Saturday Supplement: Around the Metro in 86 Stops

Every Saturday we publish an article (or more) that is of interest to both DC residents and visitors which first appeared on a website other than The Prices Do DC.

When it comes to making New Year's resolutions, Stephen Ander does not mess around. Today, the 31-year-old government research consultant embarked on a feat few have accomplished: To visit every Metro station in a single day.

"I am a dead-set New Year's resolution-maker and I sadly could not budget it into my 2013, so I'm rushing to get into my 2014 goals," he told DCist. Ander, an Alexandria resident, will rise early and head to the Franconia Metro station when it opens to begin his journey. "The Metro opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 3 a.m. I think it's doable," Ander says

Of course, this isn't the first time someone has attempted to visit every Metro station—all 86 of them—in a single day. Last year, 23-year-old Andrew Baker conquered the system in seven hours, 27 minutes, and 49 seconds. Ander says he wasn't aware that anyone had done this before, but that's not deterring him at all. He's also doing things a little differently than Baker. Whereas Baker only exited a train to transfer to another Metro line, Ander will get off at every stop and take a picture of the station then hop back on.

To continue reading this article from The DCist, click here.

A Long Ride Up, A Long Ride Down

If you are afraid of escalators (official name - escalaphobia), you might want to consider skipping the DC Metro Station in Wheaton, Maryland. With a length of 230 feet and a vertical rise of 115 feet, the escalators in Wheaton are the longest set of single-span escalators in the Western Hemisphere.

It takes 2:45 to ride from the bottom to the top (or the top to the bottom). That is longer than some popular amusement rides. And I can verify that time since I had to travel to Wheaton last week for business.

Interestingly, the Wheaton Station is not the deepest in DC. That distinction goes to its neighbor on the Red Line, Forrest Glen. However, that station is only served by elevators because it was determined that installing and maintaining escalators at Forest Glen would be too expensive.

Both the Wheaton and Forest Glen stations are unique in that there are separate tunnels and platforms for trains instead of a common room employed in other DC Metro stops. That system was put in place because it was cheaper to build at such depths.

Speaking of maintaining escalators, that ongoing work can cause problems for Wheaton riders even if they are not leery of the long moving trips. According to a 2012 study, the escalators at Wheaton are out of service more than any other of the long escalators in the Metro system. That study reported that the Wheaton escalators function only 67% of the time, meaning you had better be prepared for some serious climbing or descending if you use the station.

The station opened in 1990, and, for 8 years, it was the northeastern end of the Red Line until the Glenmont Station became operational.

As for those who do suffer from escalaphobia, experts say that the fear is often related to other phobias including fear of heights (acrophobia), fear of steps and slopes (bathmophobia), fear of climbing (climacaphobia), and fear of vertigo (illngophobia).

So if Wheaton is the longest escalator in the United States, where is the longest escalator in the world? That would be in St. Petersburg, Russia. There, at 3 stations, are escalators with a length of 433 feet and a vertical rise of 217 feet. By contrast, the world's shortest escalator, at 32.8 inches, is located in a shopping mall in Kawasaki, Japan.

Tales, Tips, and Tidbits
Most of us take escalators for granted. But they have quite an interesting history. To learn more, click here. 

The Metro As Vision; The Metro as Reality

For all projects there is the vision, then there is the reality. And often, despite the best intentions, the starkness of the reality turns out to be much darker than the shine of the dream. Such is the case with the subway portion of the DC-area Metro transit system, which since opening in 1976 has grown to include five lines, 86 stations, and 106.3 miles.

The DC Metro is the 2nd busiest in the United States, ranking second only to the New York City subway. However DC numbers don't even allow it to be ranked in the 30 busiest subways in the world. Indeed, with its 1.6 billion annual riders New York is only 6th in the world, topped by Bejing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Moscow (each with more than 2 billion riders) and #1 Tokyo, with its 3.16 billion riders each year.

But that doesn't mean that often-disgruntled riders don't think that their local Metro is beset with world-class problems, Riders frequently complain, often with much justification, of what they call substandard service. Last month, local TV station WUSA Channel 9 examined the 10 biggest complaints of area riders. They are:

1. No accountability
2. Unreliable service
3. Weekend track work
4. Weekend Wait Times
5. Faulty Escalators
6. Malfunctioning doors
7. Doors Open for too short a time to get on/off
8. Too frequently out of service
9. Fare to service ratio
10. Redskins (yes, they creep into everything) 

As you might expect, in this age of social media, there are numerous Twitter sites where you can lodge your complaints about the Metro. There are even blogs like Fix WMTA or  Unsuck DC Metro, for that purpose.

But when the Metro 1st opened its doors in the year of America's 200th birthday, the hopes for the then new, fresh, clean, not-yet-used system were rosy. And local riders were reminded of that fact this week when The DCist urged its readers to watch the video Metro: Here and Now, a promotional video from the 1970's. In addition to embedding the video, The DCist had this to say:

The 13-minute film explains the history of Metro, how it operates and its benefits while very groovy music plays. Images of afro- and sideburn-sporting Washingtonians enjoying Metro trains and stations that look exactly the same today accompany the very positive narration.

"Everything about Metro has been designed with people in mind," the narrator says. "Its convenience, comfort, safety and beauty all were tailored for people." (Contain your laughter, please.)

The original film is housed at the Smithsonian Institution archives in a box of National Museum of American History Office of Public Affairs records, which includes "press releases, memoranda, tapes documenting Museum activities, newspaper clippings concerning the museum, correspondence, exhibition catalogs, exhibition scripts, invitations, guest lists and photographs."

You can take a trip back in time by clicking here to watch the video. And happy traveling.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
We have lived in Crystal City (served by both the Yellow and the Blue lines) for 2 years. There is no question that the Metro operations, especially on weekends when track work forces the trains to run less frequently, can be frustrating. But we still use the service almost daily. In fact, I have only driven our car 3 times in calendar year 2013 in the DC area. Of course, coming from rural South Jersey where mass transit consists of 2 horses, one cow, and a large wagon, we may not be the best judge of an urban system.