the Blue line offloaded and there was a swarm of people, crowding, pushing, etc.

A recurring issue is the door not closing. Which WMATA blames on passengers by broadcasting that we are leaning on the doors.
I have SEEN the doors and sometimes the doors do not open, sometimes the doors do not close, or sometimes only one door open, there is NOBODY LEANING ON THE DOOR and it has nothing to do with the passengers and everything to do with their inability to keep the trains functioning.

Why is metro so incompetent and broke-down? What can I...what can WE, do about this?

Move to the center of the car?

Really. Sounds simple but so few people actually do it. The doors are supposed to be hair-trigger so people don't get stuck in them. They may not be leaning on the door, but they are probably blocking the sensors.

Not saying it's not annoying. And not saying that the doors never have problems on their own. I've seen nearly empty cars have that one-door open issue, and then the train gets taken out of service because obviously you can't have people riding with a door even half open.

Just saying that you don't need to lean on the doors to trip the switch. It's not that difficult to knock a door out of alignment, either.

This is one thing that annoyed that pants off me about Metro. They really need to just gut the cars and have seating only along the sides so people have more room to move to the center when they get onto the train. The forward-backward seating takes up entirely too much room for the number of passengers it serves. Not sure why they haven't changed the seating, other than maybe it being a weight issue.