Thanks to Michael for pointing out changes that the Metro is considering. Although I disagree with him and like some of the possibilities.
Now I love the Metro. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to move to DC, but it does need to be updated. Life on the red line can be frustrating. In fact, I can predict when there are going to be delays because they only happen when I’m already late for work. Actually, it’s universally accepted excuse here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called into the office and uttered the words, “Delay on the red line.”
- Getting rid of the carpet–big deal. It’s really nasty anyway. The late 1970’s orange isn’t my favorite either. The Tube has rubber flooring, and it works in London.
- Bench seats. This is a something that should have been done originally. The current design is the most inefficient use possible. This morning, I had to wait for two trains before I managed to squeeze onto one. The concept of personal space just doesn’t exist in the mornings on the red line.
- Spring-loaded handles–as a vertically challenged person, this makes me happy. I’m either forced to squeeze in by the door to hold onto a pole or pull my back trying to hang onto the ceiling ones. Given the fact that DC has more women than men, who are typically much shorter, this is a much-needed change.
- I do like the suggestion of going to a zone system. The farthest I ever venture is Pentagon City to shop. I’d much rather pay per zone since I hardly ever leave DC proper. Actually, it’s rare that I venture out of NW because of school. I wish Metro would consider changing their rate system.
Despite the problems of depending on public transportation, it could be worse. Right after I moved here, I watched a special on the Travel Channel about life in Tokyo. Every day, 8 million people commute to work via the subway. They don’t have seats and literally scrunch thousands of people per car. They have workers stuffing people in like cattle. Whenever the Metro is crowded, and I start feeling claustrophobic, I (mentally) repeat, “You could be in Tokyo right now. You could be in Tokyo.”
As I pointed out in my response to your comment on my blog, the logic behind the spring-loaded handles (that they will help short people, while staying out of the way when not in use) is self-defeating and negates the purpose of helping folks who can’t reach the rails now. I stand a very short 5′9″ myself. If I reach up, I end up untucking my dress shirt because I have to reach so far up… and in the process, I lose balance while trying to keep a heavy laptop bag on one shoulder and not lose feeling or overall use of the arm that’s suspended above my head for a half hour plus. The thing about the spring-loaded handholds is that they automatically retract when not being held… meaning that they are nearly as high as the rails are now that you can’t reach, and will be equally as difficult to reach when you get on the Metro car and try to get to one not in use. The system at that point becomes self-defeating, especially if you can hardly reach the rail… because you’ll have to reach up nearly that high to pull down a handle. If the handholds were not spring-loaded and happened to hang down all of the time, then that would be a system that would make sense… but as many people have talked about (and Metro seems to have not heard), having to reach that high to grab a handle is as difficult for short people as trying to reach the rail in the first place.
[...] also found this picture of McGuyver Dad and me on the Metro. Given my earlier comments about needed changes on the Metro, click on this picture. Absolutely nothing has changed about it. The picture could [...]