« True Colors concert | Main | my sweaty, hairy testicle »
June 19, 2007
The Green Line Sux Tremendous Amounts of Donkey Dick
My reward for getting up "early" (for me) today was a sweaty, two-hour commute courtesy of MetroRail:
West Hyattsville station closed; major Green Line delays in effect
So I still got to work at the same time I usally do, but this time with completely drenched clothing, as the connector shuttle that bypassed the dead station had no air conditioning. And the friendly WMATA employees were for once too quiet, directing only those confused passengers directly in front of them. While after hours they will shout to their girlfriend from across 3 city blocks, they cannot shout so during a work crisis. Instead, when you walk up to them to ask which shuttle you should take, they castigate you for asking, and complain that people "just don't think". If it wasn't for one fellow passenger, I wouldn't have gotten off where I needed to.
For the most part, MetroRail riders are pretty much on their own in times of crisis. Remember that when there is a fire, flood or outage on the train. First there will first be an overly long period of confusion, followed by a period where WMATA employees do in fact know what's going on, but they don't know enough to tell anyone. Then someone will finally step forward to help, but by then it will be too late for you. Take care of yourselves, MetroRail riders, for there are no competent hands to help you.
Posted by jimbo at June 19, 2007 10:43 AM
Comments
I agree, it was really annoying this morning! You are so correct in your declaration, for the most part they are worthless- as has been evidenced time and time again... in fact, over the past 6 years, there has never... NEVER... been a time when any WMATA employee has been helpful- even in the least, much less courteous. W-O-R-T-H-L-E-S-S, worth-less, wah-err-thlesss, worthless!
Posted by: Bob at June 19, 2007 11:28 AM
In case of an emergency, just follow the fleeing Metro employees. I once had a bus driver abandon the bus at a stop while us passengers had to deal with a belligerent drunk who refused to pay or get off the bus. As they say on the subway announcements "remember, safety is all our concern*" (*except bus drivers, train engineers, station managers, and occasionally Metro police).
Posted by: Will at June 19, 2007 2:27 PM
You think that sucks.. try being on a broken down MARC train in the middle of nowhere on a hot July day.
No air conditioner, no fan, unable to escape the train.
You half expect Samuel L Jackson to come out of nowhere and say something about snakes and train ;-)
Posted by: Dax at June 19, 2007 2:28 PM
Jesus, how I remember those days. Then again, I think Sydney has quite possibly the worst public transit system of any city I've lived in. But at least there is one, I suppose.
Posted by: sandy at June 20, 2007 5:30 AM