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Metrorail ridership is down. Some people have cited a lack of reliability as one of the chief reasons for the decline.
Quote:
"I used to take an express bus to the Pentagon each day, and then take the Blue Line to Farragut West. I got so tired of the delays, and frequent inability to get on the train, due to how crowded it was, that I now drive to my department's Arlington Headquarters and then take our free shuttle downtown. It takes slightly less time, even with some traffic on 395."
Quote:
"When I first moved here I was ecstatic about the availability of public transit and planned to rely on it 100 percent."
"My enthusiasm declined with the increase of incidents and delays. I am a patient person so I can deal with delays, but what I can’t deal with is fearing for my safety. The final straw was the reduced train speed between Pentagon and L’Enfant plaza in response to much-needed track repairs."
Quote:
"I quit taking the train this past summer after three years of consistently using it as my primary means of getting downtown from Vienna. I got stuck in the tunnel twice for 40+ minutes each time and have since developed a bad case of claustrophobia. I now cannot ride the train without getting an inevitable panic attack about whether I will be able to get off it once I get on due to all the stops and holds it does in the tunnels.
Quote:
"I was a WMATA commuter from 2005 to 2013. I wouldn't get on it today if I were paid to. I rode from Braddock Road to Silver Spring for a time period before dropping their horrible service in favor of biking or driving to work."
Well, its cleaner and safer than the NYC subway. Generally runs on time, except when it doesn't. That's about the best I can say. My main disappointment with Metro has always been the shortage of parking. All in all, a bit pricey for the service received. I'll give it a C+
Well, its cleaner and safer than the NYC subway. Generally runs on time, except when it doesn't. That's about the best I can say. My main disappointment with Metro has always been the shortage of parking. All in all, a bit pricey for the service received. I'll give it a C+
I wouldn't say Metro is safer than the NYC Subway. In 2010, there were 2,175 total reported crimes on the NYC Subway compared to 1,267 on Metrorail. The NYC Subway has more than 10 times the daily ridership of Metro.
In my experience, it has been very reliable. I think the reliability issue people complain about is a little overblown. Bigger issue for me are the 26 minute headways on the weekends.
And I have never lived somewhere people didn't complain about their transit system. Londoners have like the best system in the West but they still complain constantly about the system.
The waits can be annoyingly long sometimes but other than that, me and Metro have been real good with each other from my personal experience. I ride the Green Line from Branch Ave to no further than Georgia Ave/Petworth, and the amount of times I've been on there, the train only had mechanical issues once (which was 3 years ago heading towards Gallery) and nothing crazy crime-wise has ever happened when I'm on there even the couple of occasions I was in the last row of cars. I don't like riding the Red Line to the point where I even dread it at times.
Not only are most of the cars and station facilities I've had the misfortune to use old, dirty and poorly maintained, the trains are notoriously unreliable.
Actual fire incidents were occurring almost daily when I quit riding this disgrace to our nation's capital.
I can only imagine what visitors from abroad must think of America when they experience the Metro for the first time.
I'm basing my opinion on years of twice-daily experience riding a system that has degraded to the point that it's a joke, and the comments and questions I've heard from visitors to the capital city of the greatest nation on earth who have experienced the horror that is Metro.
It's a shame that the capital city of the richest nation on the planet has a mass transit system more appropriate to a third-world hellhole.
Metro is a poorly run, poorly managed, and poorly operated public transportation system. Too much corruption, laziness, and incompetence all over WMATA, from higher management to the part time workers. Many people nowdays can't even get to work on time everyday because of the never ending single tracking delays, derailments and other mechanical failures within the trains.
I think what WMATA needs to do, and it will not be popular for many of you, is to consider shutting down the entire Red, Sliver, Orange, and Blue lines for 6 months to fix all necessary repairs. That way, after six months, metro will see fewer disruptions, more reliability, and increased ridership. However, given the amount of backlash from riders and the media, it is highly unlikely this proposal will happen.
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