It was real difficult to keep this letter to WMATA civil. Somehow, on a day where they run far fewer buses than demand would call for, they lost a bus.
But I tried.
Now I need to lie down.
[/quote]
Attention Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority:
I am writing this letter to register a complaint against you.
On Sunday, May 27th, the 6PM run of Metrobus route 16E which departs the Pentagon was missing in action.
At around 5:40PM, I arrived at the Pentagon Metro station via the outbound Metrorail Blue Line train. I exited the station to wait for the 6PM 16E-Annandale bus from “Metrobus Island.” I was second in line.
At around 6:05PM (as bus route 10A departs and route 7A begins loading passengers), the 16E bus – number 2022 – which departs from Annandale at around 5:15PM arrives at the Pentagon… As he goes on break, there are about 50 restless people in line.
At around 6:15PM, when the 7A from Landmark arrives at the Pentagon, the 16E has yet to show up. The line snakes back beyond the southeast escalators (the ones nearer Pentagon City). I estimate about 65 people are waiting in line for the bus.
At 6:25PM bus number 2022 returns to service – as a 16C to Culmore! The 6PM 16E has yet to arrive at the Pentagon.
I do not know how do describe just how crowded this bus was. I tried counting how many people boarded this bus. I stopped counting at 60; at that point I could no longer see the front of the bus. I’m sure the passenger count exceeded 70 on that bus. And I can’t be sure there weren’t some people who opted to wait for the next bus (I was sitting in a window seat on the left side of the bus.).
Just how crowded was the bus?
Forget the engineering studies that tell you how many passengers maximum a bus can transport safely, or any federal government studies that may exist on this subject. No; imagine drunken college students trying to stuff as many of themselves as possible into a Volkswagen Beatle or into a phone booth. Or imagine rush hour on the Orange line in Rosslyn. I’m pretty confident that we violated Federal Law (“Federal Law prohibits operation of the bus while passengers are forward the standee line.”). The bus was standing room only all the way up to Four Mile Run.
One passenger likened the conditions to riding a bus in Mexico.
Of course my inconvenience can only pale to that of those who were waiting for a bus to take them all the way to Annandale. I only lost 40 minutes, (30 for the bus, 10 walking the 1/2 mile to my home from the near final stop in Culmore.) they would have waited at least an hour for the next bus – provided that that one shows up on time. And of course people along Columbia Pike west of Arlington wondering if a bus will ever show up at all.
Any other day of the week, a bus MIA would be as disruptive because most routes run at a headway of 30 minutes, with route 16 in Arlington having 15 minute headways. But on Sunday, with most buses running just hourly, every bus is important. Try to keep that in mind.
Wesley S McGee
Dissatisfied Customer
