Ronald Wilson Reagan
I used to ride the DC Metro in the late 80s and early 90s as a young man. I thought it was great. Seemed clean, efficient and on-time.
I assume it has declined a lot in 25+ years? Or was I missing something back then?
Does free crack go with the job of DC Mayor?
Lyft & Uber vs Metro
One is run by the government and one is not.
Guess which is more efficient.
They benefit from Metro’s demise?? Really? That’s how they look at things?
By that reasoning, anybody who buys a car to drive to work, rather than depend on Metro, should be taxed extra.
Anybody who rides a bicycle, should be taxed as well.
Anybody who buys new shoes to walk to work, anybody who informally forms a carpool arrangement, to avoid Metro, then also needs to be assessed a Metro tax.
Anybody who quits a job in Washington, and gets a job elsewhere, who decided not to deal with Metro to get to work, then also needs to be assessed a Metro exit tax, because they benefit by getting a new job outside Metro’s jurisdiction, but Metro still suffers.
I’m being a bit sarcastic but just to make the point, that government officials seem to think that everyone, and every business entity, somehow owes them money.
Meanwhile (in Boston) Charley’s wife makes a sammich...
DC needs to hire Hilary Clinton to give her infamous
“I AM SICK AND TIRED!” speech. I’m sure GWB remembers it too.
She has nothing else important going on now.
I loved her in Sha Na Na
If I had a taxi I would base it in Boston and call it “Mary”.
An inter-city system doesn't make sense considering the size of the USA, but within the densely populated North-East it should be good.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
DC needs to be fumigated..
One of my friends used to work in one of the shops servicing metro busses in Seattle. He made the comment one day that it would be cheaper to pick up all the passengers in limos than purchase and maintain that bus fleet.
I know lyft and Uber are making a dent in Taxi business. I forgot to even consider what it might be doing to mass transit.
FWIW, I’m 64 and only rode in a taxi once in my life - until last year. We used Lyft about 8 times. Loved it.
Ah, yes... the DC Ghettro.
Nonsense. Metro is not a disaster. Our traffic is a disaster and the traffic is only going to get worse. Anyone who doubts that should spend a week driving I-66, I-95, I-395, I-270 or the Beltway during "rush hour" -- i.e., roughly 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. And the major bailout routes are just as bad.
Metro does suffer from a major deferred maintenance problem, which is to say, a governance problem. The current mess has been predicted for many years. For literally decades, Metro management has been warning about deferred maintenance. But year after year, come budget time, the authorities prioritize union pay and benefits over maintenance, while the multiple jurisdictions quarrel over the funding formula. It's as if the Titanic deliberately set course for the iceberg the moment it left Southampton. It took a near-disastrous fire a couple of years ago to snap the politicos out of their stupor. We're now doing a major rehab, which is causing disruption.
There are nearly ten million people in the Washington-Baltimore Combined Statistical Area. There is no easy, silver bullet solution to the transportation mess. The car addicts are now talking about adding yet another lane to various of our rush hour gridlock corridors, which will burn through far more money than rehabbing Metro will cost, and will have zero effect on relieving the mess. The reality is that people are going to have to start living closer to their jobs. The most important "transportation" priority should be focusing on building neighborhoods that make this an attractive and affordable option. This includes fixing the public schools, which I believe will require full school choice. Vouchering the schools would be the best single thing we could do to reduce transportation gridlock; people shouldn't have to flee to Urbana, Spottsylvania County or Loudon County to find a public school system that they can trust
“In-and-Out Burger is unfairly benefiting from the yuckiness of McDonalds burgers; In-and-Out Burger should pay McDonald’s as compensation.”
Have used Metro on visits to DC in the past and it has not been bad? What the article should say is Uber & Lyft is superior to DC Taxis (or is it taxies?), the taxi service in DC is awful!
I have been reading the many insightful comments.
Buddy said everything started going downhill in the 90’s.
The problem may be too many workers jammed into a small town. Everything is stressed, especially housing stock
To relieve the pressure, we need to drain the swamp and send 75% of the Federal workers down to the States, or to Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, and the mountains of Idaho.
Or, those workers could always quit and find something else to do with their valuable skillz and experience.
Government’s view of the economy is the same as that of parasitic worms and flukes.