May
08
“I understand the frustration of the customers, what they’re experiencing, but I’ve got to make sure they’re safe,” Paul J. Wiedefeld said.
Psst…. Paul? The condition in those trains is very much not safe. They were not safe when there were more trains. As the weather gets hotter and the crowds going into Downtown get bigger, it’s going to get worse. It’s going to get violent. It’s going to end in bloodshed.
This story makes me incredibly glad I don’t have to do this every day. The crowded conditions before were enough to make me depressed and angry. This situation would probably break me.
8 Responses to “Oh, MTA. Don’t ever change.”
I for one am glad that you’ve gotten away from the MTA! (it rhymes)
And that’s where your gas taxes go…to a poorly managed and barely operable mass transit system. Makes you wonder how a city such as New York can operate as well as it does.
Oh, that’s right, they don’t cover the entire city with useless bus lines. My mistake.
And if you think Baltimore is bad, DC is worse. They’ve got busses that stop each and every block and are the worst driven vehicles on the road. I’d love to plant a sidewinder into them every time I drive in this town.
By daffyd on May 8, 2008
See, the huge crowds waiting for the one overcrowded Light Rail car is actually a safety measure; it protects people from the muggers who stalk the rail stops.
By mim on May 8, 2008
I read the article. It stated that maintenance is done in the spring on the system. Shouldn’t the cars be rotated out one at a time throughout the year? Someone mentioned this, but it needs repeating.
Mim, I’m glad you’re taking your Prius about too.
By daffyd on May 9, 2008
Just to reiterate, chime in, and otherwise act as chorus to daffyd… “And if you think Baltimore is bad, DC is worse”
WMATA decided to single-track from Ballston to West Falls Church because they’re performing track maintenance is all kinds of fun. They stop one train at the station or in the middle of a track so that the other train can pass, alternating trains along the Orange and Blue lines. As part of the same maintenance, sometimes they unload the entire train at the West Falls Church station so that the next train can board them (and that train already has passengers).
My ONLY saving grace is that I get off at West Falls Church… so that I can walk downstairs to the Fairfax Connector. I catch the 950 or 980 (Express) to Herndon-Monroe, get in my XTerra, and then drive home to Sterling.
Your Prius is looking mighty nice, now. It’s costing $47-$53 to fill up the tank on my XTerra. I average about 15mpg, burning about 149mi/week on weeks that I take the VRE rather than WMATA.
…
Having wrote out a $4,769 check to Kaiser-Permanente, another $1,130 for lupron and another $1,010 on menopur, Vicky & I are looking at dumping unnecessary expenses. “Extended drives” or “excessive driving” is now on that list.
By Ken on May 9, 2008
I’ve always wanted a chorus!
I decided to add a car a few months ago and bought a Honda Fit. Now I can get about 30 to 33 mpg for my daily commute.
Went to Disney with the trailer a couple of weeks back. OUCH! But had a great time. For now the Truck only gets driven to the Home Depot and Lowes. I’m not driving it great distances any time soon.
Ken, good luck with the treatments.
By daffyd on May 9, 2008
Thanks… hopefully Vicky will soon have a condition that is treatable, with the real treat in February 2009. :)
Went to Columbia, SC, a few weeks ago. I didn’t dare drive the XTerra. I was surprised at how well the Forester did on a 1500mi drive compared to the XTerra. It doesn’t feel as nice highway driving on concrete highways, but it does alot better with fuel economy than my SUV does.
My XTerra is getting used less-and-less. Shame that any hybrid SUV is still outrageouly priced. $50K for a hybrid Tahoe??
Maybe smaller is better. A Honda Fit, huh? :)
By Ken on May 9, 2008
Ken,
what’s the best way to send you an e-mail with excel attachment? I’ve got a spreadsheet I created to analyze different cars and prices taking into account changeable gas price data. It’s what prompted me to go with the Fit rather than the hybrid. The payback scale on the fit vs the hybrid ended up being like 23 years or 275,000 miles. So the money never made sense.
It is nice not to have to pay over 80 bucks for a tank of gas in my Expedition though. One tank on the Disney run was 98.00. And I only get 8 mpg when I tow the trailer, thanks to our friend 10% ethanol. (with friends like this…)
By daffyd on May 9, 2008
daffyd,
ken [dot] foreman [at] latheofdreams [dot] com
…change all the [symbol] to the corresponding keyboard glyphs, and you’ll get a direct line to hell^Z^Z^Z^Zme.
Honestly, daffyd, I’ve thought about the whole hybrid vs efficient 4-cylinder engine thing too. Looking at the cost of lithium-polymer batteries + lead acid, motors + generators, regenerative breaking, the total cost and carbon footprint of a hybrid doesn’t seem any better (and often worse) than a fuel-efficient, well-designed 4-cylinder engine such as that of a Honda Fit, Toyota Camry, Kia, or Mini.
I’m seeing more Smartcars in DC now, so I stopped to talk to one owner. He tells me he’s getting 50-80mpg in his. I need to research more, but it smells like BS. Are the 3-cylinder and 4-cylinder SmartCars (smaller than a Mini, small VW engine block in front of a 2-seater) that efficient? I can testify firsthand that the 350cc engines on bikes get 75mpg+, but a 3-cyl car?
For most of my own personal calculations, I’d going the
(amount of miles driven since last topped tank) / (total gallons used to top tank)
I own a ScanGuage II which I plug into my XTerra and Foresters ODB II port under the dash. I enter the engine size, tank size, and calibrate it for that particular car. Coasting in any vehicle will get 40mpg, but average acceleration+breaking in the XTerra is 15.3mpg while acceleration+breaking in the Forester is 25.7mpg. Watching realtime mpg, gph, and engine stats on the ScanGuage II is always fun.
Anyhoo, shoot me and we can compare notes. :) How many makes/models do you have on your spreadsheet? Same 2.5L engines with/without turbo? :)
- Ken
By Ken on May 10, 2008