Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Staggeringly Consistent Dedication to Sucking


The Washington Post reported:
"Metro trains have been running slowly for weeks because of a problem with electronic devices that normally regulate the movement of the automated trains. Control of the trains has been turned over to train operators as a safety precaution. But meanwhile, mechanical problems have cropped up on the trains themselves, causing delays and testing the patience of riders."

What's the big deal?

That was written more than 10 years ago, and very little has changed.

That sucks!

How does an organization that stays mired in its own dysfunction survive?

It's a shame.

Look at the quotes from the article:
"I've been a rider for 10 years, and it's gotten so bad in recent days. At least once a week it's a major delay," said Carol L. Burnett, 46, of Arlington. "I've had it. I'm back in my car. At least in your car, you can go somewhere else. On Metro, you're just stuck there. ... I think the system has broken."

Josh Silver, president of Metrowatch, Washington's ad hoc riders group [apparently defunct], said: "I've never seen the Metro system this bad. People mutiny when the situation is so intolerable they're willing to disobey the law.

"That's what's happening here. They've got to fix this now. And they have to account to the public what is going on."

Both could easily come from passengers today, and readers of this site, by an overwhelming margin, think Metro is GETTING WORSE.

In trying to find a silver lining here, the only thing we could come up with was Metro's staggeringly consistent dedication to sucking.

(H/T CS & homertuck)

Other items:
Metro steering disables away from MetroAccess (Examiner)
How jurisdictions share the cost of Metro (GGW)
Power outage leads to multiple system failure (NBC4)

7 comments:

Michael said...

The silver lining is that maybe we'll de-defunct a riders' group.

Anonymous said...

FIRE JOHN CATOE.

Seriously Metro Board. I'm about to start organizing campaigns for your primary opponents just to get you out of office and off of the board.

Anonymous said...

My high school physics teacher insisted that nothing can actually "suck.” Then again he was speaking of a purely rational world governed by Newtonian physics, thermodynamics, and ball-rocking Reganomics (make it rain). Metro, which exists in some sort of temporal vortex - randomly intersecting with our own dimensional plane - defies this rational world by both sucking AND blowing. Having grown up in DC, I have gritted my teeth through this slow decline, which continues to asymptote on towards oblivion. When will it stop? Here is my best guess:

Past failings =
.0015 (Track Failures due to Neglect – Door Breakages)

Current failings =
Door Breakages (28 – Incompetent Management) – Track Failures

Future failings =
(Door Breakages*Track Failures) – (Angry Riders*Incompetent Management)

We’ll see.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone else noticed that the next train app on the website/mobile phone has been wrong the past few days?

Brian said...

...was the next train/bus app ever RIGHT? I've never had a bus show up when their site says it will.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the next train is typically accurate. The data has been wrong the past few days.

Anonymous said...

After watching the yellow train arrival times actually to backwards on the boards this morning, (1-> 4-> 6-> 8) perhaps the silver lining is should be duct tape.

krikket

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