L’Enfant Plaza shut down due to fire/smoke

[Terpfan]

@mstone 105854 wrote:

I think that’s a fine goal in general, but right now the focus should be on making a real change at wmata, instead of letting it stumble on as it has been. (In the immediate context, wmata doesn’t need any help in making excuses that other problems are worse: their own problems are worthy of being fixed, regardless.) In the long run it would be better for all regional transit if there were finally a house cleaning at wmata.

Agreed. It would also be nice if they didn’t ascribe to the victim-blaming mentality in their outward public talk.

It’s sad because the system has so much more potential than it ever exerts. Or maybe we’re just all too cynical. I don’t know.

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 105854 wrote:

I think that’s a fine goal in general, but right now the focus should be on making a real change at wmata, instead of letting it stumble on as it has been. (In the immediate context, wmata doesn’t need any help in making excuses that other problems are worse: their own problems are worthy of being fixed, regardless.) In the long run it would be better for all regional transit if there were finally a house cleaning at wmata.

In the next few weeks some people are going to drive instead of taking metro. Just as some people drive long distances rather than fly. Either because they dislike being helpless in a tube, or they are ignorant of the data, or they are thoroughly innumerate, or whatever.

Some people will die as a result.

Some of the people who die will be people not in cars. Some MAY be cyclists.

WMATA should be held accountable for their safety culture and general management problems. Of course when we say WMATA we need to recall that WMATA is actually run by a board of regional elected officials, who select the WMATA general manager. Those elected officials need to also be held to account, I agree.

But individuals making modal choice decisions need to be provided with realistic data. Which does show that even if WMATA is more dangerous than other subway systems (for whatever reasons) switching to driving is not, for most of them, going to significantly reduce their odds of being hurt or killed while commuting (and more likely will increase it – even before looking at the benefits of the walking that tends to go along with a transit commute)

(oh – and the people who die in car crashes, who might have taken metro, will not have their deaths splashed in banner headlines across the front page of the Post. They will be in the local section, and probably not even make the lead of that. Because. A train or airplane fatality is sexy. An auto fatality is a statistic)

[PotomacCyclist]

I have a problem with some of the comments I’ve read on other websites about calling for WMATA funding to get cut, which doesn’t really make sense to me. It’s those cuts that forced all the delayed maintenance that has contributed to some of the safety issues.

I do understand the issues with WMATA but I won’t ever be able to put the comparison statistics aside completely, because no one will call for cuts to highway funding because of road deaths. When it comes to transit and calls for change, it’s too easy for the political momentum to shift towards significant cutbacks, which would only make problems worse. That’s why I feel uneasy about calls for broad changes for WMATA. It tends to get deflected into unproductive strategic decisions.

[PotomacCyclist]

I also think about the similar mindset and reactions that so many people out there have when there actually is a cyclist-caused death. Even today, when some people rant about “scofflaw cyclists,” they will still say “remember that guy in San Francisco.” That was a terrible act, but then these people go on about how cyclists are the biggest threat to public safety on public roads. I know it’s a ridiculous attitude, but many people do think like this, and that drives a lot of the resistance to bike infrastructure funding and also to hyper-aggressive behavior by a dangerous minority of drivers. In the minds of these people, one cyclist-caused death is one of the worst outrages in history, but tens of thousands of driver-caused deaths don’t even register on the radar.

That’s what I see a bit with some of the Metro coverage and reaction, that a Metro death is grounds for complete overhaul, but the ongoing death toll on the roads are just background noise, if those people even notice them at all. I guess if it doesn’t happen to them on the roads, then it doesn’t exist.

I also tie all this together with some non-transportation issues, which would be too off-topic on this forum, but it relates to some of the recent events in Paris as well as in the U.S.

[Author]

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