What the riders are saying

[Scrabbleship]

Random Twitter excerpts of peoples reactions to the fare increase, censorship by me.

Packed 5A bus that I just paid $6 to ride. Screw you #wmata.
Thanks #wmata! So happy to pay more $ for a 20+ minute trip from Glenmont to SilverSpg. #fixyr[crappy]trains
Quite  excited that a one-bus + two-stop trip is going to cost me 3.45$. Can't  wait for peak-of-the-peak fare, costing me ?. Thanks #wmata!Currently playing "The Waiting Game" between Takoma and Silver Spring....
Praying this day goes by fast...so pissed they upped the damn fare #wmata those [female dogs]
Man, this new, more expensive metro service is awesome! I could run faster than this train! Thanks for the ego boost, #wmata!
Day 1 of #WMATA fare hikes and my trains has been inexplicably sitting outside of Silver Spring station for 5 minutes.
                              Dear #wmata customers: we dug ourselves into a hole and now you must suffer!  Muwhahaha! Thank you for surviving Metro. #wmata
Temp on platform at #wmata Ballston right now: 93.
Spare Change: Saw a bum outside a rail station yesterday begging for a credit card cosigner so he could afford to ride #wmata.
Metro be on that BS ... How are u guna hike up prices but yet delay the trains smh I'm def driving tomorrow ... Urg

On the other hand, it doesn't look like the Orange Crush has let up.

I know that people in DC like to complain. I know DC has a very high rate of smartphone ownership and, ergo, Twitter use (I could find less to no complaints on there about the service cuts in NYC). I know WMATA is probably the most villified (by everyday riders) and loved (by out-of-towners) agency in the US. But all of this stuff says something, especially since a lot of the people complaining are relatively young and relatively middle class so they get soaked the most with no riches or pity.

[Antozilla]

How did you get these?

But it goes back to what I have said repeatedly. Dc is an up scale town with a lot of very educated people.  It is why Metro had trains with carpet and buses too.  DC people won't ride in a cattle car.  They have other options and then to charge them more for the privilege.  Ain't gonna happen

[Antozilla]

But the Z Man has the answer

Make it so hard on people to own and drive cars that they have to take public transport.  Then we can screw em any way we want and there is nothing they can do about it.

[Scrabbleship]

How did you get these?

Twitter search for "WMATA".

But it goes back to what I have said repeatedly. Dc is an up scale town with a lot of very educated people.  It is why Metro had trains with carpet and buses too.  DC people won't ride in a cattle car.

I think at this point DC people would ride in one if it'd lessen the crush. Yet another reason why Metro is stuck in its 1970's timewarp that riders will revolt if we take away their fancy seats (since carpet is going to be phased out anyways). The current setup of seats cannot accommodate current ridership, at least on the Red and Orange lines.

It reminds me of the stories of when the Braintree Branch of the Red Line in Boston was built. The MBTA's 01500/01600's originally came with seating near identical to what Metro has (this was before Metro opened). Within a decade, high ridership (and the fact the crowd-swallowing 01400's had no AC) led them to change them to a R44/46/68-style arrangement then, at rehab, to all longitudinal. At this point, I don't think Metro needs to be posh to get riders. It isn't 1976 anymore.

[Antozilla]

I just can't see big red working in DC

they up the fares take the carpet away and no they take the seats away EEEWWW

[Scrabbleship]

I just can't see big red working in DC

they up the fares take the carpet away and no they take the seats away EEEWWW

I don't mean Big Red. I mean the standard longitudinal arrangement. Besides, Big Red has been a bit of a failure there (never expanded outside a handful of rush hour runs) and Big Red never sees Braintree.

Then again, the one time Metro tried mostly-longitudinal seating (the test on 3282/3283 pre-rehab) it didn't go over well. Of course, using bus seats and not running them where needed (Green vs. Red/Orange) didn't help matters.

[SchuminWeb]

Indeed.  It's not like they reused the standard rail seats that they removed, which they probably could have done.  That would have taken one more variable out of the mix on that car.  Those were some pretty rotten bus seats.  I rode 3283 while it was in test configuration, and I couldn't stand those bus seats.  I ended up using one of the lean rests, and those were so-so at best.  But at least those had railcar-style seat pads.

[aznboy4305]

What type of bus seats are we talking about? Anyone have any pictures?

[Scrabbleship]

What type of bus seats are we talking about? Anyone have any pictures?

There's a picture on Wikipedia. They used the same type of seats that the Neo artics/D40LFR's/DE40LF's/Orion VII's use, only in light brown instead of blue.

[Scrabbleship]

Day two after a Red Line meltdown, a Metrocide, and a disaster drill at Silver Spring and Shady Grove: the Metro hate keeps on coming.

If higher fares are based on time in the system, they're totally legit and justified.
If wmata is going to continually raise fares the least they can do is have their buses arrive on time
Ugh Metro...why can't I have an event-free commute?
No AC in car #3223 on Red line. HOT. I want my money back. Seriously. Intolerable service: money back guarantee=good service.

(from one person whose Twitter feed is nothing but WMATA cynicism)
Good morning, wmata riders! Are we ready for another day of this bull...
Every morning I grab an Express because its the only form of air conditioning at Ballston
Metro Center is now the air conditioning oasis in my commute.
I hope they catch those crooks running wmata in the anti-terrorism drills!
Sometimes it takes me 2+ hours to get home on wmata. You think that deserves a higher rate?
Time based fares would start stampeding in the stations and general slow-down of wmata staff/services to increase fares. (Ed - to be honest, this has happened since Day One).

From last night's Red Line meltdown
Metro - it is nearly 10:00 and Red Line still delayed. You suck.Your fare hike ought to be rebated. Pathetic #metrosucks #unsuckmetro
About that wmata escalator fail: It's summer. There are tourists in town. Is *one* working escalator at Gallery Place too much to ask for?
Wow - WMATA lying left and right about the incident tonight. I don't think a lack of funding = being a bunch of liars.
WMATA has more than doubled my commute time tonight because they didn't predict that it would rain for five minutes on one June afternoon.
So wmata has really nailed this "Charge more for excellent service" thing. First week of the higher fares and we're already held captive.
Ah metro, I love waiting in a station that is not air conditioned. The heat index has to around 105.
Dear WMATA, you just raised your fares, where is my money going? Your trains are still overfull and unsafe. #wtfmetro

I would hate to see how New York City 40 years ago would've been with social media at hand. Would it have been this bad?

[SchuminWeb]

There's a picture on Wikipedia. They used the same type of seats that the Neo artics/D40LFR's/DE40LF's/Orion VII's use, only in light brown instead of blue.

I love that picture (I took it!).  Thanks for sharing that.  :-)

Otherwise, though, the color is a bit off in that shot, but those bus seats were tan with orange cloth.  I have a different Journal entry discussing Breda 3283 when it was launched as an experimental:

http://www.schuminweb.com/schumin-web/journal/permalink.php?id=932

That has a WMATA photo about halfway down that's a little clearer than mine (mine's a cell phone taken while the train was moving).  You can better tell that it's orange in the WMATA shot.

[Tritransit Area]

Thanks for taking and posting the picture.  The experiment is interesting, but it would be quite the pits to have that type of seating on the Metrorail fleet.  The slanted sides of the car would make the longitudinal seating quite uncomfortable unless the seats were moved in, which would defeat the purpose of having them anyway.

The 7000 series cars will have "bus seats" anyway in the typical WMATArail set up.

[Scrabbleship]

Thanks for taking and posting the picture.  The experiment is interesting, but it would be quite the pits to have that type of seating on the Metrorail fleet.  The slanted sides of the car would make the longitudinal seating quite uncomfortable unless the seats were moved in, which would defeat the purpose of having them anyway.

The 7000 series cars will have "bus seats" anyway in the typical WMATArail set up.

I think that at the very least the 7000's will have LFA-style bus seating. It'll be a far cry from NYCTA's hard benches or the hard seats on the BSS, PATH, or the MBTA 0700's.

To get this a bit back on topic, something that stuck out today (I'm going to skip over all the moaning on the Red Line mess this morning as I experienced it and could do a post on what I saw on the first train that got out of the mess):

"Rush hour service ends at 9:00am but fares are still charged until 9:30am #wmata #theft"

If we're going to charge extra for the peak of rush hour, shouldn't we then just make that the rush hour fare and trim away the edges? I think 6:00-9:00 and 3:30-6:30 (or even 3:00-6:00) would be more realistic peak hours as non-rush hour service outside those times.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Thanks for taking and posting the picture.  The experiment is interesting, but it would be quite the pits to have that type of seating on the Metrorail fleet.  The slanted sides of the car would make the longitudinal seating quite uncomfortable unless the seats were moved in, which would defeat the purpose of having them anyway.

The 7000 series cars will have "bus seats" anyway in the typical WMATArail set up.

I think that at the very least the 7000's will have LFA-style bus seating. It'll be a far cry from NYCTA's hard benches or the hard seats on the BSS, PATH, or the MBTA 0700's.

To get this a bit back on topic, something that stuck out today (I'm going to skip over all the moaning on the Red Line mess this morning as I experienced it and could do a post on what I saw on the first train that got out of the mess):

"Rush hour service ends at 9:00am but fares are still charged until 9:30am #wmata #theft"

If we're going to charge extra for the peak of rush hour, shouldn't we then just make that the rush hour fare and trim away the edges? I think 6:00-9:00 and 3:30-6:30 (or even 3:00-6:00) would be more realistic peak hours as non-rush hour service outside those times.

Ask where that person gets on.  Rush hour frequencies are certainly maintained until 9:30 or later closer to the core.  Unfortunately, a SEPTA or LIRR style peak charge where peak fares are determined by when the train gets to downtown isn't really practical, so some people get screwed.  Nothing is perfect.  At least rush hour isn't going until 8 PM when rush hour service definitely ended at 7 PM like it was 10 years ago.

In better economic times, not charging rush hour fares before 6:30 AM or so (service before that time is not operated every 3-6 minutes) might have been on the table.  Metro isn't looking to reduce income right now.  Your proposed PM rush hour is far too short.  Trains get crowded starting at around 3 PM and remain that way until almost 7, especially during tourist season.  Reducing the fares during the shoulder periods is just going to encourage ridership at times where there isn't capacity for it without increasing service, which isn't the goal right now.

[btconet]

Not sure what this is proving as it's easy to find online criticism of any transit agency, particularly from "witty" folks of the iphone crowd trying to "outsnark" each other.

From what I'm reading on these YELP pages, your beloved MBTA and their bus routes get quite a dose of their own gripes as well!

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=MBTA+Bus&ns=1&find_loc=Boston%2C+MA#