What the riders are saying

[Scrabbleship]

WayneNYC
I always thought it was a bit odd that so many WMATA escalators are exposed to the elements and why not build canopys over the portions of those that are exposed.

Scrabbleship
I'll delegate why it took nearly 30 years for WMATA to build canopies over their escalators to John for historical perspective. I think I've reached my quota on cracks on Harry Weese's Metro planning for the week .

Harry Weese's had nothing to do with the fact that surface entrances were built without protection from the elements. That mistake can be placed in the lap of the Fine Arts Commission. The Fine Arts Commission didn't like the idea of having roofs over the surface entrances that might clash with the the surrounding architecture. It was only recently that the Fine Arts Commission allowed WMATA to built canopies over the escalators. The entrance pylon with the back lite M was also a compromise that was made with the Fine Arts Commission.

Of course, leave it to one of the over-preservationist agencies that sees the L'Enfant City as something that can never be changed to be put to blame for this. Why is DC the only city where people try to fight it actually being a city or doing things that would actually help its people? Someone should have told them to buzz off and built them anyway, what was the worst that could have happened? People put in jail for victimless crimes?

To imagine the amount of taxpayer wasted over the last 100 years on the Fine Arts Commission. They should be the ones liable for paying for every broken escalator and such because, in my mind, it's all their fault. Why nobody won't abolish them saddens me. DC should be a city, not a museum piece where things are treated delicately.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I like the character of the downtown area that is maintained thanks to the Fine Arts Commission.  There are lots of cities in the world where anything goes in terms of construction (Rotterdam comes to mind quickly though I'm sure if I thought about it longer I could come up with more) and the resulting urban landscapes, while they have a certain charm, is inferior to DC's in my opinion.

[Scrabbleship]

WMATA Director of Metro's Office of Elevators and Escalators David Lacrosse spoke to the Post, and people inevitably want his head for not doing anything.

I know comments on blogs are often the most incendiary and untrustworthy sources, but some of these riders might have a point.

"And even then [if someone dies in an escalator-related tragedy], Metro will again hide behind the shield of "sovereign immunity" and not accept the blameFire David Lacosse - obviously he has no business being the director of anything, much less the escalators and elevators."
"Escalators take 3-4 months to rehabilitate?..Where's the innovative modular escalator design where most of the work is done 24-7 in a warehouse somewhere. Where's the tiger team of 20 onsite repairmen split over three shifts that get the in-station work done in a days, not months? If you quickly fix the escalators, we won't mind you being in the way for a couple days...By the way, David Lacosse should work to remove the following article from the Internet because it describes his 10 year modernization program (begun in 2000!) that was solving all of these problems. How's that working out? It's not, David. Get out of the way."
"I lived in Moscow for two years, riding the Metro every day - and never once did I encounter an escalator out of service. The system was designed and built in the 1950's; carries more riders than New York and London combined; operates in -20 degree snow for half the year; and they move twice as fast as in Washington. Washington should hire the Soviets to fix the escalators."

Should David Lacrosse resign, or just fear for his physical safety since it seems like riders might be out to get him? And people wonder why federal control would provide (the illusion of) change...

[79MetroExtraMD]

People will always have a thing against people of authority. Be it Catoe, Fenty, etc. They are just out for meat and they never give any suggestion as to how they or someone else would be better. Always the get rid of whos in charge bit. Even then, who do you find to replace the person and even thats a lengthy process. As for the escalator thing, for a station with two exits, people never seem to pick an alternate way out. Always the same way.

[Scrabbleship]

As for the escalator thing, for a station with two exits, people never seem to pick an alternate way out. Always the same way.

I will admit that to a degree this is true, though what constitutes two exits? A lot of the stations that have the biggest escalator woes have either one exit (Foggy Bottom), or have exits far from each other (Dupont Circle, Bethesda). Even then, some stations with two exits have the illusion of being far apart when they really aren't (Union Station, Silver Spring)

I'm impressed nobody ever complains about Wheaton or Rosslyn in all this. I know that Rosslyn has a 4th escalator and Wheaton is lightly used, but if one of those went out things would get bad quick for many.

[79MetroExtraMD]

If Wheaton were to screw up, I wouldn't put it past them about complaining. Those escalators have to be the toughest to maintain because of the depth.

[Scrabbleship]

If Wheaton were to screw up, I wouldn't put it past them about complaining. Those escalators have to be the toughest to maintain because of the depth.

Doesn't Metro have a policy that if more than one escalator is not operating at Wheaton that shuttle bus service is automatically established for those who don't want to do the walk?

[WMATAGMOAGH]

If Wheaton were to screw up, I wouldn't put it past them about complaining. Those escalators have to be the toughest to maintain because of the depth.

Doesn't Metro have a policy that if more than one escalator is not operating at Wheaton that shuttle bus service is automatically established for those who don't want to do the walk?

Not that I know of.

Wheaton's long escalator is covered and younger than the most problem prone escalators (the station opened in 1991).  Rosslyn's is also not exposed to the elements.  The issue at Dupont Circle is that there are times where 2 out of the 3 escalators in the bank are not moving.  It isn't an issue so much if you have 2 escalators running and 1 out of commission.

Jason, since when has Bethesda had more than one exit?  And perhaps more importantly, how do you come to the conclusion that Mr. Lacosse should be concerned for his safety and that riders might murder him? 

On an aside, there are several street to mezzanine escalator banks here in Sao Paulo that are about as wide as some of WMATA's where they have 2 escalators and 2 staircases, plenty of redundancy in case of an outage.  Some mezzanine to platform banks have the same setup, though these are often wider than the same space would be in DC.

[Perry]

Yes, like people have faith in the Federal Gov't. right now.....That's all we need is people to now think that transit is a socialist operation.  When are you finally moving to Canada?

[Scrabbleship]

Yes, like people have faith in the Federal Gov't. right now.....That's all we need is people to now think that transit is a socialist operation.

Given the political makeup of the DC area mixed with its transient nature, the cynicism towards the Feds seems tempered in DC vs. elsewhere. Some riders* feel that WMATA is accountable to nobody with no one agency to report to and that the Feds would bring some accountability to the table**.

* By "riders", I mean "a subset of persons ages 22-35 largely not native to the DC area who own smartphones , are usually unmarried, and are trapped in bureaucracy want an object to change"
** If tangible change isn't done soon, I have a funny feeling someone will suggest that Metro needs a czar or even a dictator to fix all the mess. Those in said "riders" group don't remember the "evil" USSR and see all other communism as being quasi-capitalist, grudge-holding, or hereditary Stalinist and will find some way to relate WMATA to Russia 100 years ago.
(In all seriousness, the above would make for great satire. I fear someone might actually want that to be real. Then again, transit needs its Robert Moses-type...)

[Scrabbleship]

Jason, since when has Bethesda had more than one exit?  And perhaps more importantly, how do you come to the conclusion that Mr. Lacosse should be concerned for his safety and that riders might murder him?

Bethesda's elevator is so far from the main entrance, it practically is a de facto second exit. I've found taking the elevator to be quicker and easier, especially with the current escalator woes.

As for riders wailing on Lacrosse, I think that if things get worse there might be some short-tempered rider that might take it out on him personally. Weirder things have happened.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Jason, since when has Bethesda had more than one exit?  And perhaps more importantly, how do you come to the conclusion that Mr. Lacosse should be concerned for his safety and that riders might murder him?

Bethesda's elevator is so far from the main entrance, it practically is a de facto second exit. I've found taking the elevator to be quicker and easier, especially with the current escalator woes.

As for riders wailing on Lacrosse, I think that if things get worse there might be some short-tempered rider that might take it out on him personally. Weirder things have happened.

Bethesda's elevator needs to be available for those who need it most.  If you can use the escalator, especially because the big escalators are usually working, please do so.  I don't like having to wait for the second or third elevator because a bunch of people who didn't want to walk a block decided to use it, but I can't take my bicycle, nor can riders in wheelchairs or with babies in strollers go up the escalator.

Robert Moses was an asshole IMO.  I don't care if he got things done, I don't want him or anyone like him running WMATA, and you don't either.  Trust me.

[Scrabbleship]

An argument for federalizing WMATA. Somehow the fact that "members of Congress and tourists rid[e Metrorail & take Metrobus]...puts WMATA into a league of its own."

Given the unique position of DC, is this claim somewhat valid?

[Sand Box John]

Scrabbleship
An argument for federalizing WMATA. Somehow the fact that "members of Congress and tourists ride Metrorail & take Metrobus...puts WMATA into a league of its own."

Members of Congress riding metobus and metrorail. Now that's a good one. The percentage of House and Senate members that ride WMATA's buses and trains is probably less then the that of the WMATA Board of Directors.

[Tritransit Area]

An argument for federalizing WMATA. Somehow the fact that "members of Congress and tourists rid[e Metrorail & take Metrobus]...puts WMATA into a league of its own."

Given the unique position of DC, is this claim somewhat valid?

Somehow this makes me think of taxation without representation....  That being said, do you believe that it's appropriate that WMATA would get federal funding for operations while every other struggling system in the nation can't obtain such funding?

Does a part of DC's taxes go into funding the WMATA system?  I'm just not completely knowledgeable about the full funding structure of the system