I took my family on a trip to DC a few years ago, and found it to be pretty good as well. We only traveled the subway in town. The food court was amazing and the platforms and cars were clean. Being from Oklahoma City, where we have no subways at all, we had a grand adventure. The loooooonggg escalators were cool, too.
My brother travels a lot, and he said the difference between the DC subway and NYC's is night and day.
Being a visitor from the sticks, DC and Ny last year, NY the year before, I found both adequate but DC more clean. Since it’s smaller,
Much easier to navigate. Granted if I had to use both all the time my view might be different