Betteridge doesn't always apply

May 20, 2016 5:33 PM

Is Metro on fire?

Previously, for context.

posted by ChurchHatesTucker (29 comments total)

For frequent riders, MetroAlerts is also useful.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:03 PM on May 20, 2016

Loved my visit to D.C. last month, and kept Metro rides to I think three short trips. Not a coincidence.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:21 PM on May 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

If WMATA bothers to use it, ChurchHatesTucker. During the most recent fire (...sigh at having to say that), they didn't send out any texts for quite a while, while lines were being stopped, stations were overcrowding, and more people were piling in for their evening commute.

I ended up finding out about it the modern way (my mom texted me from inside a stuck train) and the old fashioned way (some refugees from closed stations further down the line stopped and shared info with a few of us re: what was closed so far).

After my walk home, a bunch of texts from Metro started threading through. Oh, there's a situation, you say? Really? THANKS, WMATA.
posted by theatro at 6:28 PM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

When you consider all the fires and crashes, it almost makes the constant elevator and escalator outages seems not so bad.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:33 PM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

It's still safer than driving, he repeats mantra like before boarding each morning.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:36 PM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

I assume you're referring to MetroAlerts, theatro. The IMB site apparently scans Twitter et al. to get around that.

TDS, there's a specialized MetroAlert for elevators (although not escalators.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:37 PM on May 20, 2016

For context, Metro is on fire a lot.
posted by musicinmybrain at 6:44 PM on May 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

You linked to MetroAlerts, ChurchHatesTucker, so that's what I was referring to. What's the IMB site?

Before I leave work every day, I check the #wmata hashtag on Twitter. Very helpful up-to-date reports from the fray.
posted by theatro at 6:46 PM on May 20, 2016

See also: fired from Metro
posted by sallybrown at 6:54 PM on May 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

Bookmarked.
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 6:58 PM on May 20, 2016

What's the IMB site?

Sorry, meant the IsMetroOnFire site, but abbreviated incorrectly.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:06 PM on May 20, 2016

The fires are a good thing you guys. They've had situations where stations were literally completely unlit except by the light from the train cars. Stations where they were still offloading passengers in the meantime. At least with fire, you can see where you're going.

Shockingly, still safer than driving.
posted by hyperbolic at 7:12 PM on May 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Pet peeve: when people make hyperbolic statements like metro is like a third-world public transportation system.

Bigger pet peeve: feeling like I can't prove that is not the case.
posted by kat518 at 7:21 PM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

This website makes a reasonable guess if a WMATA line is on fire, smoking, or has fire department activity based on twitter.

So you're saying we can trick it if we all tweet stuff like "Such an easy commute. Man the red line is on fire today!" ?
posted by zachlipton at 7:37 PM on May 20, 2016

When I moved from Seattle to DC a few years ago, I was really excited to live in a city with good public transit. After all, it has a subway!

I moved back to Seattle this year and was a bit stunned to realize that Seattle's transit is actually better than DC's. No, there's no subway, but light rail is expanding, the buses are more reliable, and you don't have to worry quite so much about literally dying in a subterranean fire.
posted by lunasol at 7:46 PM on May 20, 2016

literally dying in a subterranean fire

As a Virginia resident and occasional Metro rider, such an outcome would help me prepare for the afterlife.
posted by Napoleonic Terrier at 8:20 PM on May 20, 2016 [6 favorites]

I been away a while. Didn't know there was a grey line.
Thanks. Plus, it's not on fire right now.
posted by MtDewd at 9:48 PM on May 20, 2016

I use this to keep an eye on the old country:
whereiscaliforniaonfire.com

Non-California news sources can be fucking useless: "Another random chunk of California is on fire today. (But we're not going to say exactly which bit.)"
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:37 AM on May 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Things that make me feel old: thinking of all the Fallout 3 references this would have gotten seven years ago.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 2:28 AM on May 21, 2016 [7 favorites]

Pet peeve: when people make hyperbolic statements like metro is like a third-world public transportation system.

I wish Metro was that good. Seriously, developing countries do have fairly good public transport in comparison, as most people don't have cars. Mexico City's subway and bus system always impresses me. The only place I've been with scarier trains and buses is Mumbai.

After the incessant weekend track work over the last few years, all my visiting friends are always appalled at the number of cabs I take. What's the point of living in the city, they ask. At least my part of the red line gets off easy in the impending summer shutdowns.
posted by bluefly at 3:51 AM on May 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Things that make me feel old: thinking of all the Fallout 3 references this would have gotten seven years ago.

My first instinct was to blame Raiders or Super Mutants, yes.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:37 AM on May 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

When we moved to downtown Rockville a few years ago, we were really excited to be in such close proximity to the Metro, despite being pretty far out of DC.

Over the past year, that excitement has morphed into relief that Rockville is also a stop along one of Maryland's heavy-rail commuter rail lines into DC.
posted by duffell at 7:28 AM on May 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

I used to ride the Metro a lot 25 years ago when my SO's parents and my brother lived there. So, I still think of it as shiny and new--like LA's. Not scruffy like NY or Boston. You guys haven't taken good care of it.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:26 AM on May 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's still shiny (especially the new cars), it just also catches on fire.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:55 AM on May 21, 2016 [7 favorites]

They count things that are not fires as fires and also triple count fires if they occur on shared lines. Nothing to see here.

Metro is in a bad way but is not on fire all that much.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 6:45 PM on May 21, 2016

Didn't know there was a grey line.

Not gray, Silver. And the Purple Line's coming.
posted by Rash at 11:12 PM on May 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

Purple is not a WMATA line.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:10 AM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

For frequent riders, MetroAlerts is also useful.

I was just visiting DC this week (from my new home of San Francisco, which makes me pine for Metro's comparative utility, yes really, yes really) and a friend was showing me his MetroAlert text scroll; the system sends him 20-odd "something's wrong" messages a day... and he only subscribes to the Red Line updates. So maybe useful, but more depressing and annoying, I would think.
posted by psoas at 3:56 PM on May 22, 2016

Could be both.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:04 PM on May 22, 2016