Escalators? Nope. Plan to hoof it on Jan. 20

WTOP Radio website ^ | December 7, 2008 | Adam Tuss, WTOP radio

[muawiyah]

WASHINGTON -- Plan on taking Metrorail to the inaugural ceremonies on Jan. 20? Be ready to hit the stairs.

The transit agency says it expects to shut down and lock numerous escalators at high volume stations on the day of the inauguration. ..................... Metrorail is preparing to carry upwards of 1 million riders on inauguration day, a mark that will easily shatter the all time record high of 854,638 riders set this past summer.

[ml/nj]

"Imagine, you've got loads of people piling into a station and they'll back up on the escalators, and there's a crowded platform, and people can fall onto the tracks," says Smith. "It's really the issue of going down and flowing into the system."

This may be the second greatest use of logic I have ever seen. (Best ever HERE!)

ML/NJ

[muawiyah]

You keep a copy under your pillow or what?

Gad!

[ml/nj]

Actually I cut the article out when it was published and stuck it in my college Fundamentals of Logic text. I'm sorry if it doesn't interest you.

ML/NJ

[muawiyah]

We were already laughing so hard over the SUV sacrifice thread I almost fell down the stairs ~ and I'd been sitting over at my computer.

That was too much, but it's from the fifties.

I too have a "too funny to be read more than once" file but I misplaced it some time back. You came up with that too fast.

[meowmeow]

The police will remove the first few hundred, but they’re going to be overwhelmed. Then the riots start.

I'm so excited that I got a new mircowave - so much faster making popcorn!

The DoD is telling us to stay home that day - so four day weekend to hunker down! In January - hope there's an ice storm!

[meowmeow]

Rosslyn is also across the river in Virginia, with no good way from there to DC by foot.

Not true - I work in Rosslyn and often do a Mall run on my lunch hour (in nice weather - no way I'd run across the bridges in January!). It's an easy loop from Arlington and coming back through Georgetown.

[meowmeow]

ROFLMAO! No wonder you kept that!

[Waco]

I usually ‘hoof it’ when I go to take a crap. So, just another day.

[Malsua]

The escalator at Rosslyn is the steepest one I've ever been on. They expect people to walk the stairs there?

I can't comment on the specifics because I have no clue about that...what I do know is that many stations have escalators right next to the tracks that take you from the entrance down to the train. It wouldn't make much sense to have a "people mover" pushing people OUT at the bottom near the tracks while the people at the top blissfully add themselves to the queue. Once the waiting area at the train is filled...the escalator will push people into the only available space...the tracks.

I suspect it will only be the down escalators that will be turned off.

[ml/nj]

Escalators turned off? Hundreds of Obama supporters could be trapped for hours.

Your remark here conjured up the image for me of these dolts stepping on and waiting for it to move, or just thinking it was moving slowly.

ML/NJ

[ml/nj]

Four million will create panic.

Actually there could be quite the panic even if only 250,000 show up when Chief Justice Roberts asks the Kenyan One to see a copy of his birth certificate before he administers the oath.

ML/NJ

[Rebelbase]

“God (and Larry Craig) only knows what would end up happening in a DC Metro toilet”

[MarkL]

This article may be of interest to those Freepers, or their family members, or friends, who actually want to come here in January to "see" this event.

This reminds me of a science fiction movie, where these futuristic "time tourists" would go into the past to watch these horrendous catastrophes... If I lived anywhere near DC, I'd try to stay as far away as possible...

Heck, if I didn't have to go to work that day, I'd stay at home!

Mark

[MarkL]

I've seen far greater "parades." In fact I used to be involved in them, every Friday night. It was called "rush hour" (what a misnomer - it should be called "slow to no moving hours!) on the LIE, a 100 mile plus parking lot!

Mark

[AppyPappy]

What I read from this article is that the inaugaration is not not turning into the rousing success that everyone thought it would be,

[tom h]

"I live here within walking distance of a Metrorail station. I'm watching [the inauguration] on TV! "

I 'll be playing two reounds of golf that day -- nothing to watch on TV that day out here in California.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

CVrowd estimates they’re expecting would keep anyone with a brain away from DC then. Law enforcent and emergency services will be stretched way past their limit. Anybody with a problem will most likely have to rely on their fellow man and real help. Not exactly democrats and liberals strong suit. Movement in the city for handicapped will be next to impossible.

[AppyPappy]

If the weather is remotely bad, I think it will greatly reduce attendance.

[netmilsmom]

>>Iron Man (again!)<<

Make sure you get Hulk to see Tony Stark at the end. Yum-o!

[netmilsmom]

>>I refuse to even watch it on TV,though I will tune in occasionally just in case there is some sort of chaos.<<

Not me. The FReepers will keep me informed.