More Metro Madness

Time for Federal Receivership?

The DC Metro is still a mess. Since I started blogging about it before Fenty lost the primary in DC there have been a slew of investigative journalist reports exposing the dark side of DC Metro- and during the latest Rally with John Stewart a heavily used metro turned into a pyramid dump site as riders tumbled on top of each other as the brakes failed on one of those cavernous plummets. Several riders were hospitalized and serious injuries occurred- not to mention a little litigation I imagine.
If the DC Metro is in such bad shape in the nation's capital perhaps it needs a federal oversight commitee or takeover or a huge windfall cash infusion such as happened to AIG.
It is one of those things that the entire nation profits from. When people come to DC for conventions, vacations, tourist sightseeing, inaugurals, etc...they don't need to rent cars (and parking fees in garages downtown are horrendous-ticketing at meters pathologically overvigilant and there's nowhere to park anyway.) The public transport in DC should be state of the art and in good working condition at all times.

Here is what happened to me yesterday- because the knucklehead operator didn't realize I write a blog read in over 30 countries. They stopped the escalators at the Woodley Park Metro last night as people, including me were standing on it in the middle of the ride. This wasn't just an easy slide to slow down, this was an abrupt jarring toss-your-purse-in-the-air all of a sudden stop in your tracks in the middle of a ride to the center of the earth. If a woman had a stroller in front of her or was carrying a baby it would have gone flying head over heels. SCARY.
REALLY REALLY SCARY. Unbelievably reckless.

Fortunately I wasn't in my usual high heels having changed into the trot-about-town sneakers after the event for the ride home. But OMG, OMG holy help us people. THAT CANNOT HAPPEN ANYMORE!!!

I cannot recite here the string of profanities that flooded out of the normally docile work-a-day pink and white collars stuck mid-level at the abrupt shut down. I thought
I might just pass out before making it to the bottom.

Should the Feds take over now? If they are taking over the banks and AIG and car companies can DC METRO be far down the list? For that one I would cheer heartily.