Metro: the summer of their discontent

I almost didn't notice the Post article yesterday about various Metro fires that took place in the District on Sunday night, but last night when I turned on the 10:00 news and saw them talking about smoke at the Pentagon City station, I thought to myself, "Yeah . . . I think I'm driving to work tomorrow." Supposedly, several of these fires were caused by overheated rails, but so many at once? Just bizarre.

I tell ya, this has not been a good summer for Metro: a security scare that shuts down three Red Line stations during rush hour, a domino-esque series of breakdowns on the Orange Line a few weeks ago (again during rush hour), at least one train derailment, and several deaths from people being hit by trains. And from being a daily commuter on Metro, I can honestly say that some days it just pays to drive, because trying to take Metro can be more nerve-wracking than trying to navigate through stop-and-go traffic. People shove their way onto trains, crowd around you uncomfortably, converse at inconsiderate volumes, run you over mercilessly when trying to make the faregate or catch a train, stand on the wrong side of the escalator, sit in the aisle seat and refuse to move so someone can sit in the empty window seat (or only do so grudgingly, as if you're grossly out of line for asking to sit there), yell at you for not moving fast enough . . .

And if that's not enough, you have to deal with poorly air-conditioned stations, trains that run on illogical schedules, or trains that don't arrive at all! And when incidents hit, however big or small, they shouldn't have to be felt system-wide.

Like I said, some days it just pays to drive.