Speak Out: Metro's Weekend Service
The run-up to the weekend led to more grumbling about the transit agency. Was it warranted?
This weekend was supposed to be a big one for getting out and about in and around DC.
The Caps, the Nats and the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer were all in town on Saturday, along with the usual complement of springtime tourists.
And then there was the usual track maintenance on Metrorail. With trains running once every 24 minutes on the Red Line from 10 a.m. Friday through close on Sunday, Metro advised riders to add 20 minutes to their travel time.
Transit advocates asked for a reprieve. No can do, a Metro spokewoman said.
“For many, it's getting to the point that Metro is just unusable during weekends and even during off-peak service on weekdays,” Unsuck DC Metro wrote Friday. “It's as if Metro is thinking construction must go on, riders be damned.”
The blog—a Metro watchdog and frequent critic, as the name implies—also published a rider’s account of a Shady Grove-bound train that appeared to catch fire on the platform at Metro Center on Tuesday.
The Washington metropolitan region, its economy and the federal government all rely on Metro to get to work and to play. We want to know your observations from the weekend and your thoughts about Metro maintenance and service.
Did you take Metro on Saturday or Sunday? If so, how was the ride? Do you no longer take Metrorail to certain places or at certain times because of track maintenance and/or delays? Have you ever changed your weekend plans due to Metro delays?
C
1:43 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012
Took Metro to Nats game on Saturday. Minimal delays on return. Absolutely no complaints. Well done!
Sean R. Sedam
2:47 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012
Glad to hear it. And you saw a good game (assuming you're a Nats fan). How was the trip there? My wife and I have occasionally decided against going to Sunday games when there was track maintenance because we never knew how long it might take to get there. That's after one Sunday journey when there was single-tracking and it took two hours from Twinbrook to Navy Yard.
Don Smith
6:05 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012
It is beyond me why Metro, knowing that its 8-car trains coming from Shady Grove would be packed by the time they reached Bethesda, could not simply run two trains about 2 minutes apart. There was no way the amount of passengers accumulating on the platforms closer to DC could enter and be carried by a single 8-car train. Metro could have easily done its 25-minute gap routine just the same. Why present the utter inconvenience of forcing people to wait another 25 minutes because the train is full? There is no brain trust at Metro available to plan around foreseeable events. Saturday was fully predictable. Metro failed.
C
9:42 am on Monday, May 7, 2012
The biggest problem on Saturday was caused by the double booking of the Caps and Nats game. The train going into town was overcrowded but not delayed. The ride home was relatively empty with minimal delays. A much better trip than we all expected.
c