Theres no big fix for Metro, but there are a lot of little ones

August 07, 2024

If Metro is going to lure back riders, it will have a lot to do with satisfying the customer service concerns of this letter-writer, because so many riders have shared his experience.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

A colleague and I needed to go from New Carrollton into the District for a meeting. I went onto the WMATA website and looked at train schedules and what time it would take for us to reach our station to make our meeting.

I checked on the website to see if there were any advisories. There were none listed for that part of the Orange Line. We boarded the train and waited.

And waited.

Fifteen minutes past the scheduled departure time, the train finally left the station. And stopped and waited at every station, with the train operator saying that he was awaiting instructions to move the train.

We were 30 minutes late for our meeting, which was quite embarrassing. I sent Metro a complaint and was told that I should have used MetroAlert to plan my trip. Essentially, it’s your fault, you dummy, that you believed what was on our website.

So I wrote General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld with my complaint and received, after several weeks, a response from a customer service person who said I should have used MetroAlert. She did apologize, but the burden was clearly placed on me.

I find this totally unacceptable. Metro has lots of problems, and I applaud the general manager’s attempt to correct them. This kind of customer service, however, is for the birds and will lead only to Metro’s slow and steady demise.

People like me will drive, with all its inherent problems, rather than take a Metro train on which you are stuck if something goes wrong.

— James T. Currie, Alexandria

Currie, a retired Army colonel, was not describing a spectacular communication failure like the one that occurred when a Red Line train was stranded on the night of Sept. 13. No, the midday Orange Line experience was just one of those day-to-day, unaccounted-for delays. I could relay a score of such complaints to you.

Metro’s response to Currie did include an apology: “Occasionally, circumstances such as track work, mechanical malfunctions, or a severely sick or injured passenger may cause delays to the planned train schedule. We understand that when these events happen, your trip time is affected, and we regret any resulting disruption to your travel.”

And the message included the suggestion to sign up for MetroAlerts, the email and text system that sends out warnings about scheduled work and “delays greater than 10 minutes.”

It’s swell that those things exist. Metro also has improved the mobile version of its website so riders have an easier time finding immediately useful information.

But many riders interpret the after-action from Metro the same way Currie did: “You should have known you’d be late.”

In fact, the scheduling burden should be on Metro. The transit authority still needs to do a better job with its train scheduling, particularly during single-tracking times, and with direct communication with its riders aboard trains. So at least they can use their personal alert system to let colleagues know they’ll be late for meetings.

Can I turn here?

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I witnessed (from the back seat) a heated confrontation between two drivers, one who believed there is no right on red in traffic circles in the District and one who was urging the former to turn right on red to enter the circle.

Those of us in the car tried to do some quick Internet research, but found no clear answer. I know at Dupont Circle, for instance, there are signs specifically saying no right on red. So does that mean that at circles with no such signs, right on red is allowed?

— Allison Cook, Vienna

Right on red is permitted in the District unless a sign says no. There’s no law saying a driver has to turn right on red.

Traffic laws can be confusing, and there is some variation from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, you can make a left on red from a one-way street to a one-way street in Maryland and Virginia but not in the District.

Signs can be confusing, too. D.C. drivers see signs telling them to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. But the yield requirement is the same, even if there’s no sign.

Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer's name and home community. Write Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, or email drgridlock@washpost.com.

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