But the good news is they're running a streetcar now, too:
We'll see how long before it has its first fatality.
This is what happens when government takes over. The history behind this is utterly sordid; government prohibited fare increases for years until they bankrupted private companies, ad nauseam. A private company would not shut down the whole system like this.
Have you ever ridden the Washington D.C. Metro. It is run by arrogant, incompetent liberal Democrats. Trains are dirty. At almost every station the escalators are broken. Employees tend to be indifferent at best and often rude. Contract are given out based on political connections and affirmative action so they overpay for shoddy work.
And increasingly it is becoming unsafe in certain areas.
Just heard from my little sister who is in Washington or rather was, just heard from her, she and her friends managed to get out of town before the shutdown, she said signs of discomfort already evident on residents, timing is everything...
I think there is more here than they are saying.
One of the issues with government owned transit systems (and highways) is that there is no glamour in ongoing maintenance—it just costs a lot of money with minimal visible results.
When is the last time you saw a politician bragging how they upgraded an electrical system with photo ops deep in the tunnels—not going to happen.
If this is a cover story my guess would be that the subway was hit with a cyber attack of some kind.
BKMK for future
Yes, I am aware of all the negative stories. It is true that the system is showing its age. It is true that deferred maintenance is a big issue. (This tends to be a chronic problem in government systems because of political misdirection.) It is true that pay and benefits are cripplingly high, again because of political misdirection.
Meanwhile, traffic in DC is among the nation's worst, and it is only going to get worse. The car lobby, naturally, is eager to destroy other people's neighborhoods to ease congestion on their long commutes, but as a resident of one of those "in the way" neighborhoods, I am not in sympathy with that plan. Metro is just one piece of the puzzle, but it's one we need to get right because it will become increasingly important as time goes on.
Metro needs to get its cost structure straightened out (yes, this means pay and benefits). It needs a better governance structure; we have the city, the feds, two states, four inner ring counties and a dozen independent suburban municipalities constantly bickering over service and fares. It's a mess -- but as compared to adding lanes to those outdoor parking lots known as I-395, I-66, and I-270, or building entirely new arterial roads through densely populated areas (ha, ha, ha, good luck with that), Metro is the easiest part of the problem to fix.
The most useful thing, of course, would be for people to start living closer to their jobs. Suburbs are fine in smaller to mid-sized cities. Above a certain threshold, however, the suburban commute falls victim to scale. DC has reached that point. Those of us with minimal commutes don't have these problems. There are good neighborhoods all over the metro area, and gentrification is reopening many long-shunned neighborhoods in the core. (And some of these are becoming crown jewels of the real estate game.) We'll get there, eventually.
It's all I heard about on the radio yesterday !
In fact, because of a threat?
It was announced yesterday. That’s “notice”!
But the good news is they're running a streetcar now, too:
We'll see how long before it has its first fatality.
Deal with it, serfs.
Enjoy your dependence on gubmint.
Gridlock ensued today.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!