I seems to me that the coup d’etat by the District at Metro is just about complete now. First the general manager was replaced in large part because of political elements from the District and the replacement just happened to be a former District transportation employee and someone who had served on Metro’s board representing the needs of the District. It appears that a number of District residents and former District employees are finding work at Metro under this new regime. Now, District board Rep. Jim Graham has managed to remove one of the main stumbling blocks in the District’s path by getting Maryland board Rep. Bob Smith fired for comments made unrelated to his work at Metro. The District wants to pay less for its role in Metro though an equal share of service (especially the loss-leader bus service) is inside its borders and it wants to have more of a say. Don’t forget boys and girls that the District is roughly half the size of both Fairfax and Montgomery counties, which are not individually represented. If you can’t win the battle through process, you win it though politics.
Entertainment on Metro rail stations
Regarding the idea to allow “entertainment” in Metro’s rail stations, Michael writes: “Another idea from those thatdon’t have to ride the train. Maybe they forget, that long before the new annoying voice that eventually people will ignore, that riders have had to suffer from train operators’ attempts to sound like Radio DJ’s and locomotive operators. Another excuse to bring an MP3 player. It isn’t necessary. They haven’t even gotten the tunnel advertisements installed for all the lines.
“The last thing people need is some magician playing tricks, a bad band or some clown juggling stuff in my face as I board the train. Especially first thing in the morning.”
Seriously, anything but mimes. … I hate mimes.
Kim starts off with a complaint about the entertainment idea, but then gets into something else: “This is supposed to make us forget about their inefficiencies and enjoy some music and entertainment while we are waiting. Not a chance! I would much rather see them spend time and effort on the real problems — my biggest beef is the Franconia-Springfield Kiss-and-Ride area. The garage is in the middle and the road circles around it. There are three lanes on the platform side of the garage. Kiss-and-Ride patrons will clog up all three lanes while waiting to pick someone up. The third lane is the lane that garage patrons use to get out of the garage and out of the station area. Yesterday it took me 30 minutes to get out of the garage and around the circle. It irritates me to no end because these people are driving to the kiss and ride because they are too cheap to actually park in the garage. Metro patrons who are paying for the train ride and garage parking, are inconvenienced by these inconsiderate people. Metro needs to monitor this situation and have metro police making sure the flow of traffic is not impeded by those waiting around.”
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
