on Metro

Dear Dan Tangherlini,

Belated congratulations on being named Metro's Interim GM. Being a regular metro-rider, I have seen your pictures in station ads and I have even heard your voice over the PA system while waiting for a train. In the announcement, you announce your "one-point plan" for improving Metro--improving customer service. As a metro customer for over 3 years, I thought you might want to know what I think.

Before April 1st, I was a DC resident living along the red line. Although I certainly didn't appreciate it at the time, the red line does run with some efficiency (although the occasional weekend single-tracking really does suck). The trains were never jam-packed during rush hour (unless a tour bus had just stopped at Union Station). Sometimes I rode the D6 and it tended to stick to its schedule most of the time. If only I realized then how good I had it.

Now, I live in Arlington, VA (whoa...it is with all my strength that I can say that). And the picture of Metro service is MUCH different. First of all, the bus I take to get to the metro is never on time. In fact, there are days when I am grateful to see a 23A/23C bus at all. The ART is more timely. Secondly, the orange line is a mess. During rush hour, it's already standing room only at Ballston. By the time the train gets to Clarendon (two stops away), you can't even get on the train. Oh yeah, the whole 8-car-train experiment--dreadful. It's advertised as a smoother ride into the city with increased capacity on trains. How is it that I STILL see 4 car orange line trains during rush hour? And if it really increased capacity, why are the trains still standing room only at Ballston? Moreover, if it truly is a smoother ride, why does the train stop repeatedly before Courthouse, and then before Rosslyn, and then at Rosslyn, and then before Foggy Bottom?

My solutions are these: make the orange line like the red line. Or you can lower housing prices in DC so people don't have to live in Arlington when they really want to live in the city.

Thank you,
*sigh* an Orange Line regular