And Now, a Look into the Future ...

So, there wasn't much to write about today in my commute - nobody really went out of their way to appear in lights and become famous, so I want to take tonight's entry to address something else.

That being the plans of MARC for expansion over the next several years. Contrasted to that of Metro.

First, you can read the MARC plan for yourself right here:

http://www.mtamaryland.com/marcsummary2.pdf

The key points are (related to the Penn Line, since that's the one I use) are that within 9 months, they plan to add another mid-day train, another evening train, and weekend service. They are also going to try and find ways to secure more seating since trains are "running at more than capacity in peak times."

Ya think?

Folks, if you've never ridden a MARC train in a peak time/route - meaning the ones early in the morning and the 5:20 train that are Express routes - well I can't say that you are missing out on all the fun (hell, you can read about it here). These trains aren't just overcrowded. They are crammed with every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Sabrina - standing in the aisles, standing in the stairwells, standing 2 deep behind seats in the common areas in the double-decker cars ... it's ridiculous really. And it's what causes all the material that you get to read here - because when you have that many people crammed into that kind of space, you're going to get comedy.

Although, I should say that it's not all funny. There was one dude tonight who faked an attempt at kicking someone else who was standing in/near the stairwell. Yeah, that was smart.

Anyway, the question of course is where the money for this is going to come from. MARC has to work out deals with Amtrak/CSX, etc., because of the track usage and all that. It's also been said in the past that MARC doesn't have the money to purchase new equipment, which would be necessary to add cars to certain trains or add routes - so they stated in their plan that they have to find a quick temporary plan to add infrastructure in terms of trains. There's no certainty over how they are going to do that.

But what I like about the plan I linked to above is they give you a pretty detailed plan of what they are going to do, how they are going to do it, and their goals for when they are going to have it done. It's very ambitious. I'm sure they aren't going to get 100% of it done, but I have faith that we are going to see changes. And let me tell you, the weekend service would be straight cash, homey.

Now, contrast that to the 10 Ewoks and wookiee that run Metro.

As you may be aware if you live in the Washington/Baltimore Gigaplex, Metro is trying to shove fare increases down our throats. They say they need to maintain their level of service for their customers and more money will do that.

Metro's level of service sucks! Outside of the occasional station manager who is helpful - and one was once when I fell ill at a station late one night - the system is a joke right now. Trains during peak times are embarrassingly overcrowded, to the point where people are hostile to each other over finding a simple spot to stand in. And forget guys offering their seats to ladies in a crowded car. I will, but for most, it's gone out the window. And guys ... 95% of the time, the woman isn't going to take the seat. But you're a good guy if you're offer - it's the right thing to do. Trust me on this one.

Anyway ... one of the main sticking points of the fare increases (which in and of themselves aren't horrible) is a $1.15 jump in parking fees - COMBINED with a reduction of thousands of general parking places that are going to be made into reserve spots. So basically, Metro is going to charge you more for less of a chance to park. I guess from a supply and demand standpoint, maybe it makes sense, but it seems more like a slap in the face to me. Not to mention - there's no reason to believe that the fare increase is going to change anything. Nothing's changed before when fares went up.

Case in point ... you may remember a few weeks ago when a series of "smoke" and "fire" incidents broke out on various lines of the Metro system. They never did figure it out. Their story was that a lightning strike hit a substation and that caused all the issues, blah blah blah. The media was all over it, the Metro Ewoks said they would fix it, and all was forgotten.

Do yourself a favor. Go to Metro's web site: www.wmata.com ... and click on "Alerts and Advisories" on the left. Then in the middle, click "Metrorail Service Disruption Report" and click "Yesterday's Service" after that. You can see the disruption reports for whatever day you wish (it usually lags a few days behind, sometimes not). Anyway, go through them. You're going to find two things:

1) As we've mentioned here before, Metro trains suffer an inordinate amount of "door" problems. Knock on wood, I've never experienced one of these door problems - but it's getting to epidemic proportions and given that it keeps happening day after day, multiple times every day, you have to wonder what Metro is doing about it.

2) The smoke problems haven't gone away. Now, they aren't coming along fast and furious like they were for a couple nights there, where they were popping up simultaneously at different lines and stations, but they are still happening. And nobody is checking Metro on it. Not the news media, no one. They haven't fixed the problem. It's only a matter of time before it fires up again on a more serious level (pun intended).

Look, I take Metro every day. I don't want it to be fucked up. And if I had any confidence that the whatevers that run it could fix the problems through an infusion of cash by me paying more to park and ride, I'd live with that. I'm not anti tax or anti fee totally, but if I'm going to be paying more, you better damn sure get the job done and your service better be top notch. There's nothing about Metro that inspires any confidence in me (and probably a lot of other people) that this is going to be the case.

Many folks in Washington are scared that Metro is going to be the target in the next big terrorist attack in this country. I bet it isn't. I bet it's one of these little ongoing, daily issues that's going to crop up and really cause some sort of horrible situation.

And unlike MARC, whose changes I think are worth believing in - I have no confidence that the Ewoks and Wookiee throwing any kind of additional money at things is going to make any difference.

Ride wisely, folks.

And keep your eyes open.