One of the things that got overlooked this week was an announcement by Metro that it would stop making riders pay for service that wasn’t delivered. This doesn’t mean that if you don’t like the ride you can get a refund or if a station manager isn’t helpful that your next ride is free. The idea is not to charge passengers who have to leave a station in the event of an extended service disruption. Nothing makes riders angrier than to be forced to pay a base fare when the trains have been stopped because ofa problem, and they have to leave the station to get a bus or other transportation. Call it the “not adding insult to injury” plan.
Also, Metro started its own version of the complaint/suggestion box. I suspect the staff was getting tired of answering your questions through me — or maybe not. You can use the cards that are available in the stations or on the buses or go to www.wmata.com and look under the “Also of Interest” section in the middle of the page.
Concern for trash trucks
I got a note the other day from the staff at the District’s Department of Public Works. They are concerned about the way people are driving around the city’s trash trucks: “It seems that some commuters just whip around the trucks, putting themselves squarely in front of oncoming traffic on busy residential streets. Motorists should keep in mind that bulky trash trucks do not have the lightning quick reflexes of a sports car. It takes them longer to brake if a car cuts too close in front of them. In addition to flouting their own safety, these speeding drivers endanger D.C. trash collection employees, a few of whom have been hit by motorists driving recklessly around garbage trucks. Adding insult to injury, trash crews regularly report that people honk, yell and make threatening gestures as they’re passing, as though the crews are doing something wrong, rather than providing the essential service we pay them to deliver.”
This certainly seems like a fair and reasonable request. I know those trucks take up a lot of room on sometimes narrow streets, but these are people just doing their jobs. Let’s cut them a break or, better yet, a brake.
You know there’s a hybrid on the road when …
Brian checks in on the issue of hybrid vehicles: “Another sign of the increasing presence of hybrids on the roads is the number of them that drive just below the speed necessary to kick in the gasoline engine while driving in the inner neighborhoods. Yes, I know that the speed limit is often 25 mph in these areas, and that appears to be more or less when the cylinders kick in, so hybrid drivers keep their speed at or below this level. But give me a break. If you want to do 20 mph in the neighborhoods, yield to those who want to approach the speed limit. Even though I drive a small four-cylinder vehicle, 25 mph is when I normally shift into second gear.”
Apparently, a number of hybrid drivers pay close attention to the gauges that tell them what kind of efficiency they are getting on gas mileage. These on-board computers really make it easy to know the affect of jackrabbit starts and a lead foot.
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